Six months in prison for Venezuelan woman who operated brothel in Region Seven.

When law enforcement officers raided a brothel in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) earlier this month, they rescued two Venezuelan women.

The operation led to the arrest of 41-year-old Mayelin Cordova, a Venezuelan national.

Cordova was arraigned at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, charged with operating a brothel, contrary to the combating of Trafficking in Persons Act.

She pleaded guilty and was consequently sentenced to six months in jail by a magistrate.

The word brothel has multiple definitions, the most common being a building in which prostitutes are available.

The search on the premises was a collaboration between the Guyana Police Force (GPF), the Home Affairs Ministry and the Human Services and Social Security’s Counter-Trafficking in Persons Unit (C-TIP).

Just last month, two men were jailed for trafficking foreign nationals. In the first case, a wildlife exporter, Feezal Shaw of Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara (EBD) was sentenced to three years imprisonment after he was convicted of trafficking a Venezuelan national.

Shaw, who is in his 60s, was also ordered to pay $2.1M in restitution to the survivor.

In the other case, Tito Browne, 44, of Linden, Region 10 was jailed for four years for trafficking two Jamaicans.

He was also sentenced to one year imprisonment on a count of withholding the passports of the two Jamaican nationals. He was also fined $200,000 and ordered to pay restitution totaling $6,300,000 to the victims.

In both cases, the victims were brought from their home countries to Guyana and forced to work without receiving payment. The convicts, among other things, made false promises to the victims about the salary they would receive. In Browne’s case, the Jamaicans were told that they would be doing farming work for US$5000.

The Human Services and Social Security Ministry is encouraging persons to report all suspicious activities to its hotline on 227-4083 or 623-5030. For Spanish speaking persons, contact can be made to 624-0079.