www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I read that when Laura Chinchilla is elected president of Costa Rica, she will try to clamp down on prostitution and sex tourism. This comes from a not-so-reputable source. Does anyone know the real scoop, if there is one?

Who knows
I will try and keep pollotics out of this
CR has a few problems that need to be addressed before our hobby comes up
Things take forever to get done in CR .... For anything????
Do not start fretting and take your source for what you said he was???
Ain't nothing gonna change!!!

Chinchilla was responsible for cutting the hours back at casinos and she has made many public statements about wanting to curb prostitution downtown.
She talked about that several times as vice president, although I've not seen much on it lately in the campaign. I've been reading the campaign stories in La Nacion daily for months.
I do think, though, if she is elected, and it appears that she will be, although maybe in a run-off election, she will try to shrink our favorite business. I doubt seriously that she can eliminate it. Lots of do-gooders ramble on about what a small part of tourism it is there, but if they seriously think that, then they're deluding themselves.
Every time I fly into the country there are several people on the plane that I see the next few days at the SL, the HDR and other such venues en el centro.

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Don't call 'em hookers. I tell my wife I'm here dealing with holesalers.

Please no not-so-reputible sorce. We all know that she is not known to be chica-friendly. But with more chica-friendly venues constantly opening, and more people going down there, most people think not much is going to change. The only reputable sorce is LC herself. She has not used this as an issue.

Let's face it--sneaking around as long as no mud or publicity splashes on the wife or family is much more respected and expected in Latin cultures. Does the Rodent want her husband or inamorato be seen in Al Dia?...so she needs to be careful (especially if he has a taste for trash).

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"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

I did a little post about the upcoming election on my blog:

http://www.usexpatcostarica.com/2010/01/costa-rica-elections-2010.html

It has links to the official plans (platforms) but they are in Spanish. Should not be a problem for some (for me... alas!) I did my best to summarize.

Personally, I am not worried, but I live here. I have enough phone numbers to last me several lifetimes. She may want to court the 'morals' crowd but I doubt she wants to put 10,000 people out of work, not to mention the families that depend on them. We shall see, but it would really surprise me if anything changed very much.

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"The only normal people are those you don't know very well." Joe Ancis

All she really has to do is make life very difficult for the HDR, SL and HLH--enough to at least drive the hookers out or even shut them down entirely--and that will drive away at least 75% of the gringo monger traffic. The tico places and the love motels, as well as the hookers themselves, she'll leave alone, the local politicos need them.

You talk like that's a BAD thing! (j/k) I sympathize with those who only know the gulch, but I still believe that Ms. Laura doesn't really want to upset the apple cart. But time will tell, no?

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"The only normal people are those you don't know very well." Joe Ancis

Traditionally, Costa Rica politics are like a caricature of US politics. They make promises they never keep, and things go business as usual with a new regime.

However, Laura is a bit different. She's the first woman, for example. And she may want her "legacy" to live on. That would mean she might actually follow through on campaign promises. Also, it's important to see what she does outside of a campaign. For her, we have her behavior as vice president to look back on.

When Arias left the country to go to China, and she was left in charge, the first thing she did was sign executive orders to harass the houses of prostitution with health code violations and handicap accessibility violations. This seemed to be here primary focus. She also pushed through the legislation to reduce the casino hours.

Now, it's possible that this was just grandstanding prior to the election to show here as an agent of change, but it seems more likely to me that given the first opportunity with power, she chose to focus on casinos and prostitution (rather than any number of things that need to be addressed with more urgency in Costa Rica). That doesn't bode well for her administration should she win.

No, it's not going away, but I predict she will make our life much more difficult.

Jazzbo put it well: it is respected and expected in Latin cultures.

It is very clear there is no particular compunction against hump ing like little bunnies. That is not the issue. If you have ever been to one of the special motels on a weekend night, it is very unlikely you will get a “drive-in” room. The patrons are not often gringos. That is what I mean by no particular compunction against bunny hopping from bed to bed. The 150+ rooms at Eden are almost always full on a weekend.

The practice is culturally acceptable but NOT if you embarrass the family. The shame is in publically flaunting the affair; pubic displays, public knowledge. It is all about discretion and keeping it low keyed. Don’t flaunt it and you won’t have a problem. Embarrass them (I mean the culture, nation and individuals with power) and they will let you know that it is not nice to sh*t in the family room.

Don’t underestimate the fact that it is there country and they make the rules. Very few of us have a vote in the matter.

Keep in mind that when Inter pol had an international warrant for the arrest of a woman who was accused of felonious parent-napping of a yute (albeit her own off spring, e.g., yute) rather than to send the woman back to Texas to face charges the concept of "spousal" violence was introduced. Not important it was a boy-friend girl-freind relationship and not the wedded bliss.

