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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) today issued a statement on the U.S. State Department’s release of the 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report:
 
“I welcome the release of the State Department’s 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report. This report continues to shine light on whether or not foreign countries are combating human trafficking. In China, Saudi Arabia, and around the world, human trafficking remains one of the most urgent human rights challenges and also affects people in our own local communities, including my home state of Florida. This form of modern-day slavery deprives millions of their most fundamental rights.
 
“In our own hemisphere, the Cuban regime profits from the foreign trafficking of healthcare professionals. Through so-called ‘foreign medical missions,’ the Cuban regime has perfected the art of exploitation through forced labor. These ‘missions’ constitute a form of modern-day slavery, and have illegally enriched the pockets of the Cuban regime at the expense of the hard-work of Cuban doctors and medical personnel. I commend the administration for highlighting this case in their annual report.  
 
“In Venezuela, the Maduro regime’s corruption and criminality has turned a once prosperous nation into one of the world’s worst humanitarian, political, and economic catastrophes. This year’s report reveals an alarming increase in sex trafficking in the mining sector as well as the forced recruitment of Venezuelan boys into armed criminal groups.
 
“The United States has a moral duty and strong national security interests to seek an end to these horrific human rights abuses and hold countries accountable for their lack of efforts to fully eliminate trafficking in all its forms.”
 
Rubio is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the State Department, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.