After Veracruz, the next stop in the migrant route is Apizaco, in the state of Tlaxcala. Media outlets have often reported on human trafficking cases taking place in Tlaxcala. Cases of human traffickers moving victims from Tlaxcala to the United States are numerous. The migrant route, following the freight train tracks, leads to Apizaco. As a transit point in the route, the city of Apizaco does not have a significant migrant population.
Nevertheless, human trafficking for sexual labor is a widespread practice in the state. Most of human trafficking victims in Tlaxcala are Mexican women rather than foreign migrants. Tlaxcala has a long history of families operating human trafficking and smuggling rings, but there are differences between trafficking targeting Mexicans in Tlaxcala and trafficking targeting foreigners along the migration route. Experts said that victims of human trafficking in Tlaxcala usually come from small towns in the state.
Mexican victims can be found working in local bars and brothels, while others are moved to the United States to be sexually exploited there. Experts studying human trafficking in the state of Tlaxcala have explained to us the modus operandi of local traffickers. Young men belonging to trafficking rings seduce local women, and they eventually convince their victims that they should live together.
This is how they are convinced to work in local bars and nightclubs. Most women end up being sold to bar and club owners, who force them into prostitution. Human traffickers charge their victims for expenses such as housing, food, clothing, and protection, leading to unpayable debt. These human trafficking networks are believed to operate across the country. Traffickers frequently move their victims to different cities.
Unlike Mexican human trafficking victims, prostitution networks bring their Central American victims to Tlaxcala. The networks move these women in from the areas of the country where they were originally abducted. A researcher we interviewed in Apizaco told us that the Zetas control a trafficking network of women, but they do not follow the same modus operandi of the Tlaxcala rings.
