The publication of the report “Inside a Mexican town where girls are sold from the moment they are born,” written by British journalist Louise Callaghan for The Sunday Times, has once again brought the issue of human trafficking in Tlaxcala, particularly in the municipality of Tenancingo, to the forefront of public debate.
During an interview with journalist Sabina Berman yesterday, Callaghan stated that she was struck by the fact that the governor of Tlaxcala, Lorena Cuéllar Cisneros, publicly maintained that human trafficking does not exist in the state, despite Tenancingo having been implicated for decades in journalistic, academic, and judicial investigations related to sex trafficking networks.
The report, published on May 2nd, describes how, in Tenancingo and other regions of Mexico, poverty, inequality, and practices tolerated under the guise of customs and traditions have allowed girls and adolescents to be given away in exchange for money or goods, leaving them vulnerable to forced marriages, violence, sexual abuse, and domestic labor.
The journalist reports that, because these girls are considered “wives,” they suffer repeated rapes that result in early pregnancies, seriously endangering their physical and mental health.
Callaghan details how these transactions take place. The girls—many of them between 12 and 15 years old—are given to older men or families in the community in exchange for sums of money that typically range from $2,000 to $6,000 USD (or equivalent amounts in Mexican pesos, sometimes combined with livestock, land, or alcohol). Once the dowry is paid, the girl becomes the “property” of the buyer’s family.
The investigation warns that these dynamics constitute forms of trafficking and exploitation that continue to occur due to insufficient intervention by authorities and the social normalization of these behaviors.
To date, the Government of the State of Tlaxcala has not issued an official statement regarding the report by the British journalist or the references to Tenancingo included in the interview. This has raised further questions about the state’s strategy to combat human trafficking and address a problem that has repeatedly placed Tlaxcala under international scrutiny.
Source: entrelineastlaxcala
