HomeNewsBriefBolivians are Victims of Human Trafficking Ring in Brazil
BRIEF

Bolivians are Victims of Human Trafficking Ring in Brazil

BOLIVIA / 20 OCT 2014 BY DAVID GAGNE EN

For the second time in less than a week, a group of Bolivians living in slave-like conditions has been rescued by police in São Paulo, highlighting both Brazil's status as a major forced labor destination and the apparently growing problem of human trafficking in Bolivia.

On October 16, Brazilian police rescued 20 Bolivians who were allegedly victims of forced labor and were living in conditions similar to slavery, reported El Deber. The Bolivians -- 11 adults and 9 children -- were working in a textile factory in Cidade Ademar, one of the poorest neighborhoods in São Paulo. 

Two Bolivians were arrested in the police operation, and may be tried in Bolivia on charges of human trafficking, reported EFE.

The arrests came just days after police freed 13 Bolivians who were living and working under similar conditions in a textile factory, also in São Paulo, reported EFE. Police arrested the owner of the factory, a Bolivian, who is suspected of overseeing the operation.

In both cases, the operations occurred after Bolivians who had escaped from the factories informed authorities of the situation.

InSight Crime Analysis

The rescue of 33 Bolivians from slave-like conditions in São Paulo in one week -- all under Bolivian supervision -- puts the spotlight on Bolivian human trafficking, a crime that sees Bolivians victimized both domestically and internationally. Reports of human trafficking in Bolivia rose 10-fold between 2005 and 2013, although this spike may be due to previous underreporting of the crime. 

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Bolivia

Colonel Adolfo Cardenas, the head of Bolivia's Special Task Force Against High Crime (FELCC), told InSight Crime in a May interview that Bolivians involved in criminal organizations were generally in charge of the networks that exploited Bolivian human trafficking victims. 

While he said sex trafficking was a more common crime in Bolivia than human trafficking for labor, Bolivian victims are sent to Argentina and Brazil for domestic jobs and to work in the textile industry. In August, 19 Bolivians and 12 Haitians were rescued from slave-like conditions in a São Paulo clothing factory, while a forced labor network was dismantled in Argentina in April 2013, allegedly run by Bolivians. 

Brazil has Latin America's largest economy -- of which the thriving textile industry forms an important part -- making it an appealing destination for both undocumented migrants and human traffickers. As many as 40,000 people are believed to work in forced labor conditions in the country. 

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BOLIVIA / 26 JAN 2022

Authorities in Bolivia have arrested the Andean nation’s former anti-drug chief as he tried to flee the country, but how…

DISPLACEMENT / 4 JUL 2023

In this article, the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory examines the policy intervention options for tackling the criminal exploitation of the…

BOLIVIA / 30 NOV 2022

Lake Titicaca serves as a crossroads for varied criminal economies, from cocaine shipments to trafficking the frogs that live along…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…