Prostitution in Cuba

” Tourism, of course, also plays a big role in the staying power of prostitution. The New Republic reported in June 2000 that the government has even begun referring to these women as “promoters of tourism” (Kielly). These factors have encouraged more tourists to travel to Cuba for sex because they know that Castro will allow them to get away with it. With so many people coming to Cuba for this reason, it is difficult to stop an industry which helps the economy so much. Castro has been able to use the United States’ policy to build hostility against the US to justify actions that are not helping Cuba at all. Other than for sex, it is thought that few people would visit Cuba if given the chance. “The sex, of course, is what most of the tourists come to Havana for. This hostility “increases the fear of ordinary Cubans that the US might invade or that right-wing Cuban-American exiles will return from Miami to Havana and take back their property” (Esler). They’re not here to show solidarity with 40 years of continuous revolution, or to study architecture, and they certainly aren’t here for the food” (Kielly). Esler went on to say that “year on year the conditions for ordinary Cubans get worse, rations down, prostitution up. American policy towards Cuba is another factor that has influenced the continual increase in prostitution in Cuba.