Child prostitution and trafficking in Puerto Vallarta have risen to an international level, and it’s a problem no one wants to talk about.
Faced with a problem rooted in the last two decades, the Government of Jalisco has established actions with the Secretariat of Public Security and Cybernetics, as well as with civil organizations to take on the problem.
The head of the Secretariat of the Social Assistance System, Alberto Esquer Gutiérrez, acknowledges that, according to the latest indicators at the national level, they show Puerto Vallarta with high levels of child prostitution.
The use of children and adolescents for pornography, production, promotion, and distribution of child pornography, and the forced recruitment of children and adolescents by organized crime for the purpose of sexual exploitation has grown in the city, making Puerto Vallarta one of Mexico’s main cities when it comes to exploitation of children.
Most of the probable perpetrators are relatives or people they know, members of organized crime, and users of social networks.
“The arrival of so many international tourists to Puerto Vallarta has made it a place of attraction internationally and in all the municipalities and cities that grow, their problems also grow, and this has happened in Puerto Vallarta,” said Alberto Esquer Gutiérrez.
Faced with this social and security problem, he reported that the State established an intervention policy with the installation of municipal delegations; In Puerto Vallarta, an exclusive office will be opened for the attention of child prostitution.
In addition, work is being done with the PAS Foundation, Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse to train staff from the Office of the Attorney for the Defense of Children and Adolescents.
In April, the Federal Government released the Strategy for the Prevention of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents (ESCNNA) in Mexico. According to the data presented, it is shown that the main forms of CSEC detected are online -via social networks- (28 percent), the use of children and adolescents for prostitution.
