AREQUIPA, Peru – Emmanuel García Guzmán, a Cuban citizen in the United States, was arrested by the Glendale Police in Los Angeles for his involvement in the “trafficking of Cuban immigrants” who were prostitutes.
A report from the media 13 News of the chain Gray Television indicates that the arrest occurred following a joint operation, also carried out in Houston, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Miami, to arrest several people involved.
It was an undercover operation in which an officer reached a sex-for-money agreement with one of the trafficked women, according to a police report.
Garcia Guzman, who is living in the U.S. illegally, drove her to a hotel near Interstate 10 and Avondale Boulevard on Friday night. Upon arrival, the man was arrested and authorities offered help to the woman involved, but she refused.
Moroni Mendez, spokesperson for the Glendale Police Department, shared statements from the young migrant, who said she was forced to work out of economic necessity.
“He has three children in Cuba and his mother, to whom he constantly sends money to support them and help them live life,” Méndez added.
Investigators of the case identified several apartments, hotels and houses in the West Valley, “where Cuban women are housed and forced into prostitution,” they said, while expressing the suspicion that García Guzmán would be the one in charge of taking them from the place where they are being held to the meeting point agreed upon with the client. That is why, for now, while the investigation continues, the detainee is only charged with one count of transportation for the purpose of prostitution.
“We don’t know how deep it is or what level it is at in this organization. We don’t know how big the organization is,” Mendez said.
Trafficking of women from Cuba, Colombia and Venezuela has increased in the US and Mexico in recent months.
Last month, the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Quintana Roo and the Mexican National Guard rescued 29 women victims of human trafficking, including two Cuban citizens, in a bar in the municipality of Solidaridad, Playa del Carmen.
The official statement from the Prosecutor’s Office, dated June 8, 2024, highlights that “the women were hooked by an international network dedicated to human trafficking, through deception, with false promises of love and job offers.”
The operation, carried out on Benito Juárez Avenue and 50th North Avenue in the Centro neighborhood, led to the arrest of Alejandro “N,” originally from Chihuahua, who had an arrest warrant for sexual abuse in his home state. This subject is accused of being one of those responsible for the exploitation of the victims.
The Prosecutor’s Office reported that of the 29 women rescued, 19 are foreigners and 10 are Mexican. Among the foreigners, there are nine Colombians, six Venezuelans, two Cubans, one Peruvian and one Norwegian. Seven of these women, including the Cubans, were placed at the disposal of the National Migration Institute (INM) for the corresponding procedures.
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2024-07-03 13:32:05
#Cuban #arrested #participating #trafficking #prostitution #network
2024-07-03 13:32:07
#Cuban #arrested #participating #trafficking #prostitution #network
