Tijuana
There's been a lot of news coverage recently regarding the increasing amounts of drug-related violence in Mexico. However, this is the first story I've seen where the impact on the country's strip clubs is considered.
Here are some of the key paragraphs:
"Daylight gun battles, beheadings and kidnappings have scared away tourists, forced layoffs and turned some areas of once-vibrant Mexican border cities into virtual ghost towns. The drug wars, which have killed more than 6,000 people in the past 2 1/2 years, have accelerated a decline that merchants also blame on the U.S. economic slowdown and delays at the border because of increased enforcement.
"In Tijuana, where at least 200 people have been killed in drug violence this year, merchants say tourism is down as much as 90 percent compared with 2005, when an estimated 4 million people visited. Half of the downtown businesses -- more than 2,400 -- are shuttered. Farther east along the border, empty markets have become the norm in Ciudad Juarez, where fighting between rival cartels has killed 200 people this year. In Nuevo Laredo, five hotels have shut down.
...
"The downturn has had less obvious consequences, even endangering public health. In Tijuana's now mostly empty strip clubs, prostitutes have grown so desperate that they are increasingly willing to engage in risky behavior such as having unprotected sex.
"'I'll do that now -- let the customer go without a condom -- if they pay me an extra $10,' Katia, a longtime Tijuana prostitute, said in an interview. 'I know I shouldn't, but I need the money.'"
You can read the whole story here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con…
Here are some of the key paragraphs:
"Daylight gun battles, beheadings and kidnappings have scared away tourists, forced layoffs and turned some areas of once-vibrant Mexican border cities into virtual ghost towns. The drug wars, which have killed more than 6,000 people in the past 2 1/2 years, have accelerated a decline that merchants also blame on the U.S. economic slowdown and delays at the border because of increased enforcement.
"In Tijuana, where at least 200 people have been killed in drug violence this year, merchants say tourism is down as much as 90 percent compared with 2005, when an estimated 4 million people visited. Half of the downtown businesses -- more than 2,400 -- are shuttered. Farther east along the border, empty markets have become the norm in Ciudad Juarez, where fighting between rival cartels has killed 200 people this year. In Nuevo Laredo, five hotels have shut down.
...
"The downturn has had less obvious consequences, even endangering public health. In Tijuana's now mostly empty strip clubs, prostitutes have grown so desperate that they are increasingly willing to engage in risky behavior such as having unprotected sex.
"'I'll do that now -- let the customer go without a condom -- if they pay me an extra $10,' Katia, a longtime Tijuana prostitute, said in an interview. 'I know I shouldn't, but I need the money.'"
You can read the whole story here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con…
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14 comments
Thanks for the article... Gee, I knew things were bad but I didn't realize they were this bad....
It makes the modest crime wave in my Penna hometown look like small potatoes..
Truth is, every five dollar bag of pot you buy gives a drug dealer half a box of bullets. Every pound of pot, a gun. There are laws against illegal drugs, but this only seems to increase the lure of the drug.
I know that employers are increasing drug screenings and I have no pity, none, whatsoever for people who screw up their career because they can't get by without altering their reality.
I went to a prep school for high school. I struggled to get C's. My roomate, a stoner, graduated with high honors-and he rubbed my nose in it. Several years later, he dropped off the radar screen, completely. All that brilliance shot, gone. Pity.
Immoral, because I think a drug dealer is just trying to keep a roof over his head and provide for his/her family? Give me a break!!
If you hand a drug dealer money you are contributing to border violence, murder, corruption, rape, and oppression. Don't try to sweet talk or divert it. If you deny this statement you are a fool who has obviously ignored reality and you are ill informed about the world. You should spend some time near the border and talk to the people there about their problems.
No problems at all...no banditos accosted me, and no pinchey police shook me down. The most physical danger I was in was walking down the infamous "alley", where the street girls hang out in front of cheap hotels. As you walk by, the girls go, "tssk! tskk!" to get your attention, and grab your sleeve or jacket to get you to slow down enough to look. That was the most, and only, unwanted physical contact that I got...and that contact wasn't entirely unwanted.
I don't in any way discount any horror stories that any one may tell about TJ. I am a fairly big guy (deceptively so...I have zero athletical ability),and I am also in my mid-40s. I always walk with purpose, as opposed to acting in a way that would make someone think I was lost, or just wondering around randomly looking for sugggestions. I heard some come-ons that may have involvld drugs, but I just walked on without response or reaction. I also sip my beers, so I am never drunk while in the Zona. I think a combination of my age and sobriety keeps the policia away.
The only physical pain I experienced in connection with the trip was a couple of days after I got home, when I had pain in the muscles in my shoulders, back, and ass from all the unaccustomed use of the muscles during the repetitions of the conjugal act.
All I can say is that my three experiences in TJ over the past 18 months is virtually that of an adult Disneyland. I have scene heavily-armed SWAT-type cops in pursuit of somebody, but that was outside the red light district. The next time I am in the Zone, I might get assaulted by some bad guys and killed. But, based on my own experience, I have never seen any more danger than in the nearest big town to me, St. Louis, a place that I do not hesitate to visit.