HomeNewsBriefHuman Trafficking Verdict Shocks Argentina
BRIEF

Human Trafficking Verdict Shocks Argentina

ARGENTINA / 12 DEC 2012 BY MIRIAM WELLS EN

A landmark human trafficking case in Argentina has ended with all defendants being absolved of all charges, underscoring the difficulties of securing successful prosecutions for such cases.

In what Clarin describes as a “scandalous decision,” a court in the northern province of Tucuman absolved 13 people accused of the kidnapping and disappearance of “Marita” Veron, who was 23 when she was last seen in 2002.

The case had gripped Argentina with horrific details of human trafficking in the northwest of the country, uncovered by Veron’s mother Susana Trimarco during a long campaign to find her daughter.

Trimarco’s search, during which she visited brothels and infiltrated human trafficking rings under the guise of being a former prostitute looking to buy women, led to dozens of victims being rescued and the passage of legislation that made human trafficking a crime. 

It won Trimarco a Nobel Peace Prize nomination, a US State Department Woman of Courage award in 2007, and a human rights award from President Cristina Fernandez last week.

The defendants, who faced 25 years behind bars, had always proclaimed their innocence, claiming they ran whiskey bars, not brothels.

Following the verdict, which sparked outrage throughout the courtroom, Trimarco left visibly upset, with her lawyer telling reporters "it is absolutely clear that this is an act of corruption."

InSight Crime Analysis

The unanimous verdict, which has shocked Argentina, highlights the immense challenges of attempting to tackle human trafficking using the judicial system. The judges said that despite testimony from more than 130 witnesses, including a dozen trafficking victims rescued by Trimarco, there was no physical evidence to link the defendants to Veron, and no trace of her whereabouts. A victim is typically bought and sold several times before ending up in forced prostitution, which means proving the responsibility of individual traffickers can be near impossible.

According to a US Department of Justice study, cooperation and testimony from the victim is crucial for securing a successful prosecution in a human trafficking case, something which was obviously impossible in the case of Veron since she remains missing.

The US State Department’s 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report said Argentina was still failing to meet its minimum standards on tackling human trafficking, although it was making significant progress. Authorities obtained 19 human trafficking convictions in 2011, compared to 15 in 2010.

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

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC / 11 AUG 2022

A network which sexually trafficked Colombian and Venezuelan women to the Dominican Republic has been dismantled.

ARGENTINA / 3 DEC 2021

Amid a spate of attacks on drug stash houses in the city of Rosario, Argentina, residents have taken to painting…

ARGENTINA / 4 OCT 2021

The Monos, Argentina's leading criminal organization, know how to roll with the punches. And while their leader faces a total…

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…