Sex Trafficking and Poverty

I am watching a special on MSNBC titled Sex Slaves: Texas about young women and teens trafficked from Honduras that end-up in the global sex trade. First they are placed in brothels in Mexico and then later moved to cantinas in Texas. The story focus is on Houston.

At one point in the story the narrator speaks about a specific victim and her background of poverty, stating: "Her mother works for a US company (pineapple plantation) in Honduras, taking home the equivalent of US $5 a day in pay." The story continues with the victim talking about her want to buy her mother a car and how the family has nothing and lives in a shack without plumbing.

No plumbing is somewhat common in rural South Texas near the Mexican border; I know as I have lived there. It is likely common elsewhere too. I can always sympathize with true poverty as I have been there, though briefly, but still been there. People that experience real poverty for much of their lives sometimes are unaware of how different life can be and do not strive to escape it, but people that are dropped into such situations briefly often vow to never return at any cost.

I do sympathize with the victim in the story and she is obviously a victim of real sex traffickers and pimps. I do not place all the blame on the sex traffickers though. This victim's mother, like so many others, is a victim of U.S. or multi-national corporations that keep workers at a barely sustainable wage. They can never get ahead to get away from it and are trapped in a world of poverty for life. Their daughters easily fall victim to any moron with a line of crap about a great job in the U.S. Can you say United Fruit Company…

Ah, but United Fruit Company was far from alone in its day. It has since been replaced by something no less evil. Did you know that most U.S. corporations and multi-nationals doing business in Mexico pay Mexican workers an average of $5 a day? These workers suffer in poverty with no viable relief except to travel to the U.S. with hope.

Did you know that U.S. foreign policy is sometimes based on keeping these corporations safe as they conduct business in the poorest areas of the world? We never hated Communism and Socialism as so many have claimed. What we really hated was nationalization. Our wealthy corporate big shits had to steal the land and use it to put money in shareholder pockets while paying a barely sustainable wage to workers that worked in extreme conditions for the worse pay in the world. It is a practice that has continued for centuries now and often our military are the guardians that enforce it.

Some people are aware of this and some are not, but few seem to care in their Barbie world. We can pretend all day that the U.S. despises Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez because they're Socialists or Communists, but the truth is all in the nationalization and the refusal to hand over the lands to foreign corporations to use and abuse at will.

Wages in Honduras are actually higher than in many areas of the world. I found this great chart: List of Minimum Wages by Country (Wikipedia). Check out where some of the lowest wages are today and you'll understand the heavy U.S. presence and involvement in politics and elections in these areas.

I really sympathize with this victim on the MSNBC show, but I ask you: Who has really victimized this girl and her family? Who or what enabled that severe poverty she grew-up with? What is the World Bank for 10 points? (just like on Jeopardy – a U.S. tv show).

There are other guilty entities and parties in history though. I never have told anyone how or what prompted me to quit grad school, but I will say that my last class involved my presentation on the topic of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America from the late 1800s forward to World War 2. I didn't choose this topic – trust me; It was assigned. Another story for another day…