www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Just read about last Sat night, AM CostaRica , a raid and lock down at both the Del Rey and Key Largo. A Christian group was also involved and the women had to fill out a questionair. The men were detained for 3 hours according to the report, and their names collected.
I want to know when they collected the names, How many Bill Clintons were there?
Flaco in FtLauderdale

Yes very good question although no Bill Clintons were found a few of the Gringo gentlemen were sweating bullets wondering if they were going to see their faces on the Tica Cable TV show Spanish version of "To Catch A Predator" which translates into Spanish as something like "Nail that Gringo Perv who travels thousands of miles to defile our daughters. The three or four secret service agents who were doing recon on the DelRey were especially glad to be let out without incidence. All in all just a show. It will be interesting when they get around to The Sportsmens Lodge being the den of inequity that it is I just hope somebody gets a good video as its been pretty boring around here lately.

lol, the women "had" to fill out a questionnaire? what would happen if they refused?

_________________
I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of elderberries. Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!

Below is a copy of the article that appeared in AM Costa Rica. I am surprised that nobody from CRT has posted about this incident. Surely there had to be a couple of guys there. If you were there please post your experience. Also does anyone have any info on this group who accompanied the police?



Police, volunteers pressure women to fill out survey

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff


Combined police units swept the downtown sections of San José Saturday night and entered a number of nightspots, said the security ministry.

Among the places taken over by law officers were the Hotel Del Rey and its associated bar and dance club, the Key Largo.

An unusual aspect of the three-hour operation there was that law officers were accompanied by volunteers from the Fundación Rahab, who were distinctive in their pink blouses covered by what appears to be body armor.

Also unusual is that law officers sealed off the exits to the Del Rey and Key Largo and then required any woman there to fill out a form that sought detailed personal information. Then most of the women were interviewed separately by female police officers who went over the information in the questionnaire. Even female bartenders were required to do so, said an expat witness.

A spokesperson for the ministry did not have specific details on the effort at the Del Rey but did report that police officers Saturday and early Sunday were able to detain a man sought for aggravated robbery and 27 persons, mostly women, who could not produce paperwork showing that they are in Costa Rica legally. The persons with immigration problems were not detained but given, instead, orders to report to the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería. A witness said immigration agents were involved at both places.

Most of the women being questioned by police appeared to be Costa Rican, said a witness.

The police effort was in the San José districts of Hospital, named after Hospital San Juan de Dios, and Catedral, in the vicinity of the Catedral Metropolitana, said the spokesperson.

The spokesperson did not have a list.

There did not appear to be any arrests at either the Del Rey on Avenida Primera at Calle 9, or the Key Largo a half a block to the west. The ministry only provided details on the police operation after a reporter made an inquiry.

Some who were in either the Key Largo or the Del Rey objected to being detained. Police finished their work in the Del Rey at 12:30 a.m. and at the Key Largo at 1:30 a.m. Men were required to show identification but were not required to fill out a questionnaire, a witness said.

The police operation comes in advance of the U.S. State Department human trafficking report. That comes out in June. The Fundación Rahab receives significant grants from the United States to rehabilitate former prostitutes. The United States has been critical in the past of Costa Rica's efforts against human trafficking.




Policeman discusses the situation with customers at the Del Rey in this snippet from an undercover video.

Involved in the operation was the Grupo de Apoyo Operacional, the tactical squad of the Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública. Also there, according to the spokesperson, were agents of the Judicial Investigating Organization.

The Del Rey is well known as a bar where women and men meet. Less well known is that a few male prostitutes have been seen in the Del Rey. However, the first floor of the hotel also contains a number of slot machines, gaming tables, a poker room, and an automatic roulette table, as well as bars. One expat who was there Saturday night said he was gambling and hardly noticed any other activity.

The Key Largo is well-known as a dance location. Saturday there was a live band in one room and a DJ with recorded music in another.

The Fuerza Pública periodically conducts sweeps downtown and sometimes targets the Del Rey exclusively. They seldom find anything amiss because adult prostitution is not prosecuted in Costa Rica and the hotel management is rigorous in checking identifications and ages of those who enter.

