The heartbreaking true story of a Mexican human trafficking survivor who was raped 43,000 times since 12-years-old

'I thought they were disgusting. They knew we were minors. We were not even developed.'

Twenty-three-year-old Karla Jacinto has stepped forward to share her horrifying survival story after suffering sexual abuse for seven years, then enduring four years as a prostitute and victim of human trafficking in Mexico.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Her tale begins when she was only five-years-old. Jacinto was sexually abused and mistreated until she was 12-years-old, when a sex trafficker lured her away from her friends after school to his car.

The man told her he was a car salesman and said he was abused when he was younger. Jacinto admitted they became affectionate and exchanged phone numbers. A week after calling her, he invited her to go on a trip to Puebla and appeared at her home in a firetruck red Firebird Trans AM.

Jacinto told CNN, "When I saw the car I couldn't believe it. I was very impressed by such a big car. It was exciting for me. He asked me to get in the car to go places."

The then 22-year-old man convinced Jacinto to leave with him, and she "lived with him for three months" and treated her properly.

"He loved me," Jacinto said. "[H]e bought me clothes, gave me attention, bought me shoes, flowers, chocolates, everything was beautiful."

Despite the rose-colored glasses Jacinto wore, she noticed the man's cousins often appeared at the couple's apartment with new girls each week. When she finally asked what business the men were truly part of, he admitted they were "pimps."

Jacinto said: "A few days later he started telling me everything I had to do; the positions, how much I need to charge, the things I had to do with the client and for how long, how I was to treat them and how I had to talk to them so that they would give me more money"

She began working as a prostitute in Guadalajara, one of Mexico's largest cities, and claims she "started at 10am and finished at midnight. We were in Guadalajara for a week. Do the math. Twenty per day for a week."

Jacinto was unable to escape and admitted men laughed at her tears. "I had to close my eyes," she said, "so that I wouldn't see what they were doing to me, so that I wouldn't feel anything."

She was sent to several cities where she worked in brothels, roadside motels and even homes and streets known for prostitution. After the first few days she was prostituted out, she was forced to serve at least thirty customers every day of the week.

When her pimp discovered a hickey, he beat her. "He started beating me with a chain in all of my body. He punched me with his fists, he kicked me, pulled my hair, spit at me in the face, and that day was when he also burned me with the iron.

"I told him I wanted to leave and he was accusing me of falling in love with a customer. He told me I like being a whore."

When she was thirteen, she was sent to work at a hotel known for prostitution and Jacinto estimated about thirty officers appeared. The authorities kicked out every customer and her hopes rose at the thought of being rescued, along with girls who were as young as ten, but the officers recorded the girls in compromising positions for nearly four hours.

Jacinto claimed the men told each girl the videos would be sent to their families should they disobey their orders. "I thought they were disgusting," she said. "They knew we were minors. We were not even developed. We had sad faces. There were girls who were only ten years old. There were girls who were crying. They told the officers they were minors and nobody paid attention."

Two years after entering the prostitution world, Jacinto's pimp impregnated her and she gave birth to a girl when she was only 15-years-old. He took the child from Jacinto the first month after she was born and did not allow her mother to see her again until she was over a year old.

In 2008, Jacinto was rescued during an anti-trafficking operation in Mexico City. She was sixteen-years-old. Now, seven years since her rescue, Jacinto has become an advocate against human trafficking and has attended several public events and conferences to share her story.

Jacinto has been sharing her story in an attempt to raise awareness about the horrific trade that continues to affect girls and women around the world. Earlier this year, she traveled to America and shared her tale with the United States Congress, then two months later went to the Vatican and spoke to Pope Francis. 

Portions of Jacinto's story have been verified by senior officials at Road to Home, a shelter she lived at for twelve months following her rescue.

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