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“Prevention Is Possible”: Human Rights Director Takes on Sex Trafficking in Mexico’s Tlaxcala State
In a Mexican state long associated with networks that sexually exploit women and girls, an initiative rooted in the work of Catholic priests, religious sisters and civil society organizations is bringing the fight against human trafficking into schools. Marisol Flores García, director of the Fray Julián Garcés Center, tells Press Crux how education can help disrupt trafficking networks’ recruitment tactics and prevent a new generation from perpetuating this form of modern-day slavery.
INTERVIEW | CHURCH IN MEXICO
Ana Paula Morales (Poli)
10/30/2026
Marisol Flores García, director of the Fray Julián Garcés Center for Human Rights and Local Development in Tlaxcala, Mexico, works to prevent the trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation through educational and community-based initiatives. Photo courtesy of the Fray Julián Garcés Center.
Tlaxcala, Mexico.- A teenage girl meets a young man who promises her love, a home and a better future. Gradually, the relationship becomes a means of control. What began as a romance can, in some cases, become the first step into a sex trafficking network. It is one of the tactics used by human traffickers in Mexico, where criminal organizations exploit poverty, domestic violence, economic aspirations and emotional relationships to recruit women and girls. In Tlaxcala, one of Mexico's smallest states, located in the central part of the country, the practice has deep historical roots and has given rise to trafficking networks operating both within Mexico and across its borders.
Yet there is another story unfolding alongside this reality: one of resistance that began more than two decades ago, when Catholic priests, religious sisters and Christian communities began asking what they could do to confront the sexual exploitation of women and girls. Their efforts led to the creation of the Fray Julián Garcés Center for Human Rights and Local Development, an organization now working to prevent trafficking through education. In an exclusive interview with Press Crux, its director, Marisol Flores García, describes how teachers and students are learning to recognize different forms of violence, challenge the mechanisms of exploitation and build relationships grounded in human dignity. “Prevention is possible,” she says.
Mexico Confronts One of the Gravest Forms of Human Exploitation
Human trafficking is a crime that can involve recruiting, transporting, harboring or receiving people through deception, threats, coercion or abuse of vulnerability for the purpose of exploitation. It takes many forms, including sexual exploitation, forced labor, servitude and other forms of abuse. In Mexico, trafficking is not confined to a particular region or method: victims may be exploited within the country or taken abroad, particularly to the United States, where criminal networks also operate to exploit people trafficked from Mexico.
The U.S. State Department's 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report placed Mexico on Tier 2, a designation indicating that the country does not fully meet the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The classification does not mean Mexico ranks second worldwide in the number of victims or trafficking offenses; rather, it evaluates the government's response to the crime. The report identifies fraudulent job offers, deceptive romantic relationships, coercion and threats among the methods traffickers use to recruit victims. It also highlights difficulties in identifying victims, investigating crimes and ensuring effective access to justice. The true scale of trafficking remains difficult to determine, since official figures reflect only detected or reported cases, while many victims remain outside government records because of fear, financial dependence, threats or distrust of authorities.
Tlaxcala: A History of Exploitation Passed Down Through Generations
Although Tlaxcala is one of Mexico's smallest states, it has been associated for decades with networks involved in the sexual exploitation of women. The problem cannot be understood simply as a series of isolated crimes. Anthropological research has documented how certain exploitative practices were passed down across generations and expanded into other Mexican states and U.S. cities. The book Educar, cuidar y prevenir. Proyecto escolar por una vida libre de violencia(Educate, Care and Prevent: A School Project for a Life Free From Violence), published by the Fray Julián Garcés Center, draws on research by anthropologist Oscar Montiel Torres tracing the phenomenon to the 1950s, when some men began profiting from the sexual exploitation of women and subsequently passed that criminal business model on to others in their communities.
Over time, trafficking networks expanded beyond state borders. In June 2026, the Fray Julián Garcés Center publicly denounced the persistence of the problem and criticized the authorities' response. The organization recalled that a 2017 public perception study had recorded references to traffickers, victims or places where exploitation occurred in 40 municipalities across Tlaxcala. This figure does not mean that trafficking cases were judicially established in all 40 municipalities; it reflects information gathered through public perceptions. Nevertheless, it helps explain why civil society organizations warn that the phenomenon extends far beyond a single town or locality.
The problem is compounded by broader patterns of violence against women. According to Mexico's National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), the 2021 National Survey on the Dynamics of Household Relationships (ENDIREH)found that 68.6% of women ages 15 and older in Tlaxcala had experienced some form of violence during their lifetime; 46.3% reported sexual violence and 33.6% physical violence. Although these figures do not specifically measure trafficking, they illustrate the broader climate of violence and inequality in which organizations are working to develop prevention strategies and protect future generations.