An expat who was trapped in the Del Rey Saturday night uploaded a video to YouTube. It is HERE!

According to the Fundación Rahab, prostitution is an expression of masculine power and is a relationship that is characterized by the domination and control on the part of who pays (the client) to use the body of a person (the woman who sells the service).

The foundation rejects the concept that prostitution here is a legitimate business, despite many persons who prostitute themselves willingly.

The foundation cites societal pressures and says that this type of work is against the fundamental human rights of a person to live without violence or mistreatment.

The foundation also said that prostitution is not recognized as a form of work by the International Labor Organization. The foundation's views are outlined on its Web site.

From YouTube (so I'm not "outing" anybody), here's a couple of vids:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2juopQvyQ5A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aquqkqdpcU0

_________________
"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 would have wrote my name down, as "Jimmy Earl Carter". home town :Americus Georgia
Flaco

Does anybody know if the Gringo's pictures were taken during the detention. This is a serious question. I have a theory that may surprise you but I need more info.

Are you thinking the info and possible pictures were forwarded to ICE? So they could put the individules in their computer as possible "sex tourist"?

A friend of mine was put in the computer by anonymous letter to a Federal agency, he was detained for up to three hours every time he came back to the US of A.
If the C.R. police collected the passport number and name, thats all it would take.
Flaco

Gentlemen, I was at the HDR KL raid almost beginning to end. Around midnight at HDR chicas came running in though the doors with terrified looks on there faces. I quickly walked outside to find about 15 police vehicles and numerous police motorcycles, and police dogs. Most were police, but about one fourth had vests that said Imigracion. I would say about 100 law enforcement personnel cummilative. Upon walking outside young policeman asked me and my wingman for ID. We promptly pulled out copies of our pasport with copies of immigration dated stamps. The young cop was befuddled walking from 1 supervisors to another trying to figure out what we gave him. Finally after walking 100 yards up the road toward Chubbs he found an older Imigracion official who said it was OK. Upon going back inside HDR the cops were checking IDs of all the chicas and any gringo who were TRYING TO LEAVE. I capitlized this because if you were a gringo just having drink at the bar or playing a few casino games you were not questioned at all. This I know for a fact because another wingman of mine with abosutley no ID did this and left no questions asked, 90 minutes after the initial raid. Did not see any police taking pictures except a few gringos (myself included) taking pictures of the police presence. Just amazed at the number of cops at HDR but yet it is so dangerous to walk from HDR to any hotel in Barrio Amon or other parts of San Jose. Good things police priorities are set right. So about 90 minutes after the raid my 2 wingmen and i walked outside with no police harrasment whatsoever. Police were still inside KL but accordinding to friends I had breakfast with that did not last much longer. In hindsight the whole thing was kinda of a joke. Albeit some chicas were taken . So don't worry, if you could see the age and competency of the cops involved this is certainly no high tech monger lynching

A voice of reason in the forest.
Regards, 911 Driver

_________________
The happy hour is a device either for getting rid of social obligations hurriedly en masse or for making overtures toward more serious social relationships, as in the etiquette of whoring.- Brooks Atkinson

This kind of thing always happens around Semana Santa, usually before Easter though. They were a little late this time.

Magila, thanks for the clarification. Sounds like a typical Tico operation,
Flaco

http://www.amcostarica.com/morenews2.htm

Interesting article written by a former American college instructor on the issue of sex tourism and the "raid" in today's AM Costa Rica. Best quote:

"To assume therefore that women in a nightclub looking for men who will pay them for sex are being exploited by those men is simply mistaken. On the contrary, by then the women often feel that they are the exploiters, while the men are frequently remarkably kind and generous."

Thank you, Brother DGD for sharing that article, which points out the essential hypocrisy of this do-gooder organization. I'm surely not opposed to their essential quest (to give women wishing to leave the sex trade a good alternative) but this kind of semi-forced recruiting using the Government police powers is repugnant. As this article made clear, if you want to have an effect on this "trafficking", raid the places the victim's truly are--in the lowest-rent pensiones. What they did was pure theater--all flash and filigree with no serious positive effect. For shame, Laura.

_________________
"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

The end is near.