Cuba, considered to be free of prostitution since the 1960s, is
experiencing an increase in prostitution and prostitution tourism as a result of the poor
economy. (Jeszs Zzqiga,"Cuba: The Thailand of the Caribbean" Independent
Journalists’ Cooperative, 18 June 1998)
In Cuba, the new generation of prostituted women vary in age between 15 and 25,
although some can be found who are 13 or 31." (Jeszs Zzqiga, "Cuba: The Thailand
of the Caribbean" Independent Journalists’ Cooperative, 18 June 1998)
Women in prostitution reported an increased demand for adolescents and even little
girls. One pimp reported that a man from the Dominican Republic offered him $2,000 for an
‘unblemished’ girl under 14 to work there in a brothel." (Jeszs Zzqiga,
"Cuba: The Thailand of the Caribbean" Independent Journalists’
Cooperative, 18 June 1998)
Policy and Law
In Cuba, legislation effective August 1997, sets fines, prison sentences of 2 to 5
years, or up to 8 years for public health, education, tourism, law enforcement or
government officials and confiscation of property for pimps, madams and those who rent
space out for prostitution. ("Cuba to crack down on abettors of prostitution," Reuters,
20 July 1997)
Although there has been an increase in prostitution in Cuba, the women continue to be
penalized. Cuba has revived an old law against vagrancy, using it against the women in
prostitution who get three warnings before they have to face a sentence of up to eight
years in prison. (Jeszs Zzqiga, "Cuba: The Thailand of the Caribbean" Independent
Journalists’ Cooperative, 18 June 1998)
Official Response and Action
Castro appears to be contributing to prostitution and the increase in prostitution
tourism by his own tolerance. He remarked that Cuban women are prostitutes not because
they needed to be but rather because they liked to make love, and that they are the most
educated and the healthiest prostitutes on the market. (Jeszs Zzqiga, "Cuba: The
Thailand of the Caribbean," Independent Journalists’ Cooperative,
18 June 1998)
Cuban citizens should fight
prostitution and other crimes by joining neighborhood vigilante groups says a government
official. Crimes, such a prostitution and drug-use, have increased since the Cuban
economic crisis and the influx of foreign tourism. ("Cubans urged to join fight
against rising crime," Reuters, 27 September 1998)