This past year has been very interesting and full of changes for Costa Rica. Most notably, it looks like property fraud and crime are on the increase. The government has attempted to make some changes to the corresponding legislation, but crime is noticeably worse than last year and the year before.

Sometime around mid-year, while driving to Multiplaza del Este, this author and his thirteen-year-old daughter saw firsthand how a woman got shot in cold blood at a bus stop when two men on a motorcycle wanted to steal her packages. This is a horrifying experience for anybody to witness, especially for a 13-year-old girl. She asked at the time: “Papi, is this what Costa Rica is becoming?”

Last week this writer went back to the United States. Going back to the States is not a common practice, since it happens only once a year to attend a meeting. Occasionally the trip includes visiting family, and that was the case this year. While driving to Willington, North Carolina, with a sister, she said: “Garland you are like a frog in a pan.” Baffled, I replied: “What do you mean?”

“You tell me about your life in Costa Rica and about all the changes you have made to keep your family safe, and all that does is remind me of the proverbial frog in a pan.” I asked her to explain further. She said: “There is an old fable that says that when a frog is placed in cold water and then brought to a boil, it will make no attempt to escape, ultimately boiling itself to death.” She was referring to all the adjustments one makes in life — which go unnoticed — to deal with surrounding problems. She was right. Costa Rica is downright dangerous to live in today, and the quality of life is disheartening at times.

During the trip back to Costa Rica, much reflection went into the conversation. This author had many years ago decided to become a Costa Rican citizen for many reasons, one of the most important being the desire to contribute with improving the country’s situation. The articles written for A.M. Costa Rica are one example of my efforts to make a difference. Few in Costa Rica have taken the time to continuously research and inform expats about relevant issues concerning the country’s situation and their situation in the country. This author believes people who have taken this task seriously have made a difference in expats’ lives by making them more aware of how to successfully conduct themselves in Costa Rica.

When this author arrived with his family 36 years ago, Costa Rica was truly a paradise; gradually, the country started losing that title, but it still has a good chance to recover. It will just take time, as any process of evolution does. This writer is devoted to making a difference with the help of A.M. Costa Rica, and this dedication will continue well past the New Year.

Alongside the increase in crime, other important changes have also taken place. Here are three which this author believes deserve special attention:

Banking has changed considerably. Trying to open a bank account nowadays has become a very difficult and sometimes downright impossible quest. The amount of documents required by the banks to open a simple savings or business account is overwhelming. U.S. expats have an additional problem: banking institutions require the information contained in the W-9 form for the United States government, besides the customary paperwork. Some banks are even requiring the W-9 form when an expat is part of a company, which is probably due to foreign banks opening branches in Costa Rica, such as HSBC and Citibank. Both surely request an extensive list of documents to report to the United States.

The article written by this author in 2005 about the transparency phantom that stalks the current banking system is much scarier than it was originally anticipated. In addition to the transparency aspect, the local tax watchdogs are getting their act together. New and improved taxing regulation approved in 2008 will go into effect in 2009, and reporting requirements will be much more comprehensive for everyone.

Other changes include the country’s increased efforts to guard the maritime zone, as well as an increase in tearing down structures illegally built in areas that are considered public. Moreover, the principle of “in dubio pro natura” (nature rules and wins in any dispute) has taken on a completely new force: mega projects have been closed down all over the country because they have failed to adhere to strict environmental requirements. This fact, along with the global financial crisis, has put a big damper on real estate sales, seriously limiting new investments into the country.

Lastly — and sadly — the country’s position on prostitution and pimping took a rather funny route back in July. After much hoopla by the local press and two articles published in this newspaper, about 20 brothels were shut down apparently due to their nature, but in reality they were closed because their facilities lacked proper access to disabled clients. Therefore, once they duly complied with the outrageous government sanction and reopened a few weeks later with wheelchair ramps installed, ready to service the disabled, the government saw no other reason to close their operations. These events make a clear statement to the world about how the laws against pimping are not enforced in Costa Rica, and that this country is in fact the ultimate sex-tourism destination, despite the vehement denial of the government.

To all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, let it bring positive changes and a path to new hope for Costa Rica.

