VZCZCXRO9583
PP RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHMC #0289/01 2101958
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291958Z JUL 09
FM AMCONSUL MONTERREY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3855
INFO RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO PRIORITY 4927
RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RUEHMC/AMCONSUL MONTERREY 9450

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MONTERREY 000289 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM SOCI MX
SUBJECT: MONTERREY'S GROWING PROSTITUTION PROBLEM 
 
MONTERREY 00000289  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  A researcher at the Autonomous University of 
Nuevo Leon states that there is a growing prostitution industry 
in Monterrey, which has transformed the city into a major sex 
tourism destination in Mexico.  Traffickers lure women by 
promising legitimate employment and then violently coerce them 
into prostitution, cycling them between Mexican and U.S. cities. 
 Around the time they are 25, the sex workers are forced out, 
often infected with HIV/AIDS, and become social outcasts.  End 
summary. 
 
 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On July 22, Arun Kumar Acharya, a professor at the 
Institute of Social Investigation, Autonomous University of 
Nuevo Leon, told PolOffs that Mexico's declining economy had 
fueled a growing sex tourism industry in Monterrey and other 
Mexican cities.  According to him, traffickers lure impoverished 
women to the city with promises of high salaries and respectable 
employment, but then use harsh mental and physical coercion to 
force them into prostitution.  Most prostitutes that he 
interviewed in the city originated from southern Mexican states. 
 
 
 
Monterrey Becomes Sex Tourism Destination 
 
----------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Monterrey gained international recognition as a result 
of the 2007 World Cultural Forum, Kumar explained, and the 
industry has gained momentum since then.  He noted that the city 
has now joined Tijuana, Mexico City, Acapulco, Cancun, and 
Ciudad Juarez as a primary sex tourism destination. 
 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU) According to Kumar's research, Monterrey is both a 
destination and transit point for sex workers.  Prostitutes are 
cycled throughout Mexican and U.S. cities.  Most of the 
prostitutes entering from northern Mexico don't use visas to 
enter the U.S., but are smuggled across the border, he found. 
Interestingly, he said some female students from the elite 
Monterrey Institute of Technology told him they occasionally 
perform sex for money in U.S. cities. 
 
 
 
Workers Start Young, Finish Young 
 
--------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Kumar said traffickers often enlist women as young as 
nine.  Around age 25, the prostitutes are considered too old and 
are eventually forced out of the business by the traffickers. 
By that time, they are usually infected with a sexually 
transmitted disease, commonly HIV/AIDS, and are outcasts in 
Mexico's conservative society due to their previous vocation. 
 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Younger sex workers can earn up to around US$ 38 per 
act.  Older prostitutes, seen as less desirable, charge as low 
as US$ 11.  In order to increase revenues, traffickers often 
force prostitutes to engage in high risk behavior, such as 
unprotected sex, or submit to violent acts, for which they 
charge a premium. 
 
 
 
Societal Fix Needed 
 
------------------- 
 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Kumar opined that new legislation is not the answer to 
the problem.  Indeed, Mexico already has anti-prostitution 
legislation and is a signatory to international human rights 
conventions.  Instead, Kumar said that the problem could only be 
resolved by strengthening social institutions to provide better 
economic and educational opportunities along with improved 
health care to impoverished communities. 
 
 
 
MONTERREY 00000289  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
Comment 
 
------- 
 
 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Kumar, a native of Orissa, India who has been in 
Mexico since 2002, painted an increasingly dire picture of sex 
trafficking in Monterrey and northern Mexico.  His articles on 
the sex trade have appeared in numerous publications, including 
a recently released book "A New Form of Human Slavery - The 
Trafficking of Women in Mexico," that he authored.  Kumar noted 
that he is seeking funding for additional sex trade study of the 
border area. 
KRAMER