Television and newspapers thrive on simplistic sex exposes
By Jay Brodell
editor of the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Greivin Moya, a television reporter, provided viewers Tuesday with the stunning revelation that there is a house of ill repute in Tibรยกs.
The five-minute sequence was compete with hidden camera shots, although the faces of the women inside the home were electronically distorted.
Moya must be the only person in Costa Rica who does not know that many places with pensiรยณn licenses are really houses of prostitution. And he could have saved gasoline by simply walking around the Sabana Oeste location of his television station.
Revelations about sex seem to come up when the daily news is sagging. La Naciรยณn told its readers recently that a popular expat hotel and bar was the scene of orgies, although the evidence was that women dressed like prostitutes were seen entering the business. Reporters seemed to be working on the spite of a neighbor.
"The very center of the city of Tibรยกs functions a house dedicated to promoting the services of prostitution," said Channel 7 on its Web site describing the show Tuesday, which was available for repeat viewing.
IDEM, the popular tourist attraction on Calle 9 in San Josรยฉ, also has a pensiรยณn license, although the guests usually stay less than a couple of hours. On Avenida 9 is New Fantasy, another popular stop for expats.
In one city block between Avenida 7 and Avenida 5 there are no less than four so-called pensiones offering something more than a good night's sleep. And the classifieds in the Spanish-language daily newspapers can lead a visitor to many more.
Perhaps the best example of pseudo-surprise was the La Naciรยณn story about the Michigan Boys in May 2004. The newspaper would have its readers believe that men from that U.S. state would skip the deep sea fishing around Tamarindo to frolic with young ladies from Costa Rica. With photos.
From the Web site of Teletica
Earnest Greivin Mora asked viewers to tune in tonight
Moya's point was that the Tibรยกs location, Pension Florida, housed a pimping operation, which is illegal in Costa Rica, although prostitution is not prosecuted. But so do all the other operations. Someone other than the young lady or young man involved collects the money. He also correctly suggested that some operations might involve und***ge prostitutes although he had no evidence with Pension Florida.
The Channel 7 person with the hidden camera suggested to the women at Pension Florida that he would deliver foreign customers for a commission. That also is fairly routine. and technically illegal.
Mora interviewed the mayor of Tibรยกs, Jorge Sallas Bonilla. But the same questions could be asked of any mayor in the country.
The pragmatic answer is that sex is big business and dovetails nicely with tourism and the Latin macho attitude. Less well covered by the local media is gay prostitution, although businesses offering such services exist in the San Josรยฉ downtown.
Meanwhile, the executive branch targets casinos as centers of prostitution while pensiones and their variations flourish all over the country.
Mora will be back again tonight with more thrilling revelations. He needs to get out more.