In general terms, Costa Rica is definitely the nation with the highest rate of development in Central America. It has the best reputation on many levels to that of its neighbors30. With a long history of democracy, tolerance, republicanism and pacifism, Costa Rica offers a level of education, economic development and better standard of living than the other countries in the area. Since its origin as an independent nation, Costa Rica wanted to isolate itself from the social and political torment of its neighbors. For decades it was an oasis of relative tranquility and stability in the midst of a region torn by militarism and war, and played a fundamental role in the pacification process that spread through Central America beginning in the middle of the ‗80s. Since the 19th century, Costa Rican leaders have been concerned about how to capitalize on the social advantages of the country, whose attributes have become part of traditionally accepted mythology, illustrated in names describing Costa Rica as ―the Switzerland of Central America‖ and the ―Garden of Peace.‖
Having been part of the Spanish Empire for close to three centuries, Costa Rica gained its independence in 1821. At the time of initial contact with the European colonizers, the indigenous population of what is now Costa Rica did not exceed 25,000 souls, making it one of the most sparsely populated regions of Central America. 31 During much of the Colonial period Roman Catholicism enjoyed a monopoly over the minds and souls of the country‘s inhabitants, as it was the only religion tolerated by Costa Rica‘s Spanish rulers.32 In the field of economics, the era of Spanish rule was characterized most notably by chronic poverty, with a lack of human resources and mineral wealth ensuring that there was little in the way of sustained growth. This placed the country in the same disadvantaged position as other regions in Latin American without mineral. Costa Rica attracted little immigration throughout the three centuries of Spanish domination. 33
The country‘s peasant-based economy did establish sporadic links with the world market thanks to crops such as cocoa and tobacco. During the cocoa ―boom‖ in the XVII Century, Black-enslaved labor was brought in from the Caribbean. Nevertheless, once the exports started to fall, these workers were freed and let to marry within the mostly white population. Both Indians and Blacks, as it happened in the rest of Latin America, saw intermarriage as an avenue for upward social mobility. ―Whitening‖
became part of the sexual culture as it provided the key to obtain better jobs and access to the dominant Spanish society. 34
With the advent of widespread coffee cultivation in the mid-nineteenth century, Costa Rica was integrated into the global chain of commodity production and consumption on a more permanent basis.
Costa Rica for one had some of the fastest growth and development in Latin American during the nineteenth century. In the post-World War II period, government policies of import substitution galvanized the industrial sector while attracting large numbers of European immigrants, whose presence contributed in turn to an expansion of the country‟s ethnic and religious composition. At present, roughly 85 percent of Costa Rica‟s population calls itself Roman Catholic, while the rest self-identify with a range of Protestant and non-Christian religions. The population is mostly white and 30 Costa Rica, for example, has a reputation for being a safe and peaceful country with an educated population.
31 León Fernández, Historia de Costa Rica, San José: Imprenta Lehman, 1939.
32 James Backer, La Iglesia y el sindicalismo en Costa Rica, San José: Editorial Costa Rica, Second Edition, 1975.
33 Charles F. Denton, Patterns of Costa Rican Politics. The Allyn and Bacon Series in Latin American Politics. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1971.
34 León Fernández, Historia de Costa Rica, San José: Imprenta Lehman, 1939.
9
mestizo, with the exception of those descendants of Jamaican immigrants who came in the late 19th Century to work in the banana plantations and a small native aboriginal population.
The country today has a higher standard of living than many Latin American nations. Its per capita income is six times larger than Nicaragua, three times larger than Bolivia‘s and two times larger than the Dominican Republic‘s. Costa Rica has one of the highest literacy percentage rates in Latin America, one of the lowest children‘s mortality rates per 100,000 people and one of the highest life expectancies in the world.35
Despite the undoubted contribution made by coffee to Costa Rica‘s economic growth, it also served to make the country extremely vulnerable to the boom and bust cycle of the world commodity market.
