In a press conference on Tuesday, Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito said that prostitution centers in the Dominican Republic will be shut down. He said that centers where nude women dance or exhibit themselves will also be closed. Boca Chica sex parlors were shut down at the start of the year. Gazcue’s “massage parlors” were next, with 12 shut down last Thursday in a raid in Gazcue and the Zona Universitaria. Some 102 women and 28 men were arrested in the raid.
As reported in El Nacional, Dominguez Brito said that there are many people that take advantage of poverty here to exploit women, and as a consequence the DR is known as a sex destination. He said the practice is against the dignity of the country and that of Dominican women, and thus the reason why he entrusted the prosecutors with taking drastic measures. “Prosecutors in all the provinces have the obligation to act against that, against the business of sex and trafficking in women and that are causing damage to the Dominican population,” Dominguez Brito said in a press conference called to make the announcement. He is against the DR being promoted abroad as a sex destination, and said this is why all the sex parlors will be closed.
“All, absolutely all, without distinction. Boca Chica has been a priority of the public prosecutors. Today Boca Chica is not the same thing as four and five months ago, but we have yet to continue,” he said.
District attorney prosecutors said that in the raid in Gazcue, drugs, synthetic penises, erotic chairs and handcuffs for sadomasochistic acts were found. Jose Manuel Hernandez Peguero, district attorney, said that at the Centro Estetica Omi, located on Calle Leonor de Ovando, a Jose Manuel Lopez was arrested for possession of a pound and a half of marijuana. Other centers shut down were La Reyna Cubana, Cisnes Club, Relax, Elegante Center, Estefany Club located on Santiago, Leonor de Ovando, Danae, Cervantes, Hermanos Deligne, Socorro Sanchez, Independencia and Dr. Delgado streets in Gazcue.