In January 2024, a desperate father pleaded with authorities in Peru to help him find and rescue his 17-year-old daughter, who had been kidnapped by a Venezuelan Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO) and trafficked to a southern Peruvian coastal town for sexual exploitation.
To help with this lifesaving mission, the Peruvian National Police (PNP) Direction Against Trafficking in Persons and the Illicit Trafficking of Migrants (DIRCTPTIM) contacted Our Rescue for help. With Our Rescue’s support, authorities immediately dispatched a PNP intelligence team to locate the minor age female who, based on her father’s information, was being held captive at a bar/nightclub known for sexual exploitation.
For two days, undercover police personnel conducted surveillance, posing as bar customers. They observed numerous Venezuelan women offering sex services and, after confirming the presence of the minor, called in specialized police team in order to conduct an intervention of the location, arrest the violators and rescue the minor and any other victims that could be identified.
A Father’s Vigilance Saves His Daughter and 7 More. Upon entry into the bar/nightclub in a surprise sting, Peruvian police entered and quickly rescued the 17-year-old girl, along with five additional Venezuelan women who had also been trafficked,
Police found these female survivors living in fear, forced to live at the bar/nightclub in cramped dirty rooms and provide sexual services to male clients every night. Daily threats of physical harm, and even death, kept them trapped in forced sexual servitude as they struggled to pay off fabricated debts from their human traffickers.
During the post-rescue police interviews, one of the survivors told authorities that her sister and another Venezuelan woman were also being held and sexually exploited in the northern region of Peru. Authorities immediately dispatched a team to locate and rescue both women. Our Rescue again assisted with securing the two additional human trafficking survivors and transporting them to the Lima region.
Arresting the traffickers is just the first phase of the survivors’ healing. Our Rescue’s Survivor Care team in Latin America provided immediate support to the 17-year-old and five other Venezuelan survivors. Working alongside the District Unit for Assistance to Victims and Witnesses (UDAVIT) for the local public prosecutor’s office, Our Rescue ensured the minor was taken to safe secure lodging to receive food, shelter, and emotional support. The other women were also offered safe travel and support.
The father, who had sacrificed everything—including his job—to save his daughter, soon found his own life at risk as the organized crime gang from Venezuela, retaliated to make an example of him. As threats against him escalated, both father and daughter were forced to flee Peru for a neighboring country to find safety and rebuild their lives, free from the threats of the criminal organization that once tore them apart.
Our Rescue is proud to support operations like this that showcase the power of how one person’s love can help save the lives of many. This father’s love helped free eight women.
With your support, we can help free countless others on our mission to arrest predators, shut down demand, and save women and children from the horrors of sex trafficking. For the one, and for the many, we are in this global fight together.