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Second of two parts

Costa Rican girls — and boys — get into prostitution for a variety of reasons in Costa Rica. Most of the reasons have to do with family economics. Some households that cannot make ends meet push their kids into selling themselves.

In the campo, the countryside, some mothers tell their sub-teen girls to go hang out around the local bar to sell themselves to the patrons. The girls take their earnings home so the family can survive. In other cases, the mothers of these kids are just money hungry. The easiest way for them to make money is to pressure their children into prostitution.

Rufianería is the term used in law to describe this activity of pressuring someone — of either sex — into prostitution and living off those earnings. It is a voracious kind of pimping. It is more common in Costa Rica than most people believe.

Information for this article has been gained from a series of interviews with prostitutes who volunteered their life stories.

The young never have a chance to improve themselves. Prostitution is all they know from a very young age. As soon as they are older and they can fend for themselves, the family sends them off to San José or to one of the tourist areas in the country like Coco, Jacó, or Quepos.

In other cases, friends coax other friends into prostitution. They tell them about their lives in the big city where they can meet foreigners and make lots of money. Some of the young adults send some money home to support their families. Others get into drugs and pornography.

Prostitution is not on trial here. The vicious cycle is. The cycle that begins with mothers — and in some cases fathers — pushing their kids into prostitution to pay bills or worst yet, to pay for their vices. The police in Parque Morazán have seen fathers dropping their underage daughters off for work in the evening. The work the youngsters are given is to sell themselves as prostitutes to those in cars driving by the park or to the foreigners walking the streets.

Costa Rican law gives every adult the right to sell sex because prostitution is not illegal in this country.

The point is the children never become adults to decide if they want to sell sex. They are usually selling it way before they ever become adults because someone else pushes them into it. Once the cycle begins, it is almost impossible to stop. Young girls do not even finish sixth grade in school. With no education, they are doomed for the rest of their lives to prostitution. Usually, they have a multitude of children. It is common to meet a middle-aged prostitute with four, five or more kids.

What happens when the prostitutes are not young or cute anymore and they cannot sell themselves as readily as they once did? How do they feed all those mouths? Well, they end up on drugs or selling drugs to others. The children get no education and end up in prostitution, too. The boys usually end up in gangs and turn to a life of crime.

Many foreigners do not care where prostitutes come from in Costa Rica. They do not care about the social-economic problems that drive the young into such activity. They just want an ample supply when they come here for their sex vacations. Costa Rica’s lackadaisical attitude about pimping prostitutes contributes to the countries worldwide reputation as a sex tourism destination.

Costa Rica’s position on prostitution and pimping has put the country on the United States’ tier 2 watch list for human trafficking because women and children are trafficked in and out of the country for commercial sexual exploitation.

The country has become a mecca for foreign prostitutes because of Costa Rica’s sex tourism industry.

Most foreigners believe sex is a regulated business here. They believe the government controls prostitution and prostitutes run around with government-issued identification cards to prove they are free of disease. This is not true at all. Some of the major hotels that cater to hookers to increase their casino and bar businesses request identification but only to prove the person is an adult, nothing more. They do not request a health certificate.

The country may be on the verge of waking up. Sunday’s front-page headline in the country’s largest local newspaper is “Prostitutes work in massage parlors with business licenses.” The story was similar to that published here two weeks ago. These massage parlors are nothing more than businesses pimping the available prostitutes. The girls in these places usually work there and let themselves be pimped because they have a reason not to go to a local bar or hotel. They also like the mostly daytime hours.

Here are some other reasons: 1.) They are older or have lost their looks. 2.) They are pregnant. 3.) They are married or are involved in a serious relationship. 4.) they are in school or the university, or 5.) they are in Costa Rica illegally. Many of the girls in these places are from Nicaragua.

Curiously, pimping is illegal in Costa Rica but these establishments have business licenses, usually as a pension or rooming house. Everyone in the government and all the judicial authorities know and have known pimping goes on in these places. Everyone knows pimping is rampant in Costa Rica. It seems the country is exploiting its young and taking advantage of its disadvantaged for profit.

What is troubling is this attitude — sacrificing scruples for profit — goes beyond prostitution and pimping and exists deep inside the court system and politics as well.

