Vidas Robadas
Vidas Robadas (in Spanish, "Stolen lives") is a 2008 Argentine telenovela. It is loosely based on the Real Life kidnapping of Marita Verón by a net of human trafficking.
The main character is Juliana Miguez, a girl from the (fictional) Argentine village of Río Manso, who is kidnapped and forced to work as a prostitute. The network of human trafficking is managed by Ástor Monserrat, who conceals his activities and the source of his wealth under faked activities as a businessman, even to his own daugther. Monserrat had two henchmen, Nicolás Duarte and Dante Mansilla.
Juliana's parents, Rosario Soler and Juan Miguez, began to search for her, but manage very little, as the local police is involved in the whole network and allows them to operate.
The other main character, Bautista Amaya, got involved in the case as well when Duarte killed his wife by hitting her with his car when he escaped after the kidnapping, and did not stay to help. He he seeks him to avenge his wife. Bautista was not initially aware of the network, or Duarte's relation with Monserrat, and began dating Monserrat's daughter, Ana. He get in contact with them later, and joined forces with them, along with his two friends, the retired prosecutor Fabio Pontevedra and the former police Tano Cigliotti.
Duarte took Juliana as his protegee, until he was fired by Monserrat and forced to escape to the Triple Frontier. She was held then by Monserrat himself, who tried to get rid of the Miguez and Bautista by staging a negotiation with the kidnappers (who were actually his mooks) and returning Juliana to her family. But when he discovered that Juliana had once seen him, and would be able to identify him, he canceled the whole thing. Rosario attempted then to act as a sex trafficker and buy a number of girls from the network, with Juliana's profile. She could not rescue her: Dante tried to prevent the sold, unaware of Rosario's role in it, and sent her with Duarte.
The real activities of Monserrat are finally exposed to the Fundation, the justice, and society at large. Abandoned by his criminal allies and his henchmen, he staged a suicide when the police sought to take him prisoner. He escaped and stayed hidden. Mansilla organized a video where Bautista is seen killing a woman, so that he is forced to escape from the police as well. Juliana escapes and is recaptured, and then captured by the Unquillo brothers, a rival band. Bautista locates Monserrat but fails to capture him, and Rosario sought info about Juliana within the factory owned by the Unquillo.
Rosario finally locates Juliana at the place were she was held captive, and fired to Duarte when leaving. Duarte kidnapps Ana to exchange her for Juliana, but gets killed when she is finally rescued as well.
- Action Hero: Bautista Amaya
- He Who Must Not Be Seen: Claudio Kurtz, the main head of the network, over even Monserrat himself. He is seen at the last episode, and captured.
- No Communities Were Harmed: there's no such a city as "Río Manso" in the Buenos Aires province, it's fictional. Still, it's an allegory of the small cities in the Buenos Aires province, distant from the main city of Buenos Aires.
- Police Are Useless: and worse: they are allied with the criminals.
- Rasputinian Death: Duarte was shot SO many times at the ending... it took a round of a machine-gun and being in the very last episode to take him down for good.
- Villain with Good Publicity: deconstructed. Ástor Monserrat has legitimate business activities, but only as a trick to launder the money he gets from the network of forced prostitution. He does not have good publicity any longer when his real activities get into the public light.