Zona de tolerancia

La Zona de tolerancia, Boy's Town, is a commercial section of the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, that provides patrons with a variety of nocturnal entertainment activities, including especially legalized prostitution. This zona de tolerancia ("tolerance zone", where prostitution is allowed and legal) is a walled compound containing three east-west streets and two north-south streets (covering approximately 12 hectares). The zona contains a wide range of brothels, cantinas, bars, restaurants, small stores, a municipal police station and a health clinic. Visitors from the United States, especially from Texas, usually refer to the zona de tolerancia as 'Boy’s Town'. The zona is located near the intersection of Monterrey and Anahuac Streets, and some 5 kilometers southwest of International Bridge #1.

Historical precedent

The history of compounds restricted for prostitution goes back to Precuauhtemic (Prehispanic) times. Although is not certain which indigenous nation began to institute controlled brothels, is known until the Mexica (Aztecs). The Cihuacalli was the name given to those controlled buildings where prostitution was permitted by political and religious authorities. Cihuacalli is the word in Nahuatl which means "House of Women".

The Cihuacalli was a closed compound with rooms, all of which were looking to a central patio. At the center of the patio was a statue of Tlazolteotl, the goddess of "filth". Religious authorities believed women should work as prostitutes, if they wish, only at such premices guarded by Tlazolteotl. It was believed Tlazolteotl had the power to incite sexual activity, and at the same time do spiritual cleansing of such acts.

There are stories that also refer to certain places, either inside the Cihuacalli or outside, where women would performe erotic dance in front of men. The great poet Tlaltecatzin of Cuauhchinanco registered that special women would perform erotic dances at certain homes or places. Apparently this was also controlled. Tlaltecatzin called them "Joyful Women", the equivalent of today's escort services.

The origins of the zona can be traced in part to the peculiar relationship that developed between the United States Army and various ad hoc entrepreneurs in northern Mexico during the Army’s 1916–17 Punitive Expedition; specifically when General John J. Pershing’s forces were pursuing General Pancho Villa in Chihuahua.

While the troops were based 100 kilometers south of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, at Colonia Dublain, a small group of vendors, launderers, barkeeps, and prostitutes set up businesses next to the army camp. Eventually, General Pershing ordered that the prostitutes be restricted to the southern end of the camp where they would be inspected and certified by the military medical officers. A flat rate for sexual intercourse was also established.

Within a few decades, this concept was adopted by vice entrepreneurs and city managers elsewhere along the border. These compounds, called zonas de tolerancia, were eventually established in at least seven Mexican cities along the U.S.-Mexico border (San Luis Río Colorado, Agua Prieta, Ojinaga, Ciudad Acuña, Piedras Negras, Nuevo Laredo, and Reynosa). Later, several other cities, not located on the border, established compound zonas as well, including Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, and Salina Cruz, Oaxaca. While the concept of a zoned area for prostitution activities is not unique to Mexico (as it exists in various forms in other countries), the form and internal structure of Mexico’s frontier zonas owe much to the arrangement authorized by General John J. Pershing in 1916–17. The current zona in Nuevo Laredo was constructed in the 1960s because city authorities wanted to concentrate prostitution activities within a controlled zone. However, a number of brothels and bars catering to prostitution still operate in the downtown area with the tacit approval of the government. However a black market of prostitution is for the most part unregulated by the government. Immigrants from Central and South America are primarily involved as sex workers.

Map of Zona

Description

The zona is a fascinating example of commercial spatial organization within the vice trades. The commercial activities in the zona can be differentiated into a number of broad categories, and their spatial organization is outlined in the map. The categories include: (1) primary or major brothels, (2) secondary brothels, (3) cribs of free-lance prostitutes, (4) cantinas and bars catering to local patrons, (5) transvestite bars, (6) other commercial services, and (7) residences. Furthermore, the zona is protected by a substation of the municipal police, complete with jail, and there is a health clinic that performs blood tests and weekly screenings of sex workers for venereal diseases.

Primary brothels

The primary brothels are relatively large establishments with full bar service, numerous on-site rooms for liaisons, and some have private parking, gardens, and cafeterias for sex workers. They are usually staffed with 20-60 prostitutes on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and about half that during weeknights. Only one has strippers (Club Danash). They also provide free lodging and one daily meal to prostitutes who work at least 5 days per week. The primary brothels attract visitors from out of town and they generate a sense of excitement with their large neon signs, unique architecture, and frequent special events, including formal dances, Mexican Independence Day parties, Christmas parties, and costume events, etc. These higher quality brothels are mostly frequented by foreigners and younger, wealthier Mexicans (local or from elsewhere in Mexico).

