Maduro and his representatives maintained inadequate law enforcement efforts.

Venezuelan law did not criminalize all forms of trafficking. The law criminalized labor trafficking and some forms of sex trafficking of women and girls through a 2007 law on women’s rights that prescribed penalties of 15 to 20 years’ imprisonment. Inconsistent with international law, it required a demonstration of force, fraud, or coercion to constitute child sex trafficking and therefore did not criminalize all forms of trafficking. Venezuelan law failed to criminalize the trafficking of men and boys when perpetrators were not part of an organized criminal organization. The law addressing organized crime criminalized trafficking by organized criminal groups of three or more individuals with penalties of 20 to 30 years’ imprisonment. The penalties for trafficking crimes by organized criminal groups were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with penalties prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape.

Maduro and his representatives did not report investigating, prosecuting, or convicting any traffickers. According to media reports and official press statements, in 2025, Maduro representatives investigated at least five cases of trafficking (four for sex trafficking and one for labor trafficking). To prosecute trafficking crimes, prosecutors had to prove the crimes under a patchwork of laws, or prove that perpetrators belonged to broader criminal groups, leaving trafficking cases with individual perpetrators not prosecuted. Publicly accessible judicial information reflected a very limited number of sentences in trafficking cases.

Maduro and his representatives did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of officials allegedly complicit in trafficking crimes; however, corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns.

The scientific, penal, and criminal investigations corps (CICPC) was the specialized law enforcement unit charged with the investigation of trafficking crimes. The organized crime office (ONCDOFT) was the lead entity charged with the prosecution of trafficking crimes against women and girls; however, because the law did not recognize trafficking as a crime against men or boys, its efforts did not include prosecuting crimes against male victims. ONCDOFT did not report what activities it carried out during the reporting period.

The 95th national prosecutor’s office specializing in the crime of trafficking of women and girls heard trafficking cases, but aside from this, there were no other units, courts, or offices dedicated to investigating, prosecuting, or hearing trafficking cases. Observers reported courts lacked resources, personnel, and equipment, which limited their ability to prosecute and follow cases outside of Caracas. The 47th national prosecutor’s office specializing in matters of femicide and the 64th and 82nd national prosecutor’s offices handled cases of lascivious acts with an especially vulnerable victim, sexual slavery, sex trafficking, sexual violence, and human trafficking. Observers noted almost all cases remained open and did not progress due to budgetary and personnel constraints. Sources reported many trafficking cases were processed in courts specializing in violence against women and girls due to lack of information and resources. Maduro law enforcement representatives cooperated with INTERPOL on a global operation to disrupt trafficking networks and, with the support of international organizations, trained prosecutors and members of the judicial sector to counter trafficking crimes.

Maduro and his representatives maintained minimal protection efforts and did not report identifying victims or referring them to services.

NGOs were often the first point of contact for victims, as the government continued to lack a formal or standard procedure for victim identification or referral. According to official and media reports, at least five victims were identified as a result of law enforcement operations conducted in 2025 (three exploited in sex trafficking and two in forced labor). For the third consecutive year, Maduro representatives did not report adopting measures from — or training or funding for the implementation of — a guide on trafficking victim protection in emergency shelters developed in a previous reporting period.

Availability of victim services was limited. There were no specialized shelters or services for trafficking victims in the country. Maduro representatives did not report what assistance, if any, they provided Venezuelan victims upon identification or their return to Venezuela or if they coordinated with foreign governments to ensure the protection of those victims. NGOs and international organizations facilitated some limited training and workshops on trafficking, but they did not report what support, if any, these organizations received from Maduro and his representatives. Maduro representatives did not utilize tools developed by an international organization to support and establish a protection response to the humanitarian crisis in the country, including to address trafficking victims’ protection needs. Venezuelan anti-trafficking efforts focused primarily on women and girls as potential victims of human trafficking crimes to the exclusion of boys and men, leaving them more vulnerable and unprotected. Efforts by Maduro and his representatives to restrict foreign funding to civil society actors limited NGOs ability to offer services to trafficking victims. Maduro and his representatives did not provide victim-witness assistance to support victim participation in criminal justice proceedings and did not have formal policies to provide foreign trafficking victims legal alternatives to their removal to countries where they might face retribution or hardship. Due to inadequate screening among vulnerable populations, Maduro and his representatives did not take effective measures to prevent the inappropriate penalization of potential victims solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked.

Maduro and his representatives maintained inadequate prevention efforts.

