The Bolivian People 71But only one third of these women actually attend
government clinics as required. The Anti– AIDS Project has
an outreach programme that educates sexual workers on
the proper use of condoms, and explains the techniques for
persuading customers to use them. In this labour intensive
industry, it is in the interest of brothel owners to cooperate
with educational programmes.
This may partially explain why Bolivia has one of the
lowest rates of HIV/ AIDS in the world: 0.2 per cent compared
to Brazil right next door with 0.6 per cent and Perú with 0.5
per cent. Other sexually transmitted diseases are not being
restrained with the same level of success in Bolivia.
Contrary to public perception, Catholic countries tend to
be tolerant of prostitution. For this reason, one could live
in Bolivia for years without bumping into a streetwalker,
something that New Yorkers and Los Angelinos might be
surprised to know. With legalised prostitution, there is no
need for a Sunset Boulevard in La Paz or Cochabamba. The
highest paid sexual workers ply their trade in bars and night
clubs, the most picturesque of which is called El Tropezón
(The Big Stumble). Next are the women who work in brothels.
Any cab driver will take you to a brothel. Finally, the lowest-
paid women are the independents.
First class brothels provide drinks and clean, private
rooms; the sexual workers in these places have most likely
completed high school and wear modern dress. The lowest-
class brothels, in La Paz, include women who wear traditional
dress and come from the bad dream city of El Alto.
Women called coperas work the boîtes essentially to
stimulate income from drinks. Doing more serious business
with a customer is secondary to the drink income generated.
A customers might invite a woman to have a drink for an
outrageous price without knowing that the ‘rum and coke’
has no rum in it.
Like street children, sexual workers are forced into their
way of life by poverty and lack of opportunity. Contrary to
the viewpoint of many recent popular fi lms, there is nothing
romantic about prostitution. In some brothels they put on
an uproarious show, but basically we’re talking about the