Report: Prostitution a la Carte in Cuba / Luis Felipe Rojas

Luis Felipe Rojas, 8 October 2018 — Brothels in Cuba are within reach of anyone who wants to find them, as the Spanish newspaper El País described this Sunday in a report on the panorama of prostitution on the island.

The journalist Alvaro Fuentes interviewed women in Havana who dedicate themselves to “the oldest profession in the world”. Arlen, a 50-year-old who says she started in the profession at 13, told El País that times have changed. “Now having a prostitute at home is not seen as something bad, and their families support them even, since they bring a standard of living that is unthinkable for the rest of the population”.

In an interview for Radio Martí, the independent journalist Agustín López Caninó evaluated the social phenomenon.

Yanet, another of the women interviewed by the Spanish newspaper who looks for tourists near the Malecón around the Hotel Deauville, explained: “My father is a doctor; his monthly salary is some 50 dollars. I can earn that in an afternoon. It’s frustrating to think about the near future on this island.”

The Cuban Regime has never recognized the existence of prostitution. The U.S. Department of State, in its 2018 report on human trafficking, says that “the Castro government does not fulfill ’the minimum requirements’ for the elimination of the trafficking of people” although it recognizes that the Cuban authorities are making significant efforts to do so.”

Translated by Regina Anavy