Heres the article
Ministry planning crusade against sex parlors
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Ministerio de Seguridad Pรยบblica will crack down on massage parlors and, among other things, require that practitioners be accredited by the national medical society and that any beds on the premise be of a type used by massage professionals.
Many massage parlors in Costa Rica are thinly veiled fronts for prostitution.
The ministry announced last weekend that various decrees now in preparation would crack down on sexual exploitation, including massage parlors. In addition, the decrees will target Internet cafes and video games.
Ana Helena Chacรยณn Echeverrรยญa, vice minister of Seguridad Pรยบblica, is working with the Comisiรยณn Nacional Contra la Explotaciรยณn Sexual Comercial in preparing the decrees, said the ministry.
Among other things, the minister wants to "avoid the camouflage of places of prostitution that function under the name of massage parlors," something that law enforcement officials find frequently.
The proposal by the ministry would require that sanitary permits be issued for massage parlors by the Ministerio de Salud and that the persons working in the massage parlor have
professional accreditation from the Colegio de
Mรยฉdicos y Cirujanes de Costa Rica, the national medical society.
In addition, massage parlors would have to use special massage tables rather than the single or double beds that are common in many places now.
If the ministry carries out its campaign, dozens of houses of prostitution that call themselves massage parlors will have to close. The effect on sex tourism would be dramatic, although persons who pay for sex still would be able to bring prostitutes to their homes or hotel rooms.
The video game parlors will have to post signs specifying the level of violence found in each game. Plus they would have to specify the age group for which the game is appropriate, said the ministry.
Internet cafes would have to adhere to specifications already announced by Casa Presidencial in that youngsters 12 and under would have to leave by 7 p.m. and those between 13 and 17 would have to leave by 9 p.m. The idea is to reduce possible exposure to pornography on computers.
In addition, Internet cafes would have to maintain at least some computers with anti-porn filters and some computers that would be technically unable to access porn sites, said the ministry.