A Former Beauty Queen Is Accused of Using Indigenous Women as Slaves

MEXICO CITY — A former Mexican beauty queen was arrested for allegedly exploiting and abusing Indigenous women from the mountains of Puebla for at least the past 15 years. Lili Bustillos, who represented Puebla in the Señorita Mexico pageant in 1991, allegedly forced the women to work as servants without pay.

“I still worked under her screams and threats, all because I needed to, but she never paid me a penny, she does have rights, we don't, we live in fear of her and her family, I need her to pay for treating me like a slave,” said the testimony of one woman. She also claimed that her mother was also forced to work for Bustillos, and that Bustillos burned her once with hot oil.

A non-profit published the series of accusations and anonymous testimonies from women this month, which alleged that for years, Bustillos lured the women, mostly from the rural Zacapoaxtla municipality of Puebla’s Sierra Norte, with “the promise of a salary and in some cases, schooling.” But when the women arrived, “through physical and psychological violence, she enslaved them without paying them and retaining them as servants.”

Bustillos alleged crimes came to light after a victim named “Teresa” was rescued by a neighbor in 2022.

“Teresa had been held as a slave for several years and was beaten with a hammer and cut with a hacksaw by Lili [Bustillos], in addition to having multiple injuries from other weapons. The day she was rescued she had not eaten for almost two weeks and was in very poor physical condition,” the group alleged.

Teresa filed a formal complaint with the police in April 2022 soon after her escape, but Bustillos wasn’t arrested until March 9. Bustillos was quickly released on a technicality a few days later, then rearrested on Saturday.

The non-profit that published the accusations, la Red de Formadoras Kualinemilis A.C., also made public the testimony of a woman who allegedly faced similar abuse 15 years ago.

“She took me to her house, promising work, I was in great need and that's why I went, she left me locked up when she went on vacation and I couldn't eat her food, she never paid me, I tried to commit suicide twice with the products she used to clean the bathroom,” the victim said about her experience in the late 2000s.

The organization suggested that there were many other additional victims who hadn’t come forward, and that the crimes may have dated back even further.

Another woman claimed that her mother experienced similar abuse five years ago, “She is willing to report it, but she wants protection because the woman [Lili Bustillos] threatened to kill her and harm my family.”