A MOTHER'S CONSTANT STRUGGLE ,FOR HER DAUGHTER

In February and March 2012, Susana Trimarco testified at the trial of 13 people, including police officers, who were accused of kidnapping Marita Veron and selling her to human traffickers. All the defendants were acquitted on December 12, 2012.

Trimarco has received several international awards, and was nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. She is the founder of the Mara de los Angeles Foundation, which rescues victims of trafficking and provides them with legal, psychological, and social assistance.

On March 8, 2007, the U.S. Department of State honored Susana Trimarco with the International Woman Courage Award

Trimarco's high profile campaign has exposed the sex-trafficking industry and brought the issues of corruption of high officials and the impunity of the human trafficking networks into the public eye. As a result of the her efforts, in 2007, Argentina passed a law that makes the abduction and sexual exploitation of persons a federal offense. The law also established a Rescue Office to provide legal assistance to victims. Between 2007 and 2012, some 2,774 victims had been rescued, with a 181% increase in the last year alone. In 2011, President Cristina Fernndez de Kirchner enacted "Rubro 59", which bans the advertisement of sexual services in newspapers and magazines. And for the first time, the Ministry of Security was able to uncover police forces that were implicated in trafficking rings.

On March 8, 2007, the U.S. Department of State honored Susana Trimarco with the International Women of Courage Award. On conferring the award, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated:

Ms. Susana Trimarco de Veron has faced danger and threats in her efforts to combat human trafficking and to find her daughter, who was kidnapped by traffickers.

Desperate to find her missing daughter, Ms. Trimarco put herself in dangerous situations, disguised as a prostitute, trolling bars and alleys in search of anyone who might know her daughter's whereabouts. Despite false leads and death threats, she has uncovered evidence of trafficking networks operating in the Argentine provinces of La Rioja, Tucuman, Buenos Aires, Cordoba, and Santa Cruz. Thanks to Ms. Trimarco's work, human trafficking is now gaining public and government attention in Argentina, and victims are being encouraged to report the crime

"3 April 2002 was the saddest day of my life. I will never forget that day, as it was when my daughter's life was destroyed," Trimarco told the BBC. She and her husband Daniel, who died in 2010, asked at hospitals, and spoke to police and neighbours about Marita. No-one knew her whereabouts. Trimarco recounted, "We walked back and forth to hospitals, streets; we talked with her girlfriends. Nothing. I was desperate. At the police station, they didn't want to take our report; they said she had gone voluntarily with a boyfriend or with her girlfriends. Then they said they had no paper to take down a report, or gas to go out and look for her in a car."

When at last she arrived at a brothel in La Rioja, she did not find Marita. But a girl, Anahi, ran into her arms and begged her to rescue her. She told her that her daughter had been seen the previous week, and related the ordeal she had lived through. It was the first of many harrowing testimonies.

"Unfortunately I became a specialist in this crime because I touched it, I lived it. And I search for my daughter. I'll never give up the search; whoever falls, falls. My mission is my daughter. I do not want to close my eyes before finding out about her. There are many missing girls who we are helping, but I care about my daughter," Trimarco said firmly!

Numerous marches in support of Susana Trimarco were called in different cities of Argentina, with the people demanding justice for Marita Vern.

Michelle Obama, Nobel Laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel and others have presented their respect and support to Susana Trimarco, a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize for her unresting work against human traffic.