Article: Searching For Marita
By: Daniel Rome Levine

Susana Trimarco of Argentina, mother of Marita, the missing 23 year old who was believed to be abducted off the streets to work as a prostitute in brothels, disguised herself as a prostitute in her search for her daughter.

When her daughter first went missing, Susana, together with her husband Daniel, reported her disappearance to the police who then dismissed it at first as Marita had to be missing for at least seventy-two hours before the police could open an investigation. Undeterred, the two went on to organized a search party and someone reported seeing Marita being abducted and another young girl told Daniel that she had seen Marita in a brothel in La Rioja.

It was only after repeated pleas from both Susana and Daniel did the police followed up on the statement made by the young girl and took action. When officers, together with the couple finally raided the bar, though they did not managed to find Marita, they managed to rescue a girl who was unwillingly forced to work there. They later learned from the girl that they had rescued that following a tip off to the owners of the bar, Marita had been whisked off shortly before the police arrived. Other raids followed but to no avail. Susana realized that to find her daughter, she has only herself to depend on.

About one year after the disappearance of her daughter, Susana quit her job in an effort to find her daughter. She would often disguise herself as a prostitute and ventured into seedy bars and engaged the girls into conversation in order to learn the whereabouts of Marita. In order to pay her investigation, she exhausted her savings, sold both Marita’s and her house and two cars. Her single-minded obsession also led to both she and Daniel separating. In her effort to find her daughter, Susana was stopped by local police but refused to be cowed. Her efforts started to receive media coverage and the pressure of publicity caused the police to step up raids in bars and brothels. Though she was often threatened and intimidated by bar owners and traffickers, she refused to give up and was placed under 24-hour protection by the police.

Though she stilled had not found Marita, she managed to help many girls forced into prostitution on her way. She started fighting against human trafficking and was an ‘icon’ to many. In October, she set up the Fundacion Maria de los Angeles Por la Lucha Contra la Trata de Personas in Tucuman and Buenos Aires which helped victims of sex trafficking get medical and psychological treatment and job training and provides food and shelter.

From my opinion, I think that the love Susana has for her daughter, Marita, is apparent from the every effort she put in to find her. I believed that all mothers in the world would willingly be like Susana; sacrificing themselves and no amount of money is too great for them in order to find their missing children. All mothers love their children no matter what and Susana effort in finding her missing daughter is just but one of the many great sacrifices mothers made for their children. That said, I still think that Susana is a very brave mother who would do anything in order to find her daughter. As a child, we often could not understand nor appreciate the little efforts and sacrifices our mothers made everyday. But from this article, we could clearly see an example of the great love a parent has for their child.

Furthermore, the security in Argentina could be further stepped up and reinforced. The lack of security in Argentina led to human trafficking happening in broad daylight and common. I think that the government could do more to prevent this from happening and the security is basically very slack in the country. Susana had, in her effort to rescue her daughter, brought up awareness about the issue at hand on human trafficking and this made her a hero in the eyes of the parents whose child had gone missing. She had also managed to save countless others who fall prey to human trafficking while searching for her daughter and her efforts should be widely applauded. Her refusal to deter from her mission even after repeated threats and intimidation from others showed determination and resolution which make her a noble person and a hero always in my eyes.

done by: regina[12]