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First of two parts

Prostitution is legal in Costa Rica. The activity is legal because there is no law against it. In this country, if there is no law prohibiting something, it is legal.

The legality of paid sex has spawned a wide range of activities that are not legal. Yet Costa Rica makes no effort to enforce these laws, despite lip service to the contrary.

The criminal code lumps most of these illegal activities under the heading of pimping. The skeptical could call it, simply, marketing.

Costa Rica has become a magnet for the sex tourist. The country rivals competitors like Thailand, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Dominican Republic and Cuba. Brazil and the Dominican Republic are the de facto leaders for sex tourism in the Western Hemisphere, but Costa Rica is a serious contender.

The penal code prohibits pimping in Articles 169 and 171. However, pimping is widespread throughout the country, and the government is generally tolerating the activity. Pimping is the marketing engine that brings the customer and the prostitute together. Without pimping, there would be much less sex tourism.

There are two words for pimping in Spanish, proxenetismo and rufianería. Proxenetismo is the activity of promoting or fostering prostitution of either sex. Rufianería is coercively engaging another into prostitution for financial gain.

Wikipedia defines it this way: “A pimp finds and manages clients for prostitutes and engages them in prostitution (in brothels in most cases and some cases street prostitution) in order to profit from their earnings.”

Most every expat knows there are literally hundreds of brothels throughout San José and thousands throughout the country. The owners of those brothels advertise to get clients and manage the money for the prostitutes.

This is how it works: one goes into a brothel to have sex with a prostitute and pays another person for the activity. The owner keeps a portion of the proceeds, and the prostitute gets a percentage of the take. In other words, the owner of the establishment “finds and manages clients for prostitutes.” This is pimping. The government does not crack down on these locations or controls them in anyway.

There are other pimps selling sex that go unnoticed and uncontrolled. Who are they? Well they are taxi drivers, tour bus operators, guides, and — believe it or not — other expats.

These people arrange sex for anyone. They sell men and women, boys and girls. Some students — as in high school and university students — prefer to work with tour bus operators because they can hide their activity from their parents. Prices for a high school or university student can range from $100 to an astonishing $500 an hour because the prostitutes are outside the normal marketplace.

One extraordinarily beautiful 19-year-old called prostitution “her hobby.” She said she engaged in the activity because she came from middle class Costa Rican family and wanted more. Her family does not know she is a prostitute. A tour bus operator finds her clients, drives her to their location and picks her up when she is done.

Some expats also make their living arranging tours to Costa Rica for the sole purpose of assisting their customers in finding prostitutes. Others arrange sex tours of the local hotels and brothels to sample the menu. Others run online “peek shows.” Many of these activities would fall under a reasonable definition of pimping as contains in the Costa Rican code.

Try this test: Google these keywords prostitutes costa rica. The results of the test will reflect Web sites promoting sex tourism to Costa Rica. Foreigners including Americans — not Costa Ricans — own and run them. In many cases, customers must buy a package from the Web site for their sex vacation. This again is “finding and managing clients for prostitutes” or pimping.

Does Costa Rica try to control this activity? No, it does not. In some cases, fishing or property-finding trips to Costa Rica by foreigners disguise the real activity.

The Óscar Arias government seeks to crack down on casino operations because officials say such locations promote prostitution. No official says anything about the rampant pimping and prostitution visible and invisible all over the country. Only when underage youngsters might be involved do officials express dismay.

The visible includes the strip clubs that are just fronts for the activities that go on in the private rooms inside where the house takes a substantial cut.

One of the few — and the most famous — case in Costa Rica for pimping was the ring run by Sinaí Monge. She was accused and found guilty of pimping in 2004.

Her case was notorious because she allegedly arranged sex with minors for public figures, football players and even judicial workers. Although she was convicted, years of surveillance, wiretapping and detective work failed to get the goods on any other person. Her prison sentence was modest.

Why does Costa Rica not enforce articles 169 and 171 of the penal code?

Maybe because it would be an almost impossible task. It would mean closing down thousands of brothels throughout the country. Maybe it is because sex tourism is very important for the economy of Costa Rica.

On the other hand, it could be that prostitution is so much a part of the Costa Rican culture no one really cares.

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