Lucy Blacio

As a prosecutor in Ecuador, Lucy Blacio courageously pursued the first cases to be prosecuted under Ecuador’s anti-human trafficking statutes.

Ms. Blacio graduated with her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Cuenca, in the South of Ecuador. She became a prosecutor. In 2004, Ecuador was encouraged by the United States to create better legislation dealing with human trafficking. The penal code was amended in 2005, outlawing trafficking specifically and providing fairly harsh penalties for traffickers. In September, 2006, Lucy Blacio prosecuted a person under the revised statutes for the commercial sexual exploitation of minors. The offender received 12 years in prison. Later that same year, in December, Ms. Blacio initiated the first successful prosecution for child pornography. The offender also was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Between the 2005 amendment and 2007, she initiated over 30 cases, whether prosecutions or investigations, that concerned human trafficking. She also won a conviction in April 2007, where the offender was sentenced to four years in prison for the commercial sexual exploitation of minors. She is now a judge on the National Court of Justice.

In the 2014 TIP Report, Ecuador was listed as a tier 2 county. It is a source, destination, and transit country for forced labor and sex trafficking. While prosecutions were initiated, Ecuador needs to improve in the areas of providing victim support and aftercare.