Women in the World: Lydia Cacho, Mexico

A longtime social activist, Lydia Cacho founded a shelter for sexually exploited women and children in Cancun. In 2005, she wrote Los Demonios del Eden, in which she accused a hotel owner of child pornography and prostitution, and incriminated other Mexican politicians and businessmen for protecting the pedophile. Those denounced in her book targeted Cacho with violence; one sued and had her illegally arrested. She was freed when the United Nations Human Rights Council offered her political asylum. Cacho is currently a columnist at El Universal, Mexico’s main national newspaper.