U.S. GOVERNMENT REPORT CLASSIFIES SAINT LUCIA AS ELEVATED THREAT FROM TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, SEX TRAFFICKING AND OTHER VIOLATIONS OF THE AMERICAN 2021 COUNTER-TRAFFICKING ACT

While many of the native-born citizens of Saint Lucia believe that they have been unfairly targeted by the United States, due to the Citizenship by Investment (CIP) fraud, money laundering and corruption scandal, there are other valid reasons for the American government to be restricting the ability of Saint Lucians to enter, reside and work inside the United States.

One of the primary reasons given by the US State Department is the Tier Two designation of Saint Lucia as a jurisdiction with major Sex Trafficking, Trafficking in Persons through Compulsory Labor, Familial Trafficking, and Foreign Workers Labor Trafficking.

Here is a direct quote from the recent report by the State Department:

"Trafficking affects all communities. This section summarizes government and civil society reporting on the nature and scope of trafficking over the past five years. Human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Saint Lucia, and traffickers exploit victims from Saint Lucia abroad. Government officials, civil society, and educators reported Saint Lucian children, especially from economically disadvantaged families, may be at risk of child sex trafficking, sometimes encouraged or forced by parents and caretakers in exchange for goods or services. Individuals working in the adult entertainment industry have been exploited in sex trafficking. Foreign women in commercial sex establishments and migrants from the Caribbean are vulnerable to trafficking. The Cuban regime may have forced approximately 26 Cuban regime-affiliated medical workers in Saint Lucia to work. In 2023, an online media network aired an uncorroborated anonymous interview with a Cuban regime-affiliated engineer who had been previously assigned to a mission in Saint Lucia. According to this worker, he was assigned to a construction project with a Cuban regime-affiliated firm and reported having to transfer most of his salary directly to the firm, receiving threats by heads of mission, being subjected to a curfew, and being prohibited from befriending locals. A 2025 press report documenting survivor testimonies included the testimony of a Cuban medical worker who worked in Saint Lucia in 2015 and reported having her passport confiscated, facing punishment for leaving her employment situation, and having approximately 75 percent of her over wages withheld. Saint Lucian officials have not publicly released a copy of the MOU signed with the Cuban regime for medical workers."

We will continue to cover the issues involving the American government's response to what it considers National Security threats from the five Eastern Caribbean states that offer Economic citizenship for sale.

Readers are urged to access the complete report here:

https://lnkd.in/ePRT86Xa