Tijuana in COVID

Tijuana's red light district is bustling despite pandemic

Tijuana, Mexico's famed red-light district, called Zona Norte, sits a stone's throw from the US-Mexico border. Calle Coahuila, the area's main strip, is normally teeming with a frenetic action bathed in neon light.

Women in short dresses and the highest of high heels stand along the sidewalks, beckoning groups of men to spend some time and money with them. Massive strip clubs, some with hotels attached, act as de facto brothels.

Many specifically cater to the thousands of Americans who cross the border from California each month, looking for a kind of fun that can't be found legally in the United States, except maybe in some Nevada counties where prostitution is permitted.

All of it is legal here -- or, at least, it was until the pandemic descended.

Shutdown

Mexico's government shuttered its economy in late March. Non-essential businesses were forced to close, including in the state of Baja California, where Tijuana is the largest city.

That meant that all the strip clubs, bars, sex hotels and even the sex workers on the sidewalks were forced to close up shop, restrictions that remain in place today.

The land border between the United States and Mexico was also closed to non-essential travel. It was all done with the intent of slowing the virus' spread.

But on a recent reporting trip to Tijuana, it was abundantly clear that while the sex industry isn't as vibrant as it was pre-pandemic, there's a lot of sex happening behind closed doors.

Some follow the rules, some don't

There's something odd about standing in an empty strip club with the lights on. But it's where we met Roberto Torres, who owns the El Zorro Men's Club, just off the district's main drag.

"I don't think we're safe to open yet," he told us. "So, I'm not going to put myself at risk or my employees at risk either."

He had to let go of all his female employees. He says most of them went home but for those that didn't, he has an idea where some could've ended up.

Reopening his business would be illegal, but in Tijuana, it's clear other business owners don't care. "People are opening, certain places are open, certain [sex] hotels are open," he said.

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Nearly 8,000 workers are registered with the government but there are likely hundreds, if not thousands more that aren't registered.

Many have left town or stopped working, according to local state police CNN spoke to, but there are those that stayed because they are supplying the demand that remains.

Although the border is officially closed to non-essential travel, there are exceptions for dual citizens and few vehicles are stopped for checks by Mexican officials. So it's relatively easy to make the short trip.

And some Americans are still coming here to have sex.

They do so with people like Alejandra, whom we found working near a migrant shelter in the city.

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She cautiously agreed to speak with us somewhere private. CNN producer Natalie Gallón let her borrow some everyday clothes, so she wouldn't attract the attention of the hotel staff when we arrived.

"Things are really bad for me, right now," said the several-year veteran of the industry, now in her mid-twenties. "I'm constantly worried, every single day."

She said the pandemic has hit her in two ways, watching her customer base decline while also exponentially increasing the risk of an already dangerous job.

"I just have no idea what's going to happen, or if I'm going to get infected," she said, shifting nervously from side to side in her chair as we spoke.

She's tried to put extra sanitation measures in place. Her clients now have to shower and wash their hands before being with her. She has implemented a no-kissing rule and uses hand sanitizer gel throughout the process.

But this is sex. Physical contact is unavoidable. Alejandra knows this but says she has no choice. The only way she can provide for her 6-year-old daughter is by going to work.

"If I don't work, we don't eat," she said. "What will I do tomorrow if I end up getting sick? But I still have to go out even though I don't want to."