The first phase of this work consists of a study conducted in five Central American countries: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. However, as is evident in the results, the geographic area was actually larger, since truck drivers from these countries cover, to varying degrees, the area from Panama to the United States. The study was initiated at the beginning of 1997 and was completed by mid-1998.
To carry out the research it was necessary to join forces with and seek the collaboration of various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the countries where the study was being conducted.62 The authors coordinated the study from Costa Rica, from the Latin American Institute for Prevention and Health Education (ILPES) and the Institute of Latin American Studies of the National University (IDELA). Participating NGOs in the region were supplied with the necessary materials to carry out their work, with support from the Dutch Embassy in Costa Rica.
After a meeting in San Jose (September 1996) to establish the general guidelines of the project, the coordinators returned to their respective counties to carry out one of their first tasks: drawing up an inventory of resources. This was done to assess the structural resources available in each country in the area of heavy transportation: number of companies, number of trucks, number of drivers, aspects related to the organization of truckers and transport company bosses, the products transported, countries visited, meeting points, loading and unloading sites, transportation routes, customs posts and others.
To gather this information we contacted various organizations representing truck owners in each country, such as federations, business chambers and associations. In some cases, information was provided by state institutions and each coordinator presented a written report.
In addition, there was a process of field observation to facilitate initial contacts with the different environments that make up the lives of long-distance truck drivers. To this end, we drafted a guide that included topics related to the truck drivers’ family, social and working environments. The theme of sexual behavior was also included.
To conduct the observation, the coordinators visited all border posts and main ports of their respective countries. They visited bars, cantinas, dance halls, discos, restaurants and other eating places, brothels, parks, rest areas, the highways traveled by truckers and other places in border or port communities. Their observations in each country were complemented with conversations with transportation company owners, truck drivers, sex workers, owners or administrators of the establishments visited and other community members.
After completing this phase of the study, we designed a structured questionnaire, with an average duration finally estimated in 26 minutes. This covered different topics of interest such as sexual practices, condom use, and knowledge about ways of contracting sexually transmitted diseases and Aids, among others. This research tool was to be administered to a probabilistic sample of 400 truck drivers from all over the region.
In selecting a regional sample of truckers, we compiled a list of transportation companies in each country. In general, the registered firms were also the largest and, as a result, had more truck drivers. We eliminated from the list all independent truck owners who offer haulage services to companies or who work for themselves, since they are more difficult to locate. Thus, the number of truck drivers employed by transportation companies was estimated at 5,091 and the total number of registered companies in the region at 497. The breakdown for both figures is as follows:63
With this data, it was possible to form strata (in each country) and in each case apply a design of proportional probability to the number of truck drivers per registered company (PPT). To achieve a greater dispersion in the sample, 20 companies were selected in each country (where possible), in a systematic manner, and four drivers were chosen at random from each one. The selection of drivers within each selected company was done by randomly selecting a specific day and hour. In general terms, we can say that we applied a probabilistic, stratified, disproportionate sample with PPT.
The net sample obtained consisted of 399 truck drivers from the entire region: 77 from Guatemala, 82 from Honduras, 81 from El Salvador, 80 from Nicaragua and 79 from Costa Rica64. It should be noted that, in a hypothetical sample with unrestricted elements, the regional sample would contain a margin of error no greater than 5%.
To gather data for the questionnaire the research team visited the selected transportation firms and the drivers readily agreed to answer the structured questionnaire. No more than 1% of the total of interviewees refused to collaborate in the interviews. In general, we did not encounter situations that might jeopardize or compromise the quality of the data.
Finally, we prepared a guide for conducting in-depth interviews in order to explore some of the topics in the questionnaire and corroborate some of the observations made. The topics were related to masculinity, the sexual behavior of truck drivers, their perceptions about their occupation, homosexual practices, knowledge of HIV-Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The coordinators conducted 10 in-depth interviews in all the countries except Guatemala, where seven interviews took place. In other words, we conducted a total of 47 in-depth interviews in the region with an average duration of 40 minutes each.
The coordinators held a meeting in Costa Rica at the end of 1997 to complete the data collection phase and to share the experiences accumulated by the coordinators in each country.
In order to analyze the data, the questionnaire was tabulated with the SPSS/PC+ package. The information gathered from field observations was codified according to the different topics explored. The in-depth interviews, transcribed by the coordinators themselves, were also codified by topic.
A second phase of the project was established to write this book. From January 1999, a new round of interviews was organized with key figures from the world of long-distance truck driving. For this, another guide was produced to clarify any doubts or questions remaining from the previous survey. During the second phase, Dino Starcevic, Katia Castellón and Luis Villalta returned to interview some of the truck drivers surveyed previously, re-visited some of the places studied in the ethnographic observation and explored certain specific topics, such as the question of “compartmentalization”, in greater depth. Ten additional interviews were conducted with truck drivers over a three-month period, each lasting two hours. “Anita” helped us interview five sex workers and five transvestites who had had sexual relations with truck drivers, so as to obtain their viewpoints.
The idea of this new work on truck drivers is to make readers “listen” to them speaking in their own way and show how they analyze the different issues raised. The identity of all participants has been protected, and therefore all personal names and the names of all bars, discos or brothels mentioned are fictitious.
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62 The following non-governmental organizations participated in the study: the Latin American Institute for Prevention and Health Education (ILPES) in Costa Rica; the Guatemalan Association for the Prevention and Control of AIDS in Guatemala; the Sampedrana Fraternity for the Fight Against AIDS (FSLS) in Honduras; the Xochiquetzal Foundation of Nicaragua; and the National Foundation for Prevention, Education and Monitoring of Patients with HIV/AIDS in El Salvador.
63 121 independent truck drivers were eliminated from the lists. The original listing totaled 5,212 truck drivers: 846 in Guatemala, 1,711 in Honduras, 912 in El Salvador, 449 in Nicaragua and 1,294 in Costa Rica.
64 Given that the number of truck drivers registered with companies varies from country to country, the sample was disproportionate and therefore it was necessary to analyze the data in accordance with the proportion of drivers in each country.