Worsham 1

English 10 Gahan-F
Due Date: April 6, 2009
Human Trafficking, a Travesty of Mankind

Four miles off the coast of Venezuela, Reinaldo swam towards his freedom from

Cuba, his home country. The last fifteen years of his life had been spent rebuilding an old,

clunker, 1974 Ford Mustang into a hot sports car, which he sold for five-thousand dollars.

In Cuba, that is a decent chunk of money and he could flee to the liberty of the United

States. Leaving his family, he got on board a small boat with twenty other Cubans headed

towards their freedom and away from Cuba. The boat dropped him off four miles from

the coast of Venezuela, and he swam the rest of the distance. Forty year old Reinaldo then

hiked through Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El

Salvador, Guatemala, and finally Mexico. In each of these countries he was stopped by

police or by human traffickers who threatened to kidnap him or send him back to Cuba.

Every time he paid them off with money bribes. Carrying his five thousand dollars in

numerous places on his person, like in his socks and the soles of his shoes, allowed him

to avoid giving away all his money at once, but every time they would ask for a different

amount and he would have to haggle to escape them. After months and months of

hardship, walking by night and sleeping by day, struggling just to survive, Reinaldo

reached his destination, America, by crossing the border into Texas. In Cuba, Reinaldo

was a civil engineer, but because there were no jobs for him there it was as if he only had

the title but it meant nothing. He came to America for a better life and to support his

family. Many Cubans are similar to Reinaldo because they come to America for work, but

unlike Reinaldo’s adventure, many Cubans are swindled and captured by the human

traffickers. The captured are made to do forced labor or are pressured into sex slavery

because they feel that they have no other option.

 Worsham 2
English 10 Gahan-F
Due Date: April 6, 2009
Doesn’t everyone have the right to hope for a better life? In Cuba, times are tough

and finding a job that yields enough money to provide for a family is rare (Cuba). The

Cuban economy has been declining as their major export, sugar, has majorly decreased in

manufacturing (Sheehan Sean 41). Consequently, citizens in search of something better

decide to leave Cuba to find a new life in a new country. But many, being naïve in their

efforts, believe the lies that human traffickers tell and are pulled into a web of deception

and deceit. The United States Department of Justice, executive director, Noeleen Heyzer

pronounced that “many of the people are trafficked because they are provided with

basically false information. They are promised a different kind of work and they end up

with something else”. Thinking they will be transported somewhere else and then freed,

the group of immigrants are lured onto a ship or boat of some kind, ready to leave the

island of Cuba and head towards a freedom that they will never get to experience because

they will be stuck with the traffickers. The fall of the economy, lack of jobs, and scarce of

money flow has made people want to believe that things can improve and they become

eager for any opportunity at a better life.

When someone tells a Cuban that a person will take them away from Cuba for

free and maybe even give them a job, the Cuban will most likely jump at such a generous

offer, desperate to get a job. However, once the destination country is reached, the

traffickers will tell them that they have to work for the transporters in order to pay off the

cost of travel (Cuba (Tier 3)). The transportees, thinking that this makes sense, agree to

work off their arrears. Then, the traffickers pay the workers little to nothing and make it

impossible for the workers to pay off their debt. This way, citizens of Cuba fall into the

trap of human trafficking and are stuck in a vicious cycle of hardship and poverty.
 Worsham 3
English 10 Gahan-F
Due Date: April 6, 2009
The crime of human trafficking, which according to The United Nations Office on

Drugs and Crime, is defined as “the acquisition of people by improper means such as

force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them”, may seem to have one upside;

a positive effect on the economy. Some ask how the illegal transportation and

exploitation of humans can have a good effect on the economy, and the answer is that

there is no positive effect overall, but it does have a few advantages. Cuba is a main

destination for sex trafficking in the world (Cuba (Tier 3)). As a result, there is more

money flow to Cuba because those people have to eat, stay in hotels, and find a way of

transportation. All of these expenditures on the tourist’s part help to boost the economy

because someone is getting paid for those jobs. However, what is not thought of is the

effect that prostitution has on the people involved, who are mentally and physically

harmed. Furthermore, many of the prostitutes may have diseases, which they are

spreading around and not only have the diseases harmed them, but other men or women

as well. These men and women spread it to even more men and women and eventually

increase the total amount of disease in the world. This chain reaction creates an overall

negative effect on the Cuban’s and the world’s economy and consequently shows that the

idea of prostitution having an optimistic effect on the economy is not true.

According to Gunilla S. Ekbers, the special advisor on prostitution and trafficking in

women at the Swedish division for gender equality:

Some prostitution defenders argue that prostitution is an acceptable solution to

poverty.... What they mean, but do not say, is that prostitution is an acceptable

solution for women living in poverty. Seldom do we see proposals that poor men

should make their way out of poverty by welcoming the insertion of penises and
 Worsham 4
English 10 Gahan-F
Due Date: April 6, 2009
other objects into them on a regular basis or dance naked on a stage in front of

ogling and masturbating males. The prostitution industry exploits to its advantage

the fact that most women and children who are in prostitution come from the most

oppressed and vulnerable groups in society.

This quote explains one of the many reasons why prostitution should be illegal, because it

is demeaning to women. It is a dominantly female practice, so if men can find another

way to feed their families, there has to be another way for women. Prostitution may seem

to be a suitable way to earn a living and put food on the table for a family, but it plainly is

not. The Cuban government needs to punish those who traffic women through

prostitution and make the act illegal.

The Cuban government is on the “Tier 3” list, which means that “the government

of Cuba does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of

trafficking and it is not making significant efforts to do so” (Cuba (Tier 3)). Prostitution is

happening inside the country of Cuba and the forced labor of Cubans is taking place

outside the country as well, alongside prostitution on the inside. It’s even legal for a

person over the age of sixteen in Cuba to be a prostitute. Also, the trafficking of adults for

forced labor is not currently prohibited under Cuban law. The Cuban government needs

to be and needs to be doing more to eradicate human trafficking in their country.

The first step to eliminate human trafficking is to educate people. The same way that sex

abusers of children are marked, human traffickers should be marked in the same way

(Millar Micheline R). The United States Department of Trafficking in Persons advises in

their article “Cuba (Tier 3)” that Cuba needs to

 Worsham 5
English 10 Gahan-F
Due Date: April 6, 2009
amend anti-trafficking laws to prohibit all forms of trafficking; increase law

enforcement efforts against trafficking offenders; provide greater legal protections

and assistance for victims; develop procedures to identify trafficking victims

among vulnerable populations; increase anti-trafficking training for law

enforcement; take greater steps to prevent child prostitution and child sex tourism;

and rescue children from the commercial sex trade.

If Cuba takes all of this advice, they will not only improve their current standings, but

eventually end up on Tier One as well, where human trafficking is illegal. There are still

27 million slaves around the world today because people do not realize the full extent of

the problem and are not aware of what they can really do to fix it (freetheslaves.net). If

everyone in the world just learns everything they can and stands up to the politicians and

government and demands stricter policies on human trafficking the number of slaves will

decrease, hopefully to zero one day. The world must realize how much of a problem

human trafficking is and do all we can to stop it.