According to a 2021 report on sexual slavery, over 21,000 Venezuelan women and girls fell victim to human trafficking in Trinidad.
A Venezuelan migrant crosses a road in St James, Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago before finding a spot to wait for customers on September 25, 2023.
Hundreds are women who end up selling their bodies, some willingly, some not, most living in grim conditions without freedom of movement or even the right to use their cellphones at will.Maria, who did not want to give her real name, said she has to work back the $500 she owes the traffickers who arranged her recent passage to the Trinidadian capital, Port of Spain.
A john wishing to take a woman home, or to a hotel, has to fork out a minimum of $150 — about equal to the average monthly salary in Venezuela.Also from her earnings, Maria said she had to pay $50 a month for the “rent” of her small brothel room. With what she can stash away, she has big dreams of opening a small shop back home.Maria knew what she was getting in to when she left Venezuela.