When they took me, there were about thirty minimum, could
have been more possibly, because there were a lot of women, more
Salvadorans and Guatemalans.
When they told you that you would work there and you went there, what
was ... the situation presented and what reaction did you have when
you discovered it wasn't what you expected?
We felt bad when we got to the place because [A.] told us that
we had to remain there and we would stay there to wait for the owner,
the owner of the factory, and then we entered the business where there
were a lot of women. It was strange to see so many women when he
had told us we were going to a factory. We felt strange. We asked the
owner why we were there. He asked us if we knew where we were
going.
Then I answered that I didn't know because he had told us that
we would work in a factory and that in reality we did not know, we
didn't know if it was a business made up of women. By then we were
...inside and everything, and we couldn't leave, because when we
wanted to leave, they locked us up and then they didn't let us leave.
We had to do what the owner told us that same day. We got to
Guatemala in two days at seven at night, we arrived at the place and, at
that moment, the owner told us to go get ready, to put on short clothes
so that we could come out to the room to work. I was not used to that
environment. We began to cry. They took us upstairs where there
were some rooms. We stayed there talking with other women, and they
told us that if we wanted to stay, we had to do what they did because
otherwise the owner would give us what we deserved, and then we did
the things, but not voluntarily or anything, but rather forced. We had to
do it.
[...]
There were more than thirty women and six male workers and
the one that operated the disco. Because of him I managed to escape
because supposedly he says that he fell in love with me. He helped me
and told me that if I didn't want to do it, I shouldn't do it, but secretly.
Because if the owner found out that he was helping me then he would
fire him and lock me up forever.
[...]
What happened to R.?
She stayed. She is now at another business because where we
were [was sold]. The owner of the business ...has two more in Zone
He stayed with his other two businesses. But she left, and they took
her to another business. It was in Zone 11.
[...]
Now she has a child. The child doesn't have papers, and
neither does she, and she's still there.
Did you have any communication with her?
Yes, before leaving I maintained contact with her. I spoke to
her and everything, and she also asked me for help, if I would do her
the favor of bringing her child, but I couldn't bring him because the
child did not have papers.
How much time did you stay there in that type of profession?
They kept me captive a year and a half.
[...]
[At the other bar, the owner] sells drugs, and he sells to the
same women being held captive. There are many young girls there.
Are they minors?
Yes. They are into drugs.
What age are we talking about?
There are young girls of all ages, they are 15, 16, 18. Since he
doesn't ask for papers, what he likes is the women, then that's why he
accepts women without papers. And he supports many women because
he manipulates them and he supports them there because he also gives
them drugs. He has them dance naked with the clients.
Did they attempt this with you?
With me they tried various times, but because I didn't want to,
I was always bad with him, because he always forced me to do what I
wasn't used to. I didn't like it. I also didn't use any type of drug. That
is why the young man felt sorry for me and was able to get me out of
there.
Besides being subjected to this against your will were you satisfied with
the money that those people gave you to do this?
When we would ask about the sum, how much we owed or
something, [the owner] never told us anything. He never said, This is
how much is left, this is yours, you earned this or anything. The
clients arrived and would ask us how much we charged. We would say
fifty quetzal [US $6.45] fifteen for the house and thirty five for us.
We never had the chance to use the money we had earned.
There were clients who didn't sleep with us or didn't arrive at
the room because we would tell them our situation, what we were going
through. You see, we were there like this, but then I managed to escape
because of that boy and, thanks to him, I managed to leave and
discovered new places in Zone 19 in the "Florida" district where there
are businesses and many women that go through the same thing.
And the places?
These businesses are in the same zone, in the same block,
businesses with many women who are known from here, who are from
Nicaragua, that maybe I can't give the exact names because they only
have nicknames.
[...]
Some girls from "El Viejo" who are my friends asked me if I
had been there in Guatemala. I told them yes, and they told me that A.
had told them to go. I told them no, why should they go if he was a
mafia man? He was there to sell them. Why should they go with him?
They shouldn't pay attention to him.
Afterword
According to police authorities in Nicaragua, the woman who
provided this statement requested that a formal complaint not be filed.
Accordingly, her case was not pursued.