How Cartels Force Children Into Prostitution, Drug Dealing and Even Killing | Rosi Orozco

How Cartels Force Children Into Prostitution, Drug Dealing and Even Killing | Rosi Orozco

From American Thought Leaders by The Epoch Times

May 21, 2026 · 1h 0m

About this episode

Rosi Orozco discusses the grim realities of child exploitation by cartels and her efforts in human trafficking advocacy.

Rosi Orozco is one of the world’s leading voices against human trafficking. She has been working in human rights advocacy for over three decades, and as a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico, she was the driving legislative force behind Mexico’s famous anti-trafficking law. “There are 50 million people in the world in slavery,” Orozco tells me. And that, she believes, is a low estimate. She was recently involved in helping three rescued girls, who are now at secure shelter in Mexico. “These three girls were minors, and a cartel was training them to kill, to sell drugs, and to [engage in] prostitution.” What happened to those three minors—only 14, 15, and 17 years old—is fairly typical, she says. They saw an ad on TikTok that promised them “work in the tourism industry, and [promised] very good payment.” When they arrived at the Mexican tourist resort, they were captured. Over the years, Orozco has helped more than 400 rescued people, mostly minors, slowly begin to rebuild their lives. But, she says, “400 is nothing compared with the people that haven’t been rescued.” The rescue is just the beginning of a long journey: “It’s difficult work because these girls were…

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