No permanent anti-trafficking interagency body existed, and Maduro representatives did not report efforts to implement, fund, or publish the expired 2021-2025 NAP, approved by decree in 2021. Maduro representatives did not report on the content of the plan, including whether it addressed existing challenges, such as forced labor in domestic service, the unlawful recruitment or use of children for armed conflict, the pervasive recruitment and use of children by illegal armed groups in forced criminality, the increase in victim repatriations from other countries, or efforts necessary to mitigate the exploitation of those leaving the country as a result of the economic crisis. Maduro and his representatives did not make efforts to inform Venezuelans fleeing the country about the risks of human trafficking despite notable risks of exploitation and trafficking crimes faced by this population. NGOs reported carrying out awareness-raising activities and events with minimal support from Maduro representatives. Maduro and his representatives did not operate an anti-trafficking hotline to assist potential trafficking victims. Maduro and his representatives did not effectively regulate labor recruiters and did not hold them civilly and criminally liable for fraudulent recruitment. An international organization facilitated a technical training session for ministry of foreign affairs personnel, including consular personnel, on trafficking indicators, victim identification, referral pathways, and international protection standards. Maduro representatives did not report any efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts.

This section describes the nature and scope of trafficking based on recent media and civil society reporting. Human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Venezuela, and traffickers exploit Venezuelan victims abroad; Venezuelan trafficking victims have been identified in more than 30 countries over the last three years. Nearly seven million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2015 as a result of economic, political, and humanitarian crises. Trafficking networks recruit Venezuelan migrants and refugees, particularly women and girls, using false promises of safe migration. Traffickers lure victims online using fraudulent employment opportunities. Venezuelan women and girls are particularly at risk of sex trafficking in neighboring countries, including in Peru where they are exploited in sex trafficking in mining encampments and businesses serving miners. Traffickers increasingly exploit women from central Venezuela and non-border regions of the country. Traffickers increasingly exploit Venezuelan men in forced labor in other countries, including in Aruba and Curaçao. Traffickers increasingly utilize technology and digital platforms, including social media, the dark web, artificial intelligence, and cryptocurrency to engage in fraudulent recruitment and expand their crimes to exploit children using online platforms, including live streaming sex acts.

U.S.-designated FTOs and TCOs, including Tren de Aragua (TdA), and Colombian armed groups, such as the National Liberation Army and dissident factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — People’s Army, controlled some illegal border crossings into Colombia, where trafficking-related crimes then occur. These groups, especially near border regions, subject Venezuelans — mainly migrants and refugees — to forced criminality and recruit and use child soldiers. Families faced internal displacement as many fled in fear that their children might be recruited by armed groups after receiving threats their children would be abducted. According to NGOs, forced labor is a common punishment for violating rules imposed by armed groups. Illegal armed groups forced Venezuelans, including children, to work in forced labor, including forced begging, coca leaf harvesting, and in the mining sector, and exploited women and girls in sex trafficking. In 2025, Maduro and his representatives reportedly provided support and a permissive environment to FTOs and TCOs that unlawfully recruited and used child soldiers and exploited children in forced criminality. The UN, foreign governments, and media reported Maduro representatives — including security forces and local representatives, especially those near border regions — colluded with, tolerated, profited from, and allowed FTOs and TCOs to operate in Venezuelan territory with impunity, while also opposing groups at other times. Members of the army, national guard, and militias present along the Colombia-Venezuela border avoided engaging unspecified Maduro-allied groups in Venezuelan territory and encouraged the armed forces to aid and support their operations.

TdA maintains operations in the region, exploiting Venezuelan women and girls in at least five countries. These traffickers use beauty contests and marketing agencies to fraudulently lure women and girls and later exploit them in other countries or sell them to other criminal organizations. Alleged members of TdA exploited Venezuelan women and girls referred to as multadas in sex trafficking in the United States, subjecting them to debt bondage, threats, and violence against them and their families.

There were over 10,000 Cuban regime-affiliated workers in Venezuela in previous years, whom the Cuban regime forced to work. In 2026, the number of workers present was unknown but believed to have notably decreased. Venezuela has a bilateral agreement with Cuba for workers, preserving the regime as intermediary, and paying the regime directly for their services, leaving them vulnerable to wage confiscation and arbitrary punishments. Trafficking survivors who were in Venezuela reported receiving meager wages, having minders to control their movements and enforce curfews, being placed in inadequate and crowded living conditions, and being coerced into committing criminal acts by falsifying medical records and disposing of medicine to corroborate the fraudulent records they had to produce; they faced extensive and grave reprisals from Cuban regime officials if they refused to follow orders.

Officials were complicit in corruption and human trafficking, including forced labor in the Orinoco Mining Arc. Alliances exist between certain state security officers and U.S.-designated FTOs and TCOs that engaged in trafficking. Complicit state security officers in Bolivar state were aware of and intentionally overlooked and permitted criminal groups that exploited women and girls in sex trafficking and recruited people, including children, to work in mines, exploiting them in forced labor. Military and law enforcement officers were aware of and intentionally overlooked and permitted transnational criminal networks that transferred Venezuelan nationals to other countries in the region, particularly to Trinidad and Tobago, to be exploited in sex trafficking.