Venezuelan Prostitutes: an export product

The economic crisis and the insecurity push to look for options to survive led to the practice of prostitution as a profitable way to earn in currency in dollars. Many Venezuelans cross to neighboring countries or have become regular visitors to other destinations to join the sex market. It is not known how many they are, but their numbers increase as the crisis and hunger deepen in the cradle of 21st century socialism

By Maibort Petit | @maibortpetit

The serious economic, political and psychological crisis is breaking the social parameters of Venezuelan citizens. The need has led women to cross borders not only geographically but mentally, offering their bodies to clients in various cities around the world to raise money to support their families suffering from hunger and misery. Venezuela has begun to export its women, no longer as beauty queens but as sex professionals, becoming a product of the failed economic model imposed by the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro.

Daniela is 26 years old, was born in Caracas in one of the popular districts of the west of the capital, studied only until the first year at the university because there came a time when she could not continue doing so given the economic constraint to which she was subjected. With two children on her back and a sick mother, she had no choice but to go out and find a job that would allow her to face the inflation that plagues Venezuela. Unfortunately, there were no labor alternatives available and she could no longer deceive the misery in which her family was plunged.

-One day I was looking for a job in a friend’s place in the CCCT [Ciudad Tamanaco Shopping Center, located east of Caracas] and suddenly a man who usually goes to that business approached me and told me that with this great body why not look for a job in the “modeling agency”. I asked him: How? Model? And the man told me: Yes, you serve … I asked him for the address and I went immediately and they offered me the job that allowed me to get the money to feed my family.

Daniela confesses that along with six other girls she travels to Aruba quarterly to provide services as a companion. “We arrive and we receive the ‘manager’ that takes us to private apartments, some have recording cameras that look like a television studio, others are very nice furnished and have liquor for customers. There is another service that is provided directly in the rooms of the hotel zone”.

-When we start the “work” we put ourselves in different rooms, very sexy and they ask us to please the clients and do everything they ask us to do. There are generous men who speak different languages ​​that we do not usually understand. The duration of the service is usually an hour or half an hour and then we clean up to receive the next client.

-How many clients do you receive per “work” day?

-All depends there are times that are 6 or 7, other days are 10 and a few days that go wrong are 3 or 4. For each service we receive pay, and depending on the time of it, we can make more.

-How you feel?

The first day I did this job, I felt dirty, like a piece of meat that people can touch for a few cents. I felt disgusted and wanted to run away, but then I thought that the reason for my decision was my family’s hunger. There is a time when I said to myself: either I do it or I die of hunger. And I filled myself with strength to continue. Today I can pay for my family’s food, services, and I even have money to buy clothes, shoes and take my daughter to the movies.

Aruba is the mecca of Venezuelan pimps who have seen the crisis and the abundance of women willing to sell their bodies in dollars, the perfect formula to fill their pockets without effort.

There are many young women who fall into the hands of sexual exploiters who charge customers high fees for services provided by girls who, in the end, only receive a percentage lower than 20 percent of the income they generate.

Yes, unfortunately, Daniela’s story is the only one of many.

Rosa María feels guilty, although her family accepts her and appreciates the sacrifice she is making to survive the chaos that the Chavez revolution has created. She says she came to the CCCT agency through a friend she met at the university. “She was my companion in several subjects and one day we shared outside the UCV and it was when I told her my misfortune. She invited me to join a group of girls who travel to Aruba and for each trip that takes two or three months, one lives four or five months quiet. “

-The first day was a horror. I could not do it and the man who received me told me that if I did not comply with the deal I had to pay dearly for my irresponsibility. I got the accounts and it was when I did my math and I had no choice but to make the sacrifice of sleeping with several men a day. Some are simply disgusting, pedantic, disrespectful and dirty. However, I have gotten with gentlemen who have treated me well and have given me extra money at the rate paid to the “agency”.

But the issue has been complicated to the extent that security mechanisms have increased with respect to the entry to the island of Aruba, as the migration agencies are increasingly demanding and diligent. “The situation has become difficult for us. Bosses have contacts with ‘immigration officials’ but even with these contacts we no longer feel as safe as before. I usually travel and stay for two to three months. Usually, I do not take out the full money because I’m afraid that after I’ve worked so hard, that the government officials will steal it. All payments are in cash and it is hard to carry both bills with you and get to Maiquetía. Although they take care of us — for that we pay — we usually take precautions.

Although the pimps pay bribes to the authorities, according to what the interviewees say, in Aruba the deportation of Venezuelan prostitutes has been increasing. A report from the government of the island’s capital, Orangestaad, says that in the last two months, more than a dozen Venezuelan women have been captured and deported as prostitutes.

The young detainees come from the states of Falcón, Carabobo, Aragua, Táchira, the Capital District and other regions of the country and their ages range from 22 to 27 years, says the statement from the island’s immigration authorities. warns that the deportees are banned from entering Aruba in a period ranging from 6 months to five years.