Did a Caregiver Job Become a Human Trafficking Trap?
She came to Belize looking for honest work, but police say the opportunity turned into exploitation. More than three years after a Salvadoran woman reported that she had been recruited as a caregiver, investigators have brought human-trafficking charges against three people. The woman claims her employers changed the terms of her job without her consent and withheld her travel documents when she tried to leave. Two members of the Zabaneh family and another woman are now before the courts as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Unit moves the long-running case forward.
Stacy Smith
ASP Stacy Smith, Staff Officer
“In September of 2023, a report was received of a female at a residence in Dangriga whose travel document was being withheld. The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Unit of the Police Department launched an operation where they were able to remove the female and secure her travel documents. And what was learned during the course of that investigation is that the female, being a 31-year-old, El Salvadoran national, had been recruited to the country for the purpose of being a caregiver. However, she alleges that the terms and conditions of that relationship or that contract were varied without her consent and as a consequence of that, she wanted to leave, but her document was being withheld.”
Emilio Zabaneh
Tersi Aguilar
The accused are 88-year-old Emilio Zabaneh, his 36-year-old son Elvis Zabaneh, and 34-year-old Tersi Aguilar.
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