Economic recessions led to the famous military interventions during the 1900s in numerous Latin American republics such as Mexico and Peru. This was not true of Costa Rica, where the existence of an agricultural frontier zone until roughly the middle of the twentieth century contributed to the emergence of a large middle class and to the establishment of a democratic tradition that was interrupted only twice in this century. In 1948, following the second of these interruptions, Costa Rica‘s government abolished its armed forces.
In this way, the country was able to weave a social fabric where polarization and anomie were never permitted to reach the levels seen in other parts of Latin America, where military dictatorship was the rule rather than the exception. The program of social reform first embarked upon by the government of Calderón Guardia in the 1940s, subsequently deepened and strengthened by José Figueres Ferrer‘s Social Democratic Party, laid the groundwork for a welfare state that put Costa Rica on par with First World countries in such areas as literary and health. Notwithstanding the good achievements in health and social security, approximately one-third of Costa Rica‘s population lives bellow the poverty line.
The country shares problems with the rest of the region such as unemployment, urban decay, increasing crime rates, and drugs.
Sexual Culture
When the American sexual tourist writes that Costa Rican sex workers act ―irrationally‖ or ―lie compulsively‖, there is a hermeneutic problem. Latin American sexual culture is different from her Anglo- Saxon counterpart and it can be misunderstood by those who ignore its history. First, we need to take into account that Spain was able to dominate Latin America for three centuries without having to use a strong military force. Notwithstanding the imposition of high taxes and of prohibitions against developing local industries, there was little political armed resistance against Spain. The reason was simple. The Spanish Crown might have wished to exploit her American colonies, but in reality she was a declining power, unable to compete with England and with other European rivals, and incapable of supplying the New World with the needed industrial goods. She did not take advantage of such captive markets
and
instead
of
investing
in
her
own
development,
the
Spanish Crown squandered her wealth on European military interventions.36
35 Jacobo Schifter, The Construction of Latino Youth. Implications for the spread of HIV/AIDS, New York: Haworth Press, 2000, p.8.
36 Hugh Thomas, Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to Magellan, New York: Radom House Publishing Group, 2004.
10
Being unable to provide what in theory she declared as her monopoly, the Spanish Crown could not impose its will on the region. It learned to compromise and to look the other way both economically and politically. Despite the monopoly on manufactured goods, the local populations were left in practice to trade with the emerging powers. The same would happen in the political arena. Spain declared that the most important political posts had to be filled by ― Peninsulares‖ or Spanish-born citizens. Nevertheless, the Crown was unable to pay for their salaries and started to sell these posts to those with money. In this way, many Latin American -born Spaniards or ― Mestizos‖ (mixed Indian and Spanish) were able to purchase public office and acquire political power.
This created a culture of ―I obey but do not comply.‖ This meant that local authorities decided not to confront the system openly but –at the same time- did not follow the law. Since the Colonial power was so removed from the day-to-day affairs, so slow to respond because of its centralizing ideology, and so incapable of enforcing the enacted legislation, it became easier to ignore it. 37 The mestizo’s ability to exert influence on the Crown by refusing to implement any counterproductive legislation, lessened their need to break away from the Empire. The independence movements arose precisely when the Napoleonic Wars disrupted this system. This led to the Borbon‘s (The French side of the family) attempt to control Latin America by forbidding contraband and eradicating corruption in political offices. Only then did new Latin American elites decide to wage the wars of independence.38
The same dichotomy between theory and practice characterized the social. Latin America was taught a very radical form of Christian sexual ethics by a Spanish Crown that emerged victorious after 800
hundred years of war against the infidels, i.e. the Muslims who had invaded the Spanish Peninsula. As the war dragged on, so did religious fanaticism, military chauvinism and a version of masculinity called ―machismo.‖ As Spain became more militaristic and ―feudal‖, social minorities and women came to be more oppressed.39 The war against the infidels culminated in 1492 when the Catholic Kings managed to launch the conquest of the New World as well as the expulsion of the Jews and the Muslims from Spain. The Colonization of the Americas would take place within a climate of religious fundamentalism and of social and ethnic intolerance. As Spain emerged victorious against her
―internal‖ and ―external‖ enemies in the Old World, she insisted in tightening her control over the New World. The feared Inquisition was transported to the Americas to oversee the minds and souls of the conquered populations.
