Venezuela, the country with the most modern slavery in AL

United Nations. Venezuela is, with Haiti, the country where the incidence of modern slavery is highest in Latin America, according to a report released yesterday by the Walk Free Foundation and presented to the United Nations. In absolute numbers, the highest number of casualties in the region is in Mexico

This global index of slavery 2018, based on 2016 figures, estimates that about 174,000 people suffer from this situation on Venezuelan territory, a rate of 5.6 per thousand inhabitants. This proportion is similar to that in Haiti, where some 59,000 people are reported to be victims, and much higher than other countries in the region. After Venezuela and Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Honduras are the countries of the Americas with a greater problem of modern slavery.

In the case of Mexico, Walk Free estimates that some 341 thousand people (2.7 per thousand) suffer from this situation. In total, the organization estimates that nearly 2 million people in the Americas region were in 2016 in a situation of slavery, mainly forced to work. More than a third would be trapped in debt, according to the authors of the report

Walk Free also establishes an estimate of the risk of slavery by country, which in the US case is heading to Haiti, followed by Venezuela and Mexico. In the first two cases, government problems are the main risk factor, while in Mexico, the greatest difficulty lies in the consequences of "informal conflict" with drug trafficking and organized crime groups, said Durgana

. Overall, North Korea is the country with the biggest problem of modern slavery, with one in ten people affected. The majority of these people in situations of slavery in the Asian country are victims of the state, which has turned forced labor into a central part of its political system. In total, Walk Free estimates that 2.6 million North Koreans are victims of modern slavery

The organization notes that developed countries are also responsible for the persistence of slavery, since they import $ 350 billion worth of goods produced suspicious circumstances.