Jineteras: A Personal Account

by Paul Lamot

Copyright © 1999. All rights reserved.

A lot of bytes have been spend on the phenomenon of jineteras . I actually
like the word. Sounds better than putas . Less insulting. I called them
trabajadoras . Same thing.

I would just like to get a discussion going by relating some of my own
experiences

I went to Cuba first about 6 to 7 years ago. A controller reporting to me is
a Cuban that left Cuba in the 70's. Most of you know what that meant.
He kept saying I had to see Cuba and so I went. I wanted to see "ALBANIA
UNDER THE SUN".

My ex girlfriend had also been to Cuba as an exchange student (from Spain).
She had a blast, but she was something also (no further comments).
The dollar was a 120 to 130 pesos and the government hadn't figured out yet
how to react to tourists.

I think I was an awkward tourist for the Cubans : I did not take a tour. I
rented a jeep and drove from Pinar to Baracoa. I saw the island.
I was actually not aware of the "sex tourism". Call be blue-eyed and
bushy-tailed, but to me Thailand and the Philippines were sex tourist
destinations. I was expecting something like a "backward Mexico".

I got of the plain and got a car, not the one I wanted, but I solved that
problem later. You get to be an expert at this if you travel around.
I drove from the airport to Old Havana. In my naivete I had selected Hotel
Lido. Cheap and well situated.

I drove up to the hotel, got my luggage out and checked in. While I was
checking in a policeman came and told me they had caught a guy trying to
break into my car. Nice start. I went to the roof bar where there I was
supposed to be able to get some food. "No hay", another common expression in
Cuba. I was then and there approached by 3 teenagers and a "pro".
I kept something of a score card from then on. In close to 3 weeks I was
propositioned 187 times. Never been as popular.

The services proposed were similar, the girls proposing them were different.
For your enjoyment, some stories. The point follows, indulge me.

Coming out of La Cecilia (a restaurant at 5 th Ave.) a young lady, black
rather well build and in Lycra, rubbed herself against me promising me all kind
of bliss. Two doormen came to my rescue. They earned their tip. This was an
aggressive pro.

In hotel Lido three teenagers started talking to me. I quickly understood I
could take my pick. When I brushed them of a more professional (and
stunning) 20 year old came over and offered some services. I refused her as
well (no I am not gay). It seemed to go around in the hotel that "I wasn't
buying in to it" and the girls at the lobby treated me like a king. They
weren't as happy with the goings on.

On the streets often I was approached with :"hey you, were are you from".
The rest came naturally. I couldn't walk 500 yards without being accosted.

I went to Varadero. To"sin city". Viva La Bamba (a discotheque). I went
there with a Canadian couple on honeymoon I had met in the hotel. The girls
were even proposition the guy with his new bride at his side. He loved it,
she hated it. I was getting a beer at the bar when a drunk Italian was
pestering a girl standing there. Service was slow and the guy was even
getting on my nerves. I rescued the girl from the idiot and offered her a
drink. Now comes the important part : she was a college student. Both
parents retired and unable to help her. She lived with an aunt in Havana,
but beside a roof and a bed, no more could be expected from the aunt. She
told me why she was prostituting herself : to get through college. She
needed some money to buy books and clothes. She needed to eat as well. She
was hoping to find not "the love of her life", but someone she liked to
spend a couple of weeks with (not on a pay as you come basis) but with some
clothes and cash at the end. She was the last person I would see as a
prostitute.

In hotel Camaguey I was offered services directly by trabajadoras and hotel
staff seven times in one night. When the question "are you travelling
alone?" came up I knew the score. I was even called in my room by a girl
cheerfully introducing herself as "the blonde from the lobby".

Driving out of Camaguey to Santiago you pass a hospital right after leaving
hotel Camaguey. I picked up a young woman and her kid. They had been to the
hospital as were sent away without the antibiotics the kid needed. I liked
the young boy. He was about 6 and very polite. They just had put a scope
into his urinary tract without any sedation. He looked ill. He was so afraid
that he would vomit in my car he held his hand over his mouth. When the
mother explained the case I was an unbeliever. I had heard so many stories
that I was doubting anything. I agreed with her that if the doctor in the
hospital confirmed the story and also allowed the kid to take the
antibiotics I was carrying that I would give them to her.

We went back to the hospital, the doctor confirmed everything and I gave her
the antibiotics and some aspirin to the kid to ease the pain. When we
stopped along the road I invited them to lunch. The kid was exceptional
again. He wanted to save half of his coke and sandwich for his grandmother.
I bought more cokes and sandwiches. On the road to Las Tunas she told me her
story. She had been desperate to get the antibiotics for the kid. They had
driven up standing in the back of a lorry in the hope to get some in
Camaguey. She told me then and there that she had decided that morning to
prostitute herself as a last resort to get the dollars to buy the
antibiotics.

In Santiago I went to the Tropicana cabaret. A clear target : arriving in my own
car and sitting alone at the table. I was approached by a waiter with the
standard question "are you travelling alone?", followed by "one of the girls
in the ballet would like to meet you". I asked the guy to point her out
which he did when she was on again. A trio was possible also. When I said
thank you, but no thank you, he asked me whether I liked another one. To get
rid of him I said yes : the girls in the front. He said --very politely-- no
can do, she is the mistress of the governor. After the show my not so secret
admirer came over and asked me if I wanted to go to the disco. I said I was
too tired and would go to bed? She moved on to two Dutch guys (ready and
very willing) at the next table. Boy was she pissed when we met up again in
the disco.

I went to the disco with the daughter and niece of a good friend of my Cuban
friend. They were a little embarrassed to be seen with me. They explained to
me that they were afraid to be seen as jineteras going to a disco with a
foreigner. Sure, a cop asked for ID. I gave him hell and told him to take a
running jump and not to insult me and my friends. He left us alone.
I liked one of the girls (a lot) and invited her to go out to eat with me
the next day. She agreed on condition it wasn't in Santiago itself. We went
to "El Morro". I married that girl (the daughter) 4 years later.

Now for the point :

Prostitution has always existed in Cuba. Before Fidel, during Fidel and
during the periodo especial. With the economic crunch in the early '90's and
the influx of tourists the industry went haywire. But there were prostitutes that
were chose the career, there were girls desperately trying to leave the mess that
Cuba was and there were prostitutes out of necessity.

The situation was bad. I saw disgusting 60 year old Italians chasing (and
catching) 14 year old girls. But what are people in such a dire situation
supposed to do? (No Jaime : they don't want to starve or see their kids die
for the glorious revolution)

My answer to the problem is simple : change the regime and the problem will
largely resolve itself. At least the people will no longer need to
prostitute themselves out of necessity. It is a poverty phenomenon. It is
also the result of 40 years of de-humanizing dictatorship.

What bothered me most was that you were no longer able to distinguish
between a girl that liked you and wanted a normal relation and a jinetera.
That is the sad part. The whole interaction between the tourist and a Cuban
girl is reduced to : "she is a jinetera". Hurt Cuban male pride and a
government suspicious of any form of fraternization are to blame.
My wife still suffers degrading questions from cops when we are in Cuba. Now
she just pulls out her Belgian ID card and I call their whole family
prostitutes. They are not used to people that aren't afraid of them. Some of
them even apologize and claim they are only acting under orders.

I hope Cuba will return soon to a situation where normal human interactions
are possible.