Death and Disappearance: Human Trafficking in Baja California

[Judi Lynn]

HUMAN RIGHTS
/
30 AUG 2023 BY IGNACIO ALVARADO ÁLVAREZ

On a sunny afternoon outside the blue facade of the Hotel Acapulco in the heart of Tijuana’s red-light district, several young girls walk the rough pavement, eyeballing a stranger, and muttering a series of incomprehensible one-word enticements. It’s a half-hearted attempt to get another client.

On the hotel’s ground floor, a seafood restaurant shares a wall with a motel named the Rapid Inn. Either residence can service this trade: For a half hour of sex work, these girls can make a meager 200 Mexican pesos (about $10).

Located at the intersection of Coahuila and Constitution avenues between the offices of Tijuana’s transit and municipal police, these establishments form just one part of a vast network of sex work that is often infused with abuse, violence, and, in some cases, human trafficking.

Tijuana, like many cities, appears to have a two-tiered system. On one tier are those on the streets approaching passersby. These women and girls are managed by padrotes, or pimps. These pimps often form part of small, family-based networks, which can also work with organized crime groups. They operate around the hotels, bars, strip clubs, food stalls, self-service stores, and barbershops that make up the red-light district.

More:
https://insightcrime.org/investigations/death-disappearance-human-trafficking-baja-california/