Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the West

Belize is known as a transit point for the trafficking of men, women, and children for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour, especially of minors. Arrests and convictions have been few, but tonight, a woman from San Ignacio finds herself in trouble with the law.  Police report that as a result of an investigation conducted by the Anti Trafficking in Person Unit in the Cayo District, forty- nine year old Petrona Inez Montejo was arrested and charged with the crime of Procuring a Child for Sexual Exploitation. On Monday, police also arrested and charged twenty-three-year-old Jeffery Perez of Santiago Juan Layout San Ignacio for the Crime of Child Prostitution.