Violence had never been mentioned in the original court proceedings. Based on the apparently and probably fictitious charge of violence, the woman was granted refugee status, released from jail and not extradited to face charges.

TheMadGerman brings to mind another important point; when Arias was out of the country she used administrative law to harass our haunts. Anyone who has ever dealt with regulatory law as opposed to criminal law understands the power of that administrative law can have. I call Administrative Law -- Spider Web Law . A knowledgeable enforcer of administrative law can lead or force you in a web from which you can NEVER escape while the government slowly sucks the blood from your business until you die.

Brother DiegoC makes the excellent point that Administrative law is very different from civil/criminal law, even in (or especially in) the US. One main thing is that certain Constitutional protections don't apply--speedy trial, Rules of Discovery, double jeopardy have no meaning when the bureaucracy wants to crush you. They'll find a way. Makes anarchy seem like a logical response. If this is true in an English Common Law country like the US (precedence is paramount), imagine the situation in Napoleonic Code countries...and Louisiana (case-by-case, based on the facts/ evidence allowed in that case). That's why so many cases in CR go to the Constitutional Court (Sala IV, isn't it?) and why their Constitution is so lengthy and involved. The US Constitution basically covers overriding basic principles, with laws passed by a legislature to cover the particulars--precedence and the US Office of the Courts give courts little wiggle room (witness sentencing guidelines especially in drug or gun cases). In CR the Constitution IS the basic law and laws are merely enabling instruments which can seemingly be ignored/ thwarted at will (and precedence [what another court has decided based on essentially the same facts] is or can be ignored)--unless it's a huge issue, and with lots of money and willpower on both sides.
As Judge Roy Bean (The Law West of the Pecos) is reputed to have said--"The Law means what I say it means."

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"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

laws get passed but never enforced.
all it would take is for 1 gringo to end up in a costa rican prison for soliciting prostitution and the game will change.

Well I guess we will just continue.. Business as usual until that day comes; then we deal with it..

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"THE TRUTH IS' EVERYBODY IS GOING TO HURT YOU. YOU JUST GOTTA FIND THE ONE WORTH SUFFERING FOR"
Robert Nesta Marley

WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN NO MATTER WHICH CANIDATE GETS ELECTED ALL CANIDATES EVERYWHERE SAY WHAT THEY THINK THE PUBLIC WANTS TO HEAR THEN after the election they do what they want I have my opinions concerning what she will do based on what I have heard her say and what a couple of her biggest supporters (people I know personally) have told me. I have expressed my opinion several (many) times to gringo friends and almost invairably I get the same response -NO way would she ever get a law passed in this country to stop prostitution ; it would put 10,000 people out of work and severally hurt the tourist industry. Again I do not know what she will do nor what she has in mind to do BUT:

1: Even her opponent has started making it known that he wants the mongering sex tourism stopped.
2: They do not want to stop prostitution for the TICOS; just the sex tourism
3: The people pushing BOTH canidates do not care about the 10,000 poor people it would put out of work--THEY WANT THE "BAD" REPUTATION OF "THEIR" COUNTRY CHANGED!! AND THERE IS NO UNEMPLOYMENT TAX AND VERY LITTLE SOCIAL WELFARE IN THIS COUNTRY- so NO money out of their (the rich) pockets!
4: Sex tourisum is a much, much, much smaller part of the total tourism $$$$ in this country than most (all ) mongers want to believe- estimated to be about 2 1/2 % and a big portion of even that goes out of the country (over 50% of the putas are from other countries and are supporting families back home).
5: They do not need to pass any new laws to stop or at least severilly reduce the sex tourism-- all she (they) have to do is order immirgration to start visiting our "favoriate gringo haunts" (HDR, SL, HLH, etc.) every hour on the hour demanding to see YOUR papers (harrassing you). HOW LONG WILL WE CONTINUE TO VISIT THOSE PLACES

Again, I do not pretend nor think that I know for sure what will happen no matter which canidate is elected!! these are just the opinions and thought I have heard expressed by those who want sex tourism in Costa Rica eliminated Even the man who probably stands to loose the most $$$ if it were to happen (the owner of the brewery) wants his country's reputation "cleaned up", and has said he does not care about the potinual loss of income.

MY OPINION IS THAT WE WILL JUST HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS! THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT (IT IS THEIR COUNTRY)

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Old and retired but still bang, and bang, and bang!!!

Bang Bang,
I respect your opinion and I would suspect you have as much knowledge of the situation as anyone on this site. So I admit, it scares me because yours is far and away the most pessimistic post I have yet seen.