They were only 14 years old, cousins from a small
town in central Mexico, when a fun trip to the local fair turned into a
nightmare of drugs and forced prostitution.
As Maria and Lupe - CNN has changed their names to protect their
identities - were waiting by the highway for their early evening bus
home, they say a semi-tractor trailer stopped right in front of them
and two men got out.
There were no conversations. It all happened very quickly, the
cousins say. "They were two men who were wearing black masks like
hoodies. We couldn't see their faces," Maria said.
Lupe says she didn't even have time to react. "I only felt that they
put something on my nose and that's all I remember. The last thing I
remember is yelling for help," Lupe said.
Drugged and drifting in and out of
consciousness, they lost track of time. They only know they woke up in a
dark room where they were kept for several days. There was no food or
water and the cousins were cold. But it was only the start of their
ordeal.
Several days later, Maria says, a woman showed up. She let them both
know that, from now on, they were going to "work for her," the cousins
said. At that moment they had no idea what the stranger was talking
about.
Lupe was taken out of the room and Maria was left alone with the
woman. A man then entered the room and started beating her savagely. She
says he raped her; and then both the man and the woman threatened her
life and told her to cooperate.
That night Maria says she was forced to have sex with 23 men. "When
they left, I stayed there, lying on the floor, bleeding. My entire body
ached. The woman told me to get up, that it hadn't been that bad," Maria
said.
It was the beginning of several months the cousins describe as
torture. They were sold to a pimp who forced them to have sex with
multiple men every night. Their hair was dyed. They were forced to wear
skimpy outfits. They would get beaten up if they weren't "friendly" with
clients.
Meanwhile, in their hometown, their families were desperately looking
for them. At first, they thought the girls had got lost and searched
around the town. Then they started looking in wooded areas around the
town, afraid they might have been killed or fallen off a cliff.
Lupe's father, a laborer, recalls how desperate his family were to
find the girls. The family organized search parties. They posted flyers
everywhere they could and reached out to hospitals, jails and other
places. At one point, someone suggested searching in bars along
highways.
Francisco - CNN has changed his name as well - and a brother went to
many different bars in Morelos state, neighboring Mexico City.
Francisco says he was disgusted by what he saw: underage girls who
should be in school working as prostitutes. "We would see young girls.
There are many in the state of Morelos. Some of them were wearing masks.
Others had their hair dyed and wore suggestive clothing," Francisco
said.
At one of the bars Maria was taken to, she says she was forced to
work from 3 p.m. to 6 a.m. only to get up again at noon to prepare for
another 18-hour shift. "I felt so dirty, that every time I took a shower
and every time they put makeup on me I felt like an old lady. I felt as
if I didn't have a family," Maria said.
Forced to use drugs and drink alcohol, Maria says she thought her
life would soon end. She was horrified when she saw a very young girl
brought into the house where she and others were being kept. She asked
the girl how old she was. The answer: eight years old.
Maria says she attempted to escape once. She ran away and asked some
police officers on the street for help. What she didn't know was that
the officers were on the payroll of the pimp and took her right back
into the brothel where she got another savage beating.
Maria and Lupe were kidnapped on January 27, 2010. Almost three
months later, when Maria says she had lost all hope, she finally saw the
light - literally.
Maria says she'll never forget the date: April 14. She woke up to see
a ray of light in the room coming from behind an armoire. When she
pushed the armoire out of the way, she found an unlocked door.
Maria says she ran as fast as she could. Several hours later, she ran
into a young man who appeared genuinely concerned about her. A group of
young Christian men fed her, gave her a room to stay the night and
bought her a bus ticket home.
After Maria reached home, the girls' families went to the police who
raided the brothel. Ten people were arrested and six underage girls
rescued, including Lupe. The eight-year-old was not among them.
Lead prosecutor Victor Carranca, the state attorney in Puebla State,
says this case allowed authorities to learn about the underworld of
human trafficking and the vast networks that kidnap underage girl for
forced prostitution.
"The State's Attorney's office focused on targeting sources of
financing for these criminal groups. We eventually closed down 600
establishments," Carranca said. "Many of these places were not only
illegal brothels, but meeting points where criminal gangs planned their
crimes and illegal activities."
The cousins are now getting financial, legal and psychological help
from Camino a Casa, an anti-trafficking organization that focuses on
assisting victims. The foundation was started in 2005 by Rosi Orozco, a
Mexican lawmaker who has launched a crusade against human trafficking.
"There are some people that think they can buy another human being,"
Orozco says. The Mexican Congressman authored an anti-trafficking bill
that was signed into law in June.
The new law makes human trafficking a federal crime, punishable by up
to 40 years in prison. And it targets not only those involved in sex
trafficking, but also other forms of modern slavery, including forced
labor and child pornography.
Orozco is also targeting those who pay to have sex with underage
girls. "We all can change if we stop saying 'johns' - they're not johns!
The clients are criminals," Orozco said. She estimates tens of
thousands of underage girls are sexually exploited every year in Mexico.
With the help of the Camino a Casa foundation, both Maria and Lupe
are learning new skills that will help them have a brighter future.
They're back with their families. Maria says her mother still cries when
she thinks about what her daughter went through.
As part of her therapy, she talks to small groups of people about her
ordeal. "I want people to know what they did to me. I'm no longer angry
or want to get revenge. That's what I want to say. Vengeance is not
good. I have already forgiven those people and I'm happy again," Maria
says.
A long and painful road to recovery is ahead, but finally being home,
Maria and Lupe say, allows them to dream again of a better future.
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