A federal judge handed down a sentence of 30 years in prison and the payment of a fine of more than 3 million 500 thousand pesos against Juan Carlos Benavides Cuadros, operator of the “Zona Divas” portal, after proving his criminal responsibility for the crimes of human trafficking and aggravated sexual exploitation.
The Special Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes of Violence against Women, Groups in a Situation of Vulnerability and Human Trafficking (FEVIMTRA), dependent on the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), proved that Benavides Cuadros sexually exploited four women of foreign nationality throughout 2017 in Mexico City and various states of the country, obtaining a direct economic benefit through the publication of the victims’ profiles on said digital platform.
The ministerial investigations launched in September 2017 detail the modus operandi of the criminal network: they recruited women in their countries of origin – mainly in South America – through misleading job offers in the field of modeling.
Once in national territory, the members of the organization took their belongings and immigration documents, mainly passports, to detain them under threats and force them into prostitution.
The “Zona Divas” portal emerged as a restructuring of the Divas.com site, created in October 2001 by Ignacio Santoyo Cervantes and José Antonio Villeda Martínez.
The platform was exposed to public opinion after links to acts of extreme violence were documented, including the femicide of the Venezuelan citizen Kenny Finol in 2018—whose body was found with traces of torture in Ecatepec, State of Mexico—, a crime attributed to Brayan Mauricio Miranda González “El Pozoles”, a member of La Unión Tepito.
After facing part of the criminal process in freedom, Benavides Cuadros was recaptured by federal agents on August 23, 2026.
The sentenced person was admitted to the Federal Center for Social Rehabilitation (CEFERESO) Number 4, located in Tepic, Nayarit, where he will serve the custodial sentence imposed by the judge.