A Response Born Within the Catholic Church
The history of the Fray Julián Garcés Center is closely tied to the Catholic Church's social commitment in Tlaxcala. Flores García explains that around the year 2000, priests, Dominican Sisters of the Presentation and civil society organizations took part in a pastoral reflection aimed at identifying the most serious social problems affecting communities in the diocese. Their efforts sought to recognize what they called the “new faces of Christ” among people suffering from poverty, exclusion and violence. It was during this process that they began confronting a particularly painful reality: women subjected to sexual exploitation in communities where the practice had become normalized. What was initially identified as prostitution was later examined as part of networks engaged in trafficking women for sexual exploitation.
In a chapter of Educate, Care and Prevent, Emilio Muñoz Berruecos and Marisol Flores García recall how “a group of priests and religious sisters in Tlaxcala began reflecting with parish groups.” That pastoral reflection developed into research, community organizing and demands for institutional action. In 2002, the Fray Julián Garcés Center for Human Rights and Local Development was founded to strengthen community efforts to document abuses, report crimes, raise public awareness and advocate for change. Four years later, several organizations established the Popular Initiative Organizations Against the Trafficking of Women and Girls, a coalition intended to press authorities for concrete action. More than two decades later, the center continues its work through school-based prevention programs, teacher training and advocacy with government institutions.
When Love Becomes a Tool of Control
One of the most difficult aspects of trafficking to combat is the use of romantic relationships to recruit victims. Flores García explains that traffickers may exploit the legitimate hopes of teenage girls and young women: starting a family, escaping an abusive home, achieving financial security, buying a house or building a different future. An abuser may initially present himself as a loving, protective partner before gradually introducing dependence and manipulation until the victim accepts exploitative situations. In some cases, the exploitation is portrayed as a temporary sacrifice to help a boyfriend or husband through an alleged financial crisis, turning an emotional bond into an instrument of coercion.
The book examines these practices in a chapter by Ixchel Yglesias González Báez and Oscar Montiel Torres, who describe the use of “psychological and emotional strategies to undermine women's autonomy” and identify “the myth of romantic love and the false promise of a better future” among traffickers' recruitment methods. This reality poses a particular challenge for families and schools because a trafficking victim does not necessarily have visible injuries, remain physically confined or openly acknowledge that she is being exploited. In some cases, the emotional attachment cultivated by the abuser makes it difficult for the victim herself to recognize the violence, while those around her may mistakenly interpret the situation as an ordinary romantic relationship.
That is why, according to the director, prevention requires teaching young people to recognize signs of control, manipulation, isolation and dependence. It also means working with boys to challenge notions of masculinity that associate success with money, power and control over women. Prevention is not simply about teaching girls how to protect themselves; it is also about preventing boys from normalizing exploitation or eventually becoming traffickers or buyers of commercial sex. Ultimately, the goal is to transform the attitudes, relationships and behaviors that allow sexual exploitation to persist across generations.
Ten Schools Working to Change a Troubling Reality
A significant part of the Fray Julián Garcés Center's work is now taking place in ten middle schools in Tlaxcala. Flores García explains that the organization supports a network of 12 participants, including teachers, school administrators and social workers, with the aim of integrating trafficking prevention and awareness of gender-based violence into everyday education. Rather than relying solely on occasional lectures or awareness campaigns, the initiative seeks to help teenagers recognize violence in their relationships, families and communities, and develop the tools to challenge it before it escalates into exploitation.
According to Flores García, more than 150 teachers have participated in two training webinars during the school year, featuring contributions from specialists and survivors. The sessions aim to strengthen schools' ability to identify warning signs and provide educators with practical resources for addressing an especially complex issue. Flores García reports that, through these experiences, some girls have begun recognizing forms of aggression they previously considered normal, while boys have questioned violent behavior and voiced opposition to sexual exploitation. Although these developments are based on observations made during the center's work with schools, rather than a statistical evaluation demonstrating a reduction in trafficking, they underscore the importance of challenging attitudes and behaviors that may enable exploitation to continue.
A Book Bringing Trafficking Prevention Into the Classroom
One result of this work is the book Educar, cuidar y prevenir. Proyecto escolar por una vida libre de violencia (Educate, Care and Prevent: A School Project for a Life Free From Violence), published in 2025 with support from the Catholic aid organization Adveniat. The project was developed by the Fray Julián Garcés Center under the coordination of Marisol Flores García and Emilio Muñoz Berruecos, while the educational materials were written by Valeria Rebolledo Angulo and Teresa Martínez Cabrera. The publication proposes integrating the prevention of violence and sexual exploitation into different middle school subjects, rather than limiting the issue to a single class or annual awareness event.
The material is organized around three main themes: human rights and citizenship for seventh-grade students, gender-based violence for eighth graders, and emotional relationships for ninth graders, corresponding to Mexico's three years of secondary education. Instead of presenting trafficking as a distant phenomenon, the book encourages students to examine situations drawn from everyday life through activities that explore social inequality, stereotypes, song lyrics, romantic narratives and community support networks. Exercises include Let's Change the Lyrics, Stories in Silence, Networks of Care and Naming It Is Preventing It, designed to help teenagers reflect on their surroundings and recognize how certain forms of violence become normalized.
