Paraguay President Santiago Peña vows implacable stance against human trafficking
Across Latin America, officials highlighted a surge in human‑trafficking activity and announced new measures to curb it. The United Nations warned that digital trafficking – using online fraud, crypto scams and AI tools – has expanded, noting a 54 % rise in related notifications between 2024 and 2025 and that forced‑labour cases now represent 42 % of global victims, overtaking sexual exploitation.
Paraguay reported that 76 % of victims are women, many of them minors, and described how criminal networks now recruit through social‑media platforms. The country’s interior ministry convened a national forum, with President Santiago Peña pledging “implacable” action against traffickers.
In Guatemala, a new anti‑trafficking report showed that labour exploitation accounted for just over half of rescues of minors during 2024 and the first quarter of 2025. Mexico’s Consejo Ciudadano said 31 % of its trafficking cases involved forced labour or services, while the Mexican academic Abraham Osorio Ballesteros emphasized women, girls and adolescents as the most vulnerable groups.
Colombia’s Migración Colombia uses the LibertApp mobile app to collect tips on suspected trafficking linked to international armed conflicts, coordinating investigations with the national police and the anti‑trafficking unit COAT. Two separate cases in Yopal, Colombia, were recorded in 2026, involving false job offers and exploitation of women aged 14‑23.
Together, these developments underline the growing complexity of trafficking, its digital transformation, and the intensified regional response.
Entities: COAT (Centro Operativo Anti‑Trata) · Centro Operativo Anti‑Trata (COAT) · Colombia · Defensoría del Pueblo · LibertApp · Migración Colombia · Migration Colombia · Ministerio de la Niñez (Paraguay) · Ministry of the Interior (Colombia) · Santiago Peña · UNODC · United Nations
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Sexual exploitation was the primary form of trafficking, accounting for 74% of cases. (9b5600a9-34b8-4b74-b72a-7754e5f911a5)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] 81.7% of victims belonged to socioeconomic strata 1 and 2. (9b5600a9-34b8-4b74-b72a-7754e5f911a5)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] 94.4% of trafficking victims in 2025 were women. (9b5600a9-34b8-4b74-b72a-7754e5f911a5)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] 40.7% of cases were linked directly or indirectly to armed conflict dynamics. (9b5600a9-34b8-4b74-b72a-7754e5f911a5)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Migration Colombia has reinforced measures to prevent citizens travelling abroad from falling victim to human trafficking linked to international armed conflicts. (a39a44d7-a2df-4176-9cce-902bd77ea724)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] 69.4% of trafficking cases handled in 2025 occurred within Colombia. (9b5600a9-34b8-4b74-b72a-7754e5f911a5)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Migration Colombia uses the LibertApp platform for reporting possible trafficking cases. (a39a44d7-a2df-4176-9cce-902bd77ea724)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Migration Colombia coordinates investigations with the National Police and the Centro Operativo Anti‑Trata (COAT). (a39a44d7-a2df-4176-9cce-902bd77ea724)
- [● 2 SOURCES] Human traffickers in Paraguay increasingly recruit victims via social‑media platforms and messaging apps offering false job offers. (e53c5a2d-8ebb-4043-86e8-4a28165481b5, 6ae005a6-8016-44e4-9fd8-cc10705753cd)
- [● 4 SOURCES] Migración Colombia uses the LibertApp mobile application for reporting possible trafficking cases. (supports)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Two trafficking cases were recorded in Yopal in 2026 involving false job offers, forced labour, servitude and sexual violence, with victims mainly women aged 14‑23. (supports)
- [● 2 SOURCES] The practice of ‘criadazgo’ accounts for seven out of ten trafficking victims in Paraguay, predominantly affecting children in interior regions. (e53c5a2d-8ebb-4043-86e8-4a28165481b5, 6ae005a6-8016-44e4-9fd8-cc10705753cd)