Secondary brothels

The secondary brothels are more numerous and they are generally raunchier than the primary brothels. Furthermore, they usually have some type of floorshow to attract customers, including striptease, the occasional live sex show, and one offers the all-too-famous donkey show. They are usually staffed with 5 to 15 prostitutes on any given evening, many of whom also perform in the shows. These brothels usually have on-site rooms of poor quality, and their dominant clientele are working-class locals; especially on quincenas (biweekly pay days).

Cribs

The cribs represent a clear example of free enterprise within the vice trades. For a variety of reasons, many prostitutes work from cribs rather than the brothels, including those who are recent arrivals to the zona, or who are less willing to provide the full range of services expected of brothel prostitutes (such as full nudity during intercourse, oral sex, etc.). Other crib prostitutes may be older or less attractive and are therefore less successful within the brothels and instead ply their trade with passing males more easily from a crib. The freelance prostitutes of the cribs rent the space and they sleep there during the day. They may also share the crib with other sex workers (many of whom may be family members). Local males constitute the primary customer base of sex workers operating in cribs and prices are generally less than 150 pesos ($15 U.S. dollars) for sexual intercourse.

Cantinas and bars

The cantinas and bars constitute a significant component of the zona’s economy. Indeed, in some regards, they are the backbone of night-time entertainment in the zona. Most of the cantinas do not operate as brothels. Instead, they are venues for inexpensive drinks (usually just beer and tequila), live music, and very importantly, dancing. Some are staffed with women who dance with customers for a few pesos. The cantinas provide an inexpensive environment for local males (and occasionally couples) to relax, listen to Cumbia, Norteño, or Ranchera music, and dance into the wee hours. Several of the cantinas (specifically Alice, Cherokee, El Cielo del Muerto, and El Ocho) are patronized by off-duty prostitutes and their boyfriends and/or husbands during the early morning hours. While these bars are usually opened by 8 p.m. they are almost deserted until 3 a.m. at which time the prostitutes and other customers drop in to 'let off steam' before heading home around sunrise. Most foreigners are likely completely unaware that these bars serve this function because they appear deserted for most of the night.

Transvestite bars

The transvestite bars are an interesting phenomenon in their own right. Some are brothels catering to clients who seek liaisons with transvestites, transgendered individuals, or homosexuals. Customers are almost exclusively local males. However, the bars serve a dual purpose in that they provide venues for transvestites to dress up and go out on the town. They can meet, chat and dance with other transvestites and homosexuals, and a few may also engage in sexual relations on the premises. These bars are generally not frequented by foreigners, but on occasion a tourist may stumble into one of these bars only to be greeted with significant enthusiasm from the other patrons.

Other commercial services available in the Zona

A wide range of additional commercial services are available in addition to the zona’s entertainment facilities. There are a number of small restaurants and street eateries catering to patrons visiting the bars and brothels, and individuals who live and work in the zona. Some of the restaurants remain open 24 hours. Other services include small convenience stores, clothing stores, seamstress shops that tailor outfits for the sex workers, and a photo studio. In as much as these businesses serve the compound’s daytime as well as nocturnal residents, they make the zona feel and look much like a typical neighborhood.

Residential component of the Zona

While accurate figures of the total number of individuals residing in the zona are not available, it is clear that it ranges into the hundreds at any given time. A large number of sex workers reside in the brothels, cribs, or other rented rooms. Some of the workers live with their boyfriends and/or husbands in these rooms. Furthermore, several bar owners or managers live in the zona. From a spatial standpoint, most of the rooms for rent are located on the northern fringe of the zona or in interior areas located behind the cantinas and cribs.

Spatial organization within the Zona

The internal structure of the zona displays discrete spatial and social organization. Indeed, establishments and services exhibit a typical distance-decay pattern. All but one of the primary brothels are located near the entrance, secondary brothels and cantinas are located farther from the entrance, and the transvestite bars are concentrated at the far end of the compound. Even the cribs exhibit a distance-decay pattern in that the younger more attractive prostitutes occupy cribs on the central lane (Cleopatra Street), whereas older, or less attractive women rent cribs on the south most lane or in the back near the transvestite bars. This pattern is primarily a function of rental rates for the cribs; being less expensive in the southwest corner of the compound. In conclusion, the spatial structure of the zona reflects the influence of both commercial and social forces.