The book's introduction explains that the program was designed “for all three years of secondary school and with the participation of the entire school community.” It also emphasizes that the material “does not offer a formula or impose a single way of working,” allowing each school to adapt the activities to its particular circumstances. The aim is to ensure that prevention does not become a one-day campaign or an annual event but instead becomes part of students' daily education and their understanding of human dignity. As the publication notes, “violence against women is an everyday reality that requires constant attention and reflection.”
What Is the Government Doing to Combat Human Trafficking?
Combating human trafficking requires action that extends well beyond schools. Mexico has federal legislation aimed at preventing, prosecuting and eradicating trafficking-related offenses, along with mechanisms to coordinate federal and state authorities. Government institutions are responsible for investigating criminal networks, identifying and protecting victims, prosecuting perpetrators and developing prevention policies. Nevertheless, international reports and civil society organizations have pointed to significant gaps between the legal framework and its implementation. The U.S. State Department, for example, has highlighted obstacles to victim identification, criminal investigations and access to justice.
In Tlaxcala, the Fray Julián Garcés Center has repeatedly argued that prevention must become a sustained educational policy rather than depend primarily on civil society initiatives. On April 28, 2026, during an event focused on preventing violence and trafficking, a proposed educational program endorsed by 42 groups, collectives and organizations was submitted to the state's Department of Education. The initiative seeks to integrate the prevention of trafficking women and girls for sexual exploitation more broadly and permanently into schools through teacher training, educational materials and the involvement of school communities.
Flores García explains that the education authorities subsequently convened an initial meeting with the Educational Committee for the Prevention of Human Trafficking, where the proposal was presented and further discussions were agreed upon. She also says the authorities distributed the book through a circular sent to secondary schools, while the relevant education departments forwarded it to schools operating under different systems. However, distribution does not mean the program has been implemented in every school across Tlaxcala. For now, the center's direct support is limited to the ten schools participating in its educational network. The challenge ahead is to turn a promising prevention initiative into a lasting public policy supported by resources, training, continuity and evaluation mechanisms.
How Can Families Recognize the Warning Signs?
Flores García believes families have a fundamental role to play in prevention. Warning signs may include a teenage girl's growing isolation, fear or anxiety around her partner, sudden changes in personal relationships or unexplained financial resources. None of these signs, taken individually, establishes that human trafficking is occurring, but they may point to violence, control or manipulation that requires attention and support. The director stresses the importance of building trusting relationships so that girls can speak openly about their experiences without fear of judgment, particularly when they have developed an emotional dependence on an abusive partner.
Flores García also clarifies that the Fray Julián Garcés Center focuses on prevention, training and public advocacy rather than providing direct services to trafficking victims and their families. “We do not provide direct assistance to victims and their families,” she says, explaining the organization's institutional role. This distinction is essential to understanding its mission: reducing the conditions that facilitate recruitment, strengthening the ability of school communities to respond and promoting social change that makes exploitation less likely to be perpetuated. Protecting those who have already suffered trafficking, meanwhile, requires specialized responses from the relevant institutions.
A Commitment to Human Dignity
The story of the Fray Julián Garcés Center illustrates how a reflection that began within Christian communities can develop into a sustained human rights initiative. What started with priests, religious sisters and civil society organizations seeking to understand the suffering of women and girls in Tlaxcala has become an educational project aimed at reaching new generations. For those involved, combating trafficking means challenging the social structures that allow women and girls to be treated as objects of exploitation and building, through families and schools, a culture that recognizes their dignity.
In their chapter of the book, Emilio Muñoz Berruecos and Marisol Flores García emphasize the need to recognize women “as persons with dignity and rights, not as objects of consumption or commodities.” That conviction explains why the organization has placed schools at the heart of its strategy. Preventing trafficking does not begin only when a victim manages to escape a criminal network. It also begins when a teenage girl learns to recognize control disguised as love, when a young man rejects exploitation and when a community stops accepting violence against women as normal.
The hope underlying the initiative is expressed in the book itself: a commitment “to life, to the right to live without fear, and to the possibility of building more just and supportive communities.” In the face of a reality that has destroyed lives, torn families apart and turned human vulnerability into a criminal business for decades, education offers a path toward change. It cannot dismantle trafficking networks on its own or replace the government's responsibilities, but it can help transform the social conditions that allow the crime to persist. As Marisol Flores García puts it: “Prevention is possible.”
Further Reading
The book Educar, cuidar y prevenir. Proyecto escolar por una vida libre de violencia is available as a free download through the Fray Julián Garcés Center. The organization also provides educational and pastoral resources on trafficking prevention for schools, families and communities.
Photo caption: Facade of the Fray Julián Garcés Center for Human Rights and Local Development.
Photo caption: Cover of the Fray Julián Garcés Center's activity report.
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