Seventy-two Cuban Women Freed from Forced Prostitution in Ecuador

HAVANA TIMES — The Ecuadorian police informed today of the rescue of 72 Cuban women forced into prostitution by a band dedicated to sexual exploitation and migrant smuggling, reported dpa news service.

Deputy Interior Minister Javier Cordoba said a raid of 22 homes at dawn on Friday in various sectors of Quito, led to the arrest of 12 members of an international crime organization that forced Cuban women into prostitution, under the promise to take them to the United States.

The official said the women were brought to Ecuador by air and that the $15,000 each to be paid to take them to the USA was to be canceled by providing sexual services in the “tolerance zones” of the capital.

The Cuban citizens were recruited by members of the band “under threats and deception.”

Those arrested include nine Cubans, two Colombians and one Ecuadorian who were processed immediately.

During the raids evidence recovered included passports, identity cards, airline tickets, legal documents, stamps and computers that were seized for investigation.