Gangs run a dangerous redlight district in Latin America, overseeing drug dealing, smuggling, and sex trafficking by day and night. Ramshackle houses lean over the streets, their windows blacked out with paint or shuttered with chipping wood.
This is no place for children — but it’s where The Exodus Road’s Latin American team found two 16-year-old girls.
Originally from Venezuela, these teenagers were threatened into providing sexual services to customers who paid the local crime lords. Kept docile with drugs, starved and sleep-deprived, the two girls lived in a blur of abuse.
Our investigators had already assisted law enforcement in recovering survivors from this area before, and they suspected that there might be more kids there. Their suspicions proved correct when they found the two teenage girls.
Law enforcement and our team were in agreement: we needed to get these girls to safety.
Police partners were able to use evidence The Exodus Road’s team supplied to locate the girls. They were disoriented and afraid, shaking with hunger and sickness. A shelter opened its doors to receive them, offering them the safety that had been denied during their exploitation.
This area continues to be a place of interest. The network that trafficked these teenagers is still out there. Our teams will not rest until all are free.
Thank you for being a part of bringing these girls to safety!
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