Tag: Brazil

I am imprisoned in Hong Kong for drug trafficking.

From a very young age I have faced many difficulties. My mother is an alcoholic and because of that I was raised in a home where there was no peace.

Without a father figure, I started facing problems. At school, I always had issues with other students. I was a very rebellious teenager but had good grades. I had friendships that introduced me to drugs, and I started using cocaine when I was just 11 years old.

With no one to intervene, I continued down that path and started selling drugs. I started dating a man who encouraged me to run away from home and taught me how to use other types of drugs like heroin, and at 12 years old, I had my first overdose. My  boyfriend took me to the hospital and abandoned me there alone, because I was under 18 and hospitalized for an overdose—the responsible adult with me would be held legally accountable. To not take this responsibility, he left me alone at the hospital.

Weak and without strength to defend myself, he beat and raped me, stole all my money and threw me out of the house, dressed only in underwear and a bra.

Continue reading Drugs, prostitution and trafficking – my life since I was 12 years old

I am 22 years old and I am writing this letter so that you don’t accept the deals traffickers are giving me.

Before coming to Hong Kong, my situation was always complicated because I had difficulty finding work, as the pandemic had severely affected the job market.

I worked selling clothes in the mornings and as a waitress in pizzerias to help my father, who suffered from heart problems and needed urgent surgery. What I earned wasn’t enough to pay for medical appointments, tests, or medications. I had to drop out of school to help with the living expenses.

.…every time I called I heard my dad crying and saying he didn’t want to die.

I worked from the age of 14 to support my education and help my father, since we only had each other. Over time, the treatments weren’t working, and he was hospitalized several times. I had to figure out what to do to keep my job, take care of my father, and get money for his medical expenses. We had withdrawn money from the bank to pay off our debts. I started working double shifts at night, working overtime and going to work in the mornings, doing housework, and looking for any other job to earn more, even though it meant not being able to rest or spend time with my father, whose health was deteriorating as the months went by.

Continue reading A victim in the crosshairs

I am a 24-year-old Brazilian currently in a Hong Kong prison. I have five children and grew up with separated parents, being raised by my grandparents in the interior of São Paulo. I moved to Fortaleza in 2020.

I lived with my children and worked tirelessly to support them without any help. Despite my efforts, I never received any assistance from my family. After the separation, my parents abandoned me and showed no interest in my well-being or that of my children.

A few months ago, I found myself in a moment of desperation. I was unemployed, with overdue bills and rent, and no money for food. To make matters worse, my five-month-old son had a bout of bronchitis. I spent my nights and days crying and feeling lost. It was at this moment that an acquaintance offered me a job and said that the payment would be of great help to me.

Continue reading What will happen to my children?

I left Sao Paulo on June 28, 2022, for Hong Kong where I was caught with drugs at the airport. I had never done anything so wrong in my life.

I was motivated to do this because of financial problems. I needed to save my son from a gambling debt. Online games today are where many young people in Brazil surrender to addiction. My son is 21 years old and was working when I found out he owed a lot of money to the online gambling bank. Because of this, my son left town so I was worried. Faced with this problem, an old acquaintance told me that I could earn money doing this job, that it would be quick and easy, so out of desperation I accepted.

I was aware of what I was doing, but I didn’t know the consequences. Continue reading A mother’s gamble