When the Sex Stopped

A health-department raid on “hooker bars” in TJ’s Zona Norte and in eastern Tijuana pulled some 230 sex workers out of circulation early on March 30.

The surprise raids occurred en masse at around 1:30 a.m. as health authorities swooped down on the popular bastions of ribaldry and began checking women to see if they were carrying the required health-inspection card, and if the card they possessed was current.

Of the collected courtesans, 140 had not been officially inspected and lacked the requisite seal of approval. Two had non-current cards. Some 100 hundred others were arrested on other non-specific violations.

In addition to the mass arrests, five nightclubs were closed until further notice: Valentina’s, Hong Kong, Chavela’s, and Adelita’s. They received the fluorescent orange “Clauserado” seal across their doors.

In eastern TJ, Siete de Copas was shut down and Titanic was sanctioned. Some of the bars were shut down for serving minors or for keeping illegal hours.

By Tuesday afternoon, the building where women go to receive health inspections in order to legally work as sexoservidoras was busy with women trying to update their health cards. Employees of the shut-down bars and nightclubs hovered around sidewalks outside, hoping for a rapid reopening of the establishments to be granted by city hall.

Source: Frontera

Photo: El Sol de Tijuana