Catholicism was imposed in the same manner as the export economy and political authoritarianism.
People were to follow the new principles without having the right to question them. Jews and Protestants were forbidden to migrate to the Spanish colonies and the indigenous populations were forced to convert to Christianity. Heretics and false converts were put to death. The sexual ethics of Catholicism was strict: sex was acceptable only within marriage; divorce was outlawed; erotic pleasure was perceived as the devil‘s temptation. Prostitution and infidelity were severely punished. Children begotten outside marriage had no rights. Sodomites were burned at the stake. 40
37 John R. Fisher, Economic Aspects of Spanish Imperialism in America, 1492-1810, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1997.
38 Don Paul Abbott, Rhetoric in the New World: Rhetorical Theory and Practice in Colonial Spanish America, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1996.
39 Ann Twinam, Public Lives, Private Secrets: Gender, Honor, Sexuality, and Illegitimacy in Colonial Spanish America, Standford: Stanford University Press, 2001.
40 John Frederick Schwaller, Colin M. MacLachlan (Editor), William H. Beezley (Editor), Church in Colonial Latin Con formato: Inglés
America, Scholarly Resources, Inc., 2000.
(Estados Unidos)
11
Notwithstanding the Catholic‘s position on sex, Latin America faced the same problems in the spiritual as in the economic realm: the impossibility of compliance. The region needed to develop through labor and labor was the main factor of development. Given the lack of immigration to the region, this could only take place through lax sexual mores, crossbreeding and high fertility. The countries that could increase the labor pool were the ones to develop faster. Thus, even as the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Colonial San José condemned divorce and fornication, it was pragmatic enough to recognize its own powerlessness to enforce these edicts. In the face of these contradictions, the Church became increasingly concerned with form rather than substance, while turning a blind eye to the burgeoning population of illegitimate children. Married men would set second houses for their mistresses and have as many children as possible. 41
Given that the Catholic principles were not faithfully followed and that the Church itself unofficially accepted the particular sexual realities in the Colonies, there was no need to rebel. People learned to live with the contradictions between theory and practice. This is the historical ―Compartmentalization‖
of Latin America. Catholic sexual prudishness survived its usefulness and the people‘s loyalty without having to be debated, questioned or abandoned. A new sexual ethic was developed: ―Have sex but do not talk about it.‖ People were let alone to live their sexualities without interference as long as the forbidden sexual practices were not made public. The population learned that as long as it was discreet, people would ignore sexual transgressions. This sexual ideology developed stronger from the periphery to the center. As economic resources dwindled among the poor and the marginal classes, the ideals of marriage, chastity and sexual control waned even further. Marriage became a mostly middle and upper class institution and cohabitation and sexual promiscuity were widespread.
As the country became wealthier after the 1950‘s, the nuclear family became the ideal sexual model.
Young people were supposed to marry young and stay together for the rest of their lives. The high cost of living made it more difficult for men to keep more than one family and the second house became a relic of the past. The women‘s movement also started to demand more gender equal relationships and the abandonment of Latin machismo.42
41 Robert H. Jackson, Race, Caste, and Status: Indians in Colonial Spanish America, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 1999.
42 Jacobo Schifter, The Construction of Latino Youth. Implications for the spread of HIV/AIDS, New York: Haworth Press, 2000, Chapters 6 and 7.
12
US-Costa Rican relations
Tourists prefer to travel to friendly foreign countries were they are not subjected to hatred or disdain from the locals. After 9/11, Americans are more aware of where they are headed for their vacations.
Today, they favor countries that are closer to home, Christian and not hostile to the US. There is no mystery then that Costa Rica has become one of the new favorite spots. In 2004, the number of tourists that traveled to Costa Rica rose by 25% and by another 20% in 2005.43 American sex tourists are also on the rise and as we will see later, they find Costa Rica to be one of the friendliest places in Latin America.
