Victims of a human trafficking ring in Cadiz that counted at least one minor as a victim have said they feel abandoned six years after being freed.

The young men are still waiting for the trial to start after they were rescued from their captors back in June 2020.

Operation Promises, led by the Guardia Civil, dismantled the alleged prostitution network operating in the town of Prado del Rey.

The group had allegedly recruited young South American footballers with promises of contracts and well-paid jobs in Spain – only to force them into prostitution once they arrived.

Three people were arrested as part of the investigation, and eight young men – one of them a minor – were rescued from a house where they were living in overcrowded and inhumane conditions.

‘They promised us football and work,’ one of the victims told El Correo de Andalucia. ‘The reality was prostitution.’

According to the victim, the clients they were forced to serve were ‘always wealthy men’.

Trial finally scheduled six years later

Nearly six years later, the case is finally moving forward in court.

The Provincial Court of Cadiz has scheduled the first hearing for April 21. The trial will be handled by Section Eight of the court, based in Jerez de la Frontera.

However, several of the victims say they have received virtually no information about the legal proceedings.

Despite being officially recognised as victims of human trafficking – and in some cases listed as private prosecutors in the case – they claim they have had little contact with the lawyers assigned to represent them.

‘To this day the lawyers haven’t contacted us,’ one victim said. ‘We only know about the trial through another colleague. We don’t even know what their voices sound like.’

Some victims say they feel they have been left to deal with the aftermath of the case on their own.

According to one of the men, around 16 victims were initially held in the house in Prado del Rey, though some later withdrew their complaints after receiving threats.

‘Some of them dropped the case because they were threatened. Now about 10 of us remain,’ he said.

The Guardia Civil originally reported that eight footballers had been freed during the operation.

The man says the six-year wait for the trial has been extremely difficult.

‘The only thing we got out of all the promises was residency papers,’ he explained. ‘We’re now spread across Spain and some of us are in other parts of Europe.’

He also criticised the lack of support offered to the victims after the operation.

‘It was a great story for the Guardia Civil, but for us…’ he said, trailing off. ‘No one ever checked on us to see if we needed anything.’

He also claimed that some victims had part of their wages taken from them after they eventually found jobs.

Debt and threats still lingering

Many of the victims had borrowed large sums of money in their home countries to pay the organisation that arranged their trip to Spain.

The man speaking to the newspaper said he personally paid $25,000 to the traffickers who promised him a football opportunity.

‘For five years we’ve been paying off that debt however we can,’ he said.

Some victims also reported threats against their families in South America after the trafficking network was exposed.

‘I had to move my family out of our city,’ he said. ‘I even had to pay people in the neighbourhood to protect them while we were trying to get them out.’

He added that threats against some victims have continued over the years, including messages sent through social media.

‘We’ve also been threatened here,’ he said. ‘These five years have not been easy.’

As the trial approaches, several victims say they simply want proper legal support and fair compensation for what they endured.

‘We’re not asking for money from anyone,’ he said. ‘We just want legal help to claim back what was taken from us.’

Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.