The Heat Is On

[GetDownOnIt]

News bulletin from AM Costa Rica

Police raid brothels that operate in San José
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
posted at 5:45 p.m.
The Policía Municipal and other agencies swooped down on a number of brothels in San José Friday afternoon and began the process of closing them.

The raids took place in the middle of the work day, and women and some customers had to leave in the full glare of television and newspaper cameras.

Raiders shut down Musas on Avenida 7 at Calle 9 and then moved to the well-known New Fantasy on Avenida 9 between calles 5 and 7. Some were headed to Zona Blue three blocks to the west.

After they had ordered the employees from the various buildings, police locked the doors and put stickers showing that the businesses were closed.

An immigration official said that two foreign women were found working at New Fantasy. One was a Colombian and the other was a Nicaraguan. Both were legal, he said because they had Costa Rican cédulas.

The women left the various businesses with their heads covered, but there were no arrests. One woman wore an arctic jacket with the hood fastened tightly around her face.
Fuerza Pública officers participated in the raids. One officer said the day still was young and that many other brothels that had been operating openly in the city would be targeted.

A.M. Costa Rica had raised the issue of brothels operating in the city using pension licenses three weeks ago. La Nación, the Spanish-language newspaper, published a major article Sunday, and Channel 7 Teletica was featuring the issue through the week. The television station was concerned because some of the brothels were located in historic buildings in Barrio Amón.

At New Fantasy one officer left the premises with an arm load of loose-leaf binders that appeared to hold the operating ledgers of the business.

Unlike some of the other businesses, New Fantasy made no pretense of what transpired within its walls. Other firms advertise rooms for rent to continue the fiction that they are a legitimate small hotel or pension. There are perhaps 100 brothels in the metropolitan area and they are a key element in sex tourism.

New Fantasy, for example, was mainly patronized by North Americans and has been included on various nightlife tours for tourists.

 

[Angelique]

Holy shit, you are kidding me? I was on my way over to NF this afternoon and decided to wait until tonight b/c I wanted to get a bite to eat instead. That would have been hellish if my mug ended up on national TV tonight :shock:

Was anyone of us there to witness this :?: I sincerely hope not.

ME07

 

[Infonewsmiari]

Was anyone of us there to witness this :?: I sincerely hope not.

ME07

Unfortunately YES, SinCity was

http://www.costaricaticas.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=24413&highlight=

 

[Softtouchmale]

Bad news, the question is how much worse will it get. I just watched the news video of NF, ZB and several other places then they showed a certain website many of us are familiar with. If this keeps up I may avoid the heat and reschedule my upcoming trip.

 

[Veggiemite]

Bad news, the question is how much worse will it get. I just watched the news video of NF, ZB and several other places then they showed a certain website many of us are familiar with. If this keeps up I may avoid the heat and reschedule my upcoming trip.

Do you have a link/website for the video?

 

[wasprettyonce]

Needless to say, very concerned…

My question would be, Is this limited to the Barrio Amon area, or is a city wide sweep. Have to assume Hotel Zona Blue is having some kind of licensing problems with the bar closing and owners addressing this in an earlier post.

Is centralization of the CR “industry” coming, similar to Amsterdam? Everything in one downtown “Red Light” district./area ?? Is this a city wide crackdown ??

Any fluent Spanish speakers watching the television reports who would like to chime in and tell us what is being said concerning the future of these establishments.

 

[Bryton]

They spoke mainly of Barrio Amon but they have spoken in the past of the varies establishment in other parts of town. They are hitting up the main Gringo sites it appears. Keep in mind our websites that we use are giving them will define maps of where to go and much services cost.

They have made other stops in the past for different reason at other places. Will it be city wide who knows???? Remember last November and December they were at the DR like every other weekend.

I believe this too will pass. But more news company are getting involved both on the screen and in print. The printed news articles are what concerns me because they usally don't get that involved as Canal 7 does.

Guy walk around with your proper doc. to avoid the hassle.

 

[Jeangamma]

According to the evening news (channel 7), five MPs were involved--Musas, the "Dungeon", New Fantasy, Zona Blue and a fifth that was not named or shown in the story.

The video included the police pasting "cerrado" stickers on NF and ZB as well as the CRT photo section. Apparently, the closings were based on "licensing violations."

 

[Arizona Knight Wolf]

As previously requested, does anybody have a video link?

 

[chillinfree]

This can't be a good thing. Hope it passes soon. They a digging deep if they hit the Dungeon, but again it is in the Bario Armon area. I expect we may have media members here searching for info.rbc100

 

[Tsunami Dhimani]

http://www.teletica.com/videos.php

when you enter this link you will look to the right and select the video
titled "Clausuran 5 supestos sitos de prostitucion"

Just before the video ends they show the VIP photo section of our favorite website.

 

[Pompal 09.]

Thanks ICSA. Scary video indeed. Any one of us could have been caught on there. I think I am going to lay-low for a while.

 

[techrockstar]

think positivly....closing can occur for many reasons

wheelchair ramps are a real popular cause,

handicaped bathrooms ...another

certain kinds of lighting

direction of an opening door etc..


not to worry...my guess ....this will be corrected quickly and there will be no lost tourist dollars for Costa Rica

 

[ielgzskz]

Without going into too much detail, IMO, the news stories of the last several weeks and the closures today are partially due to potential 2010 presidential candidates and their media allies vying for points. If I'm right (and I hope I'm not), this could last for awhile. :evil: :evil: :evil:

 

[Diaxinvonvibe]

With all due respect of course, something tells me there is more behind this thrust than lobbying for wheelchair ramps.... :wink:

It is true though that the cops are typically motivated by some public sentiment and I`d be curious as to exactly what is going on. It seemed to me that the system was content enough looking the other way at massage places and the like offering full service. Why the change? In America it`s often about property values or compliants from local businesses. They also often suspect drug activity and other more serious crimes in conjunction.