Karla Jacinto has been raped more than 43,000 times in her lifetime. Ever since she was abducted by human traffickers at the age of 12, she has been sent to a number of cities, brothels, roadside motels, homes and streets known for prostitution.
She was forced to see at least 30 customers a day, seven days a week, for a span of four years before being rescued in 2008.
While speaking with CNN, she said ‘I came from a dysfunctional family. I was sexually abused and mistreated from the age of five by a relative.”
While waiting for her friends at a Train station, she met a sex trafficker who had already targeted her.
She said ‘When I saw the car I couldn’t believe it. I was very impressed by such a big car. It was exciting for me. He asked me to get in the car to go places.
‘I lived with him for three months, during which he treated me very well,’ she told CNN.
‘He loved me, he bought me clothes, gave me attention, bought me shoes, flowers, chocolates, everything was beautiful.’
‘A few days later he started telling me everything I had to do; the positions, how much I need to charge, the things I had to do with the client and for how long, how I was to treat them and how I had to talk to them so that they would give me more money.
‘I started at 10am and finished at midnight. We were in Guadalajara for a week. Do the math. Twenty per day for a week,’ she told CNN.
‘Some men would laugh at me because I was crying.
‘I had to close my eyes so that that I wouldn’t see what they were doing to me, so that I wouldn’t feel anything.’
Now, at 23 years old, Karla has become an advocate against human trafficking and has shared her story of survival at public events and conferences.
