Convicted Venezuelan to be charged with 9 counts of TIP

Forty-one-year-old Mayelin Cordova, a Venezuelan businesswoman currently serving a six-month jail sentence for operating two brothels, will be further charged with nine counts of Trafficking in Persons (TIP), a statement from the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has said.
It is alleged that, contrary to Section 3 (1) (i) of the Combatting of Trafficking in Persons Act, No. 2 of 2005, she trafficked nine Venezuelan females from Venezuela to Guyana between March 15 and April 30, 2023, and exploited them between Crusher Hill and Barakat Backdam in the Cuyuni/ Mazaruni riverine community of Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni). The nature of the exploitation was not disclosed by the Police.

The alleged victims reported the matter to the Police, and members of the TIP Unit of the Police Force’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters conducted an investigation. Based on that investigation, legal advice was given by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for Cordova to be charged with nine counts of Trafficking in Persons.
The Police have reiterated that, in an effort to combat human trafficking, its TIP Unit will continue to work with other stakeholders to conduct intelligence-led operations, spot inspections, awareness, and training in every region of Guyana.
In April of this year, Cordova appeared at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court and pleaded guilty to operating two brothels. She was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. The Human Services and Social Security Ministry had related that, initially, two Venezuelan women were arrested at the brothels — a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. Cordova was subsequently prosecuted after a multi-agency raid that involved the Counter-TIP Unit of that Ministry, the Police Force, and the Home Affairs Ministry.
In May, the Home Affairs Ministry reported that two brothels at Barakat Backdam and Crusher Landing that were operated by the convicted foreign had been destroyed.
According to the Human Services and Social Security Ministry, Cordova’s guilty plea marked the third human trafficking conviction secured so far this year.
Earlier this year, a Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) businessman was jailed for four years for trafficking two Jamaican nationals to Guyana for labour exploitation.
In the other case, a Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara (EBD) wildlife trader was handed a three-year sentence for trafficking a Venezuelan national, also for labour exploitation.
Both convicts were ordered by the court to pay their victims millions of dollars in restitution.