Social patterns within the Zona

From a stability standpoint, employment in prostitution is more transitional and seasonal than other occupations within the zona. For example, most of the waiters, bartenders and shopkeepers retain their jobs for years, if not decades. Indeed, some of the waiters have been working in the same bars for as much as 30 years. These individuals also have fairly set schedules and their employment reflects very little seasonality. In contrast, most prostitutes work in the zona for no more than two to three years; usually in times of severe economic need. Approximately 30% stay between 5 to 8 years, and only 5% may stay for as much as ten years (becoming infamous fixtures in some of the brothels). Prostitutes also tend to work during specific periods and travel frequently between their home states in Mexico and Nuevo Laredo. Many work just weekends and return via autobus to Monterrey or elsewhere in interior Mexico (especially on Sunday mornings). Some work for several weeks each month, while others come to the zona for several months each year. In other words, a large number of the sex workers migrate temporarily to the zona at fairly consistent intervals (be it for a few days each week, a few weeks per month, or a few months per year). Generally, prostitutes from Monterrey adopt the weekly schedule, whereas those from farther south utilize the longer interval patterns. Most prostitutes arrive in the zona as a result of chain migration. In other words, they typically follow the migration of family members (e.g., sisters, cousins, etc.) or acquaintances who already work in the zona. Therefore, they are usually somewhat familiar with the employment options and their spatial organization within the zona upon arrival. It is also important to note that all of the prostitutes in Nuevo Laredo’s zona are independent operators in that they have no obligation to serve particular clients, and they do not work for madams or pimps. In addition, minimum age restrictions are rigorously enforced by the municipal authorities, and any under-age sex workers who happen to show up in the zona will be rapidly removed by brothel owners and/or the municipal police.

Significance of the Zona

It is no surprise that the presence of the zona is often a source of embarrassment for some of Nuevo Laredo’s residents. Those individuals who do not utilize the services of the compound usually prefer to ignore its existence, or may suggest that it is not very popular or in a serious state of decline. Others argue for its removal from the city altogether. However, contrary to these opinions, the zona is heavily utilized by a significant number of local townsfolk (predominantly working-class males). In addition, large numbers of foreigners visit the zona; especially truck drivers, ranchers, and hunters. Estimates of the number of prostitutes working in the zona vary considerably, and estimates of the number of patrons who utilize the zona for entertainment are even less reliable. Nonetheless, according to one local municipal health official, there are approximately 800 prostitutes working in the zona (albeit not at the same time). It is important to note that the recent upswing in drug-related violence in Nuevo Laredo has, for the most part, not been played out within the confines of the zona. Most of the killings and assassinations of police officers have occurred in downtown Nuevo Laredo, in various residential neighborhoods, or on highways leading into the city from the interior of Mexico. However, the impacts of the drug trade have for many years reached into the zona in the form of consumption. Significant numbers of sex workers and clients may consume drugs on a recreational basis. Indeed, the zona is one of the prime locations for the purchase of cocaine. Scholarly analysis of the zona has been limited to a sociological study in the 1970s (Stevenson 1975) and a geographical survey in the early 1990s (Arreola and Curtis 1993). However, the zona presents a valuable opportunity to evaluate the interrelationships of vice trades, spatial organization, community opinion, sociological patterns, and frontier economic patterns.

Primary sources

• Arreola, Daniel D., and Curtis, James R., The Mexican Border Cities: Landscape Anatomy and Place Personality (1993). Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 0-8165-1287-6
• Stevenson, Robert J., La Zona in Transition: Bordertown Prostitution in Frontier City, Mexico (1975). Unpublished M.A. thesis, State University of New York at Stony Brook. This project has been expanded and was published as A Mexican Border Prostitution Community During the Late Vietnam Era: La Zona. Edwin Mellen Press. New York. 2005. Detailed maps of the site, the region, and photographs (circa 1972) appear in Appendix A.

External links

• Boys Town, Mexico More information about Boy's Town from Nightmoves magazine
• Ladies of Nuevo Laredo
• The Truth on the Mexican Border