Guatemalan Woman Investigated for Human Trafficking in Orange Walk

There is a report of an apparent case of human trafficking in Orange Walk Town. On Saturday, the Quick Response Team visited Dominguez Bar which is located on the Otro Benque Road where they interviewed a Guatemalan mother and her daughter. Twenty-seven Dania Marisol Paredes Contreras and her forty-eight mother Ana Maria Auralia Contreras de Paredes, both of Poptun Guatemala told police they had been brought to work in Belize on November twelfth by the bar owner, Rosa Anita Garcia, who is also a Guatemalan. According to the women, Garcia told them they would be working at a fast food restaurant but instead, they had been put to work at Dominguez Bar. Dania also told police about her ordeal in which she sold beers and drank with bar patrons. She further claimed that on two occasions, she was forced by Garcia to have sex with men unknown to her. Dania said she complied because the bar owner threatened to kill her two children who stayed behind in Guatemala as well as her mother. She also alleges that she has not been paid a cent by Garcia since she her arrival. And to top it off, Dania told the police that she and her mother had been kept under lock and key. Garcia’s ten year old daughter, Lindsay Garcia, was also present and police say they are investigating the case.