*We caught up with award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller to discuss National Geographic’s Trafficked Underworlds with Mariana Van Zeller, a suspenseful docuseries that takes viewers inside the inner workings of the most dangerous black markets on the planet.
“In each episode, Mariana investigates a different underworld — from the trade in body parts and hired assassins to sextortion and the smuggling of brides — to meet the players, learn the business, and better understand the world’s multi-trillion-dollar shadow economy,” per the news release.
“I’ve always been fascinated by these black markets. I’ve always wanted to be a journalist, and then as soon as I started reporting and traveling around the world, I realized that most people don’t know this, but almost half of the world’s economy are these black and gray markets, and we know so little about them,” Mariana told EUR exclusively.
“I think in general, if you are a journalist, you are a curious person. If you tell a journalist that there’s a part of the world they can’t see, especially me, if you tell me there’s a part of the world, I won’t be able to see. That’s exactly where I want to go, and that’s what I’ve been doing,” she continued. “That’s what I’m hoping Trafficked will bring for everybody. I peep inside these secretive, dark, and dangerous worlds that people otherwise wouldn’t be able to get to see.”
Check out our full Q&A with Mariana below.
You go into these dangerous places with these sketchy people fearlessly and bravely. How do you navigate safety concerns while uncovering stories in these perilous environments?
Mariana van Zeller: It takes a lot of work before we even get on a plane to make sure that we’re safe. Obviously, no story out there is worth life. I have an incredible team that also makes sure that everything we’re doing, we’re doing safely. But there’s a lot of unknowns. One of the stories we did the last of the season, we got caught in a military coup in Africa. We went there with military protection from the government. We were traveling around this very, very dangerous part of the world, but we had military protection with us at all times because there are terrorists, there are kidnappers. We were told that’s the only way to travel there. Then suddenly, the unthinkable happened and the military coup was completely unexpected. We got stuck in the middle of the Sahara Desert with no protection and no way out.
So no matter how much you prepare for certain scenarios, we are reporting and spending time in places of the world where the unthinkable can sometimes happen. So there’s really no amount of preparation, but it’s about keeping it cool. It’s about making sure that you are doing this for the right reason. I’m not an adrenaline junkie. I’m not doing this because it’s dangerous. I’m doing this because I believe that all these black markets impact our daily lives, whether we know it or not. There’s a need to understand them and to figure out why they happen and how we can stop them from existing.
How do you handle the emotional toll of witnessing and documenting the hardships some of the subjects face, especially in the migrant/smuggler episode?
With a big glass of wine at the end of the day. I tell my team all the time, a rule that we have on our team that at the end of the day, no matter how tired we are, I want us all to meet for a drink or dinner and to talk about what just happened that day and how we feel about what happened. I think it helps. It’s incredibly therapeutic. And then, obviously, I get to spend time with my family and come back home surrounded by people that I love, and that always helps. But I am also doing my dream job. This is what I’ve always wanted to do, and there’s no complaints here. I know that I’m incredibly privileged to do what I do.
In the migrant episode, one of the subjects was hesitant to speak to you. Getting him to open up took a little coaching and convincing. How do you approach accessing and building trust within these secretive networks?
This is common, and in that case, we actually found out where this person lived and went there without cameras because this person had said, “Yes.” Had agreed to speak to us on camera, and then disappeared. Wasn’t answering his phone. Basically, had got afraid and didn’t want to do it. So we found out where he lived, we knocked on his door, he was having dinner with his family. I felt so bad, and I told him he just needed to figure out whether he could trust us or not. We sat down, I met his family, I talked to him, and I told him, “Look, you can trust us. Ultimately, I’m not here to judge you. I’m here to understand why you do what you do?” And that always goes a long way because I think it’s a very human characteristic that we all have, that we want to be understood.
This goes for this person too. So, after thinking about it and talking about it with his wife, he comes into the car. We did the interview in the car with his wife in the backseat. So the backseat, we have two cameras, and we have his wife stuck in between these two camera guys and me and him in the front. He said, “It’s the only way that I’ll feel comfortable if my wife is here as well.”
We drove around the town, he told us what he did and how he smuggles people and how he transports them and how it’s scary. Sometimes there are threats and there’s horrific things that happen along the way. I think a lot of times the most important thing is to get information out of these people, to understand that they’re human beings like us, obviously, but to understand why these markets exist and to get to the root causes because, without this, they’ll just keep happening.
Did you uncover any surprising or shocking details while researching and documenting the subject matter?
Yeah, I think the body parts is a good one. We did one on fake medication as well, and how 20 million Americans are turning to the black market to buy counterfeit pills. I think the body parts is a world that nobody knows much about. Two million Americans die I think, every day. We don’t know anything about what happens to our bodies after we die. We think we’re cremated, or we’re buried, or maybe our bodies are donated if that’s our wish.
But actually, what our episode will show you is that a lot of times, your body is chopped up and sold to the highest bidder. That’s fascinating and crazy and unexpected. It took us a long time to figure out how to tell that episode. It was really hard to get people to talk to us on that one. But at the end of the day, we did. It’s the typical trafficked, which is a peek into these wild worlds that are happening all around us and that we have no idea.
What type of conversation do you hope audiences are left having after taking in these episodes?
“Holy sh*t. Cannot believe that this is a thing, that this is a market and that this is happening right outside my door, in my backyard, but what can we do? How can we be more aware that this is happening? What can be done to prevent these black market tickets from existing?
But also, there’s a humanizing side to it. I think in Trafficked, with every single episode, what we try to do is show that the people that are operating in these black markets, these criminals, these smugglers, these traffickers, they’re doing it more often than not, because they lack the opportunities that you and I are given.
I hope it’s a real, great conversation starter for all of us to understand, “What opportunities are we given?” And, “What can we do to make sure that those opportunities go to a good place or used the best way they can.” And look at other people who are not given those opportunities, not from a place of above looking down, but of understanding and empathy. It’s the inequity in the world that creates these black markets. If we give people the opportunities, these black markets will not exist.
It’s the financial, economic opportunity, but also the opportunity to be able to buy affordable medication here in the United States. Why are 20 million Americans having to go to Mexico or online to pharmacies around the world to buy their medication? It’s about, what are the opportunities that we’re giving people?
Lastly, in what ways has investigative reporting been transformative for you?
I think most people think that by exploring these black markets, by spending so much of my time in this dangerous world, a world surrounded by armed and dangerous guys, I have a very negative view of the world, but actually, quite the opposite. I find that the majority of times the people I spend time with are people just like you and I. They’re human beings that have goals, and dreams, and aspirations, and daughters, and people that they love. At the end of the day, it’s all about creating a better world for all of us and creating those opportunities. I think that’s led me to have a very hopeful and optimistic view of the world, and that’s a good thing.
Watch Trafficked Underworlds with Mariana Van Zeller on National Geographic and stream the series on Hulu.
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