La Paz, Bolivia: Cosmetics Distributor Copamar Investigated for Human Trafficking

Posted on August 22, 2013 • Filed under: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Crime, Human Smuggling, Paraguay, Peru, Police/Military Activity

On August 21, 2013 La Prensa Noticias reported that cosmetics distributor Copamar, which operates in La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz and Tarija, is being investigated on suspicion of trafficking approximately 200 young women between 18 and 25 years old.

According to prosecutor Humberto Quispe, Copamar would investigate the social and family lives of the girls they hired and use that information to later defraud them of due wages. Additionally, 77 of the girls were trafficked abroad after accepting offers to work for the company in countries such as Peru, Paraguay, Brazil and Colombia. Authorities believe that once the girls arrived in their destination country, they were sexually exploited and induced into commercial sex work. Copamar’s owner is currently a police fugitive. Read Article

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