Two Women Face Trial in Playa del Carmen Teen Labor Exploitation Case

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Two women known as “La Patrona” and “La Güera” will face trial in Playa del Carmen over the alleged labor exploitation of three teenagers.

Hortencia “N” and Angélica “N” will face trial after the Quintana Roo State Prosecutor’s Office presented evidence and a judge bound them over for trial. The women face charges related to human trafficking, prosecutors said.

According to the investigation, the three teenagers, all from Tenejapa, Chiapas, were recruited in July with the promise of work preparing and selling food on the street. They were then brought to Playa del Carmen and taken to a house in the informal settlement known as In House.

Hortencia “N” oversaw the cleaning and food preparation, prosecutors said. The teenagers were later sent to sell elotes and esquites — traditional Mexican corn dishes — in the city center on shifts running from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m.

The two women allegedly collected between 8,400 and 10,800 pesos a day from the sales, while paying the teenagers less than the minimum wage set under federal labor law, according to the State Prosecutor’s Office.

The judge also imposed two years of pretrial detention on both women as a precautionary measure while the case continues.