Havana/The police of the municipality of Bartica, in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) of Guyana, arrested a 33-year-old Cuban for the crime of human trafficking and rescued 14 women from the Island. If found guilty, the man would face sentences from five years in prison to life imprisonment, reported the digital newspaper Demerara Waves.
Authorities received information about a woman who was allegedly being held against her will. When they arrived at the place they found the group of women. The migrants were transferred to Georgetown, where they receive psychological support and are being interviewed by agents from the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, with the assistance of representatives of the Ministry of Human Services and the Ministry of the Interior.
The suspect remains in custody at Regional Police Division 4A while investigations continue.
In its 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report, the US State Department reported that the Government of Guyana lacked a formal mechanism to monitor recruitment and detect indicators of human trafficking.
The suspect remains in custody at Regional Police Division 4A while investigations continue.
According to data from the Kaieteur diary Newslast year the authorities initiated 16 investigations into the crime of trafficking. Of 390 trafficking victims, 304 were sexually exploited women, 85 adult men exploited in forced labor, and one child.
“Among the victims were 15 Guyanese citizens and 375 foreigners from Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, India and Colombia. However, the report indicates that only 25 victims received care during that year,” the same media stressed.
Guyana provided accommodation, medical care, psychological counselling, legal services and repatriation assistance, both directly and through civil society organisations.
The country, the US stated in its report, “is unable to adequately regulate labor recruitment agencies… More effective supervision of agreements with foreign workers is needed, especially in large construction and mining operations.”
The oil rush in Guyana attracted in 2025 135,000 Cubans. Guyanese construction companies are increasingly turning to Cubans as a workforce. The South American country is a transit point for migrants from the Island who choose the “southern route”, which leads to destinations such as Brazil, Uruguay or Chile, although many Cubans also choose to settle in Guyana.
Last February Bloomberg warned that the influx of Cubans may increase with the current worsening of conditions on the Island.
