Chris, do you really think that drugs and prostitution are unrelated?
No, surely I don't think that. But I do know that prostitution did not bring drugs or overt crime to the North Coast. Let me try to state my thoughts clearly. For many years sex tourism flourished without serious influence from a drug culture, and without the levels of crime that we are seeing today. (The Caribbean as an area is highly affected by crime currently .. all the islands are struggling).
If you look at old threads on the board, you will see clearly that new visitors were warned consistently not to touch drugs, attempt to buy drugs or even ask about drugs. We had
zero tolerance in the DR for many years; people were jailed for the suspicion alone. We did not have a drug problem for many years. Sex tourism flourished during this period, without drugs and with mostly non-violent type crimes - theft, snatch and grab and burglaries in less protected houses. Now and again we heard of an expat living in an isolated place being killed. This
usually (but of course, not always..) turned out to be someone who did not get along with the community around and had a history to mistreating local folks.
The situation has changed in the last three years, with the drug culture taking root and literally wiping out small communities either by rampant crime, or by drug related killings or whatever. Of course the sex trade is affected by this. But the sex trade came first and functioned for many years without drugs. The drugs followed recently. Someone more clued up than I can perhaps draw parallels between the arrival of masses of drugs and the crime spike. I don't know how that works.
I became aware of cocaine on the beaches of Cabarete a scant three years ago. Before that, I had never even seen anyone smoke marijuana on that beach. From that time onwards, it was like a snowball rolling downhill. Don't underestimate the demand coming from the nuevo riche wanting to build a development, but have some snortin' fun while they're doing it.
I don't understand the reasoning behind the support of prostitution on this board. It seems that it's a cardinal sin to say the 'f' word, but it's just fine to promote and even blatantly brag about hookers. What's up with that? Could it be that many of the important members of the board are in the sex trade and one must tread lightly?
Answers Chris, as I'm a little confused about the moral attitude of DR1.
I can't talk about the moral attitude of the board - that is too abstract for me. My own attitude is liberal - kinda each to his/her own. If someone wants to brag about their putas, many of us just yawn. That does not make me blind to the craziness and I did not want my granddaughter to grow up on the North Coast, see this stuff daily and consider it normal. What I consider much more serious is the societal factors that make young women take up the trade, or force families into putting their children to work in the trade. A sankie is just a prostitute as well. But denying its existence and its importance to some is just putting one's head in the sand. The North Coast was known as a sex vacation destination long before drugs or crime was a problem. I saw a male prostitute openly soliciting on the island of Dominica, perhaps 15 years ago... the first time I saw this and I was flabbergasted. I thought gigolos were only in the movies and the seedy type of novel, you know.:surprised
It is a fact that the sex trade is alive and well in the DR and in the Caribbean as a whole. It is there, it is open, it is flagrant and in your face. Unless I can feed every prostitute or give them alternatives, it is better for me not to be judgemental. As for the customers, because I am in essense a monogamous person, does not mean that everyone else is that.
The Cabarete situation is different. There was a real estate feeding frenzy and much greed, coupled with real estate agents with no ethics, and with zero balance or context in the rampant development. Think of the time that the small community between Cabarete and Sosua was simply wiped flat with bulldozers and many guys with guns pushed people out of their homes ... You may not have been in the DR when this happened. I had some insider information as to who claimed the land there at the time, and wrote the person to tell them of the disgrace that was done so that they could claim their piece of the Caribbean - of course they probably burnt the mail.
The crime in Cabarete currently has not been fully reported on this board . But, there is more than what has been reported here - as there is more in Las Terrenas than what is being reported here. I don't think it is sex tourism or prostitution that encourages this level of crime, I think it is a combination of drugs, living in an area where the people next door are poor, living in a country with the poorest or 2nd poorest country in the world next door, repatriation of young trainee criminals from the US, trying to make an essentially fishing/rural local population 'servers' to the new tourism demand, and simply too many people trying to grab a slice of the Caribbean Island Dream Pie with no brakes put on indiscriminate development. The mix makes for bad juju.
My thoughts fwiw. If the business owners want to leave as these reports state, and withdraw their investment, I have no sympathy for them.