This perception has historical roots. The US and Costa Rica share in common some important traditions which have set them apart from the more turbulent relations in the rest of the region. The Marines, for example, have never invaded the country, as has been the case in the rest of Central America and in the Caribbean. Costa Rica has economically and politically supported America during World War II, in all her regional and global conflicts, including the Cold War and the current struggle against Islamic fundamentalism. Furthermore, Costa Rica was one of the few Latin American countries that supported the war against Hussein in Iraq. This is not simply the result of America‘s bullying Costa Rica due to her overwhelming power as might have been the case with other nations in Latin America. San Jose has felt that their national interests have been closely linked to the American‘s since their independence and that both countries are ―natural allies.‖ This in turn has created a social and political atmosphere of true respect and liking toward American citizens.
One important reason for Costa Rica‘s close relation to the US is her ―isolationist‖ policies with regard to Central America. 44 This means that she has refused to follow the other Central American countries‘
attempts to reunify the former Republic of Central America. Costa Rica distrusts Guatemala, the former capital of the Republic, and has fought against all her attempts to re-impose unification by force, which in practice meant endless wars. In this stand, Costa Rica has stood in common with America, who has also opposed to Central American unification since this would neutralize her influence in the Isthmus. During all the Central American wars that had as their goal to impose a new Central America Republic, the US and Costa Rica have stood together as military allies. Since Costa Rica has had a weaker military force than the other countries in the region, the strategic dependence on America has been of great importance. After dissolving her armed forces in 1949, Costa Rica relies entirely for her independence on the Rio Treaty, and in practical terms, on the US. During the 1980‘s with the Sandinistas in power in Nicaragua, Costa Rica relied more than ever on the US for her sovereignty. 45
Costa Rica‘s isolationist policies were a result of many factors. Firstly, Costa Rica is geo-politically distant from the rest of Central America. Its only common border is with Nicaragua, and much of its international trade during the Colonial Period was carried out through the Panamanian province of Chiriquí. This geographical separation has been aggravated by the awful conditions of communication 43 La Nacion, “Aumento de turismo en 20%” San Jose, Costa Rica, December 15, 2005, p.5A.
Con formato: Español
44 Chandler, P., Anderson, “Central American Policy of Non-Recognition.” The American Journal of International Law, (alfab. internacional)
XIX (1925), 164-166.
45 Charles E. Chapma, “The Failure of Central American Union,” The American Review of Reviews, LXV (July-December, 1922), 613-617.
13
in Central America. Secondly, the ethnic composition of the population is different from that of the rest of the Isthmus. With a predominantly homogeneous white population, Costa Rica has not been the victim of the cultural divisions of the other Central American countries. Finally, the economic development of Costa Rica, based on Spanish labor and not on the exploitation of the natives, produced a more egalitarian society. This created a more middle class society where extreme poverty is rare.46 It also minimized illegal immigration to the United States and lessened resentment in both societies. Both economies suffer from waves of immigration of Central American refugees and illegal workers.
From 1898, onwards, the country was able to lay the foundation of a democratic, constitutional system.
The Liberal period in Costa Rica, during the last two decades of the nineteenth century and the first three of the twentieth century, saw no dictatorships of the kind experienced in the rest of the Isthmus.
In contrast to the Liberal governments of Rufino Barrios in Guatemala and José Santos Zelaya in Nicaragua, the Liberal regimes in Costa Rica were characterized by a respect for individual rights and the constitutional process. This adherence to a democratic system has led Costa Rican politicians to feel isolated in their Central American orbit and closer to the American sphere of influence. 47
American investors did not cause the same conflicts in Costa Rica as they did in other Central American nations. Costa Rica took full advantage of these investors to carry out national projects. The construction of the Atlantic railroad, for example, was paid by the American Minor Keith, who would use the train to create its banana empire and his future United Fruit Company. Costa Rica, provided Keith with hundreds of thousands of vacant acres to plant the bananas, but she obtained in return a port that enabled her to trade and make millions out of coffee exports to the US and Europe. The country today relies on ecological tourism as her main source of foreign currency, an activity that does not create the antagonism of ―maquilas‖ in the rest of Central America.
Another element which helped to reduce friction between the United States and Costa Rica was the responsible handling of foreign loans at various times. America had recourse to taking over the customs of a number of Caribbean and Central American countries, when these were unable to fulfill their financial obligations. From the United States standpoint, these interventions prevented creditors, mostly Europeans, from meddling in American affairs. But this was not the case with Costa Rica. Even during the difficult years of World War I, when the government experienced a considerable drop of income, the country met its obligations.48
America had such respect for Costa Rica‘s sovereignty that even in cases of turmoil such as during the Central American country‘s Civil War in 1948, the US Government decided against any military intervention. Washington let the Costa Ricans resolve their conflicts on their own, despite of fears that the Communist Party might control the streets of San José. 49
When American sex tourists and Costa Rican sex workers walk the streets of San José, they might not be aware of the historical relationship between their respective countries. Nevertheless, both are reacting to a past that has been devoid of severe confrontations. This is not the same feeling American 46 Richard V. Salisbury, “Costa Rican Relations with Central America, 1920-1936,” Unpublished Ph.D Dissertation, University of Kansas, 1970.
47 Kenneth J. Grieb, The Myth of a Central American Dictatorś League.” Journal of Latin American Studies 10
(November 1978), 329-45.
48 Suzanne O‟Connor, “Costa Rica in the World Community of Nations, 1919-1939, A Case Study in Latin American Internationalism, Unpublished Ph.D Dissertation, Loyola University, 1976.
49 Jacobo Schifter, Las Alianzas Conflictivas. San José. Editorial Libro Libre, 1984.
14
tourists experience when walking the streets of Guatemala, Nicaragua or El Salvador, where the people have grievances against past American invasions, past American support to dictatorships that killed hundreds of thousands of people or current American companies‘ policies that pay low salaries to Central American workers.
15
1.
IS COSTA RICA A NEW THAILAND?
American Airlines Flight 971 from Miami to San José is jam-packed. More than 200 tourists, most of them American citizens, are headed to a country that was not very well known in the States until some years ago. Not only are there more than 12 daily flights from the United States to Costa Rica, but people have learned to identify the country on a map and to know at least somebody who has been or is headed here for a vacation.
If we were able to look inside the tourist‘s suitcases, we‘d find the reasons for choosing this Central American country: snorkeling masks and flippers, scuba diving equipment, mountaineer‘s and riding equipment, and the one item no one can travel without: cameras. Every brochure about Costa Rica explain what to do: ―Fly through the rain-forest canopy on a zip line? Go white-water rafting? Climb a volcano? Laze on a white-sand beach? Check out colorful marine life while snorkeling? Or try to hook one on a deep-sea fishing excursion?‖ Costa Rica –no doubt- offers plenty of pleasant choices like these, especially if you're interested in nature and outdoor activities. That's why so many people have chosen to come here: In the past decade, the number of visitors has quadrupled, and tourism has become a big part of the nation's economy.
If we dug deeper into the tourist‘s purses and briefcases, we‘d be able to get also information on people‘s fears: allergy medicine, cold medicine, cough drops, headache medicine, Mycitracin or other salve for wounds, Insect repellant, After Bite (for relief of itching), Calamine lotion, Chigarid (for chigger bites), Tweezers, Magnifying glass (to spot splinters), Lip balm, Suntan lotion and anti-diarrhea medicine. If we decided to open the small personal containers we‘d find more sensual stuff: condoms, both male and female, Vaseline, and bottles of Viagra, Levitra and Cialis, as well as birth control pills and patches. Interestingly enough, some of the men‘s briefcases would also have plenty of small bottles of women‘s shampoos and conditioners, body lotions, mascara, nailbrushes, perfumes and make-up. The owners of these items are not gay or ―Metrosexuals,‖ but sixty–and seventy-year old grandfathers who are taking presents to ― novia s‖ or girlfriends.
Lorna, a friend of mine, recalls that in her last trip from Miami to San Jose, two of these seniors sat next to her, she being squeezed in the middle seat. The guy in the window seat was the closest replica of Woody Allen: short, thin, with big eye- glasses. The neighbor in the aisle seat was just the opposite: big, fat and with hair as white as sugar. Both are drinking Scotch and are in a talkative mood. Lorna who is also interested in the subject of sex tourism, initiates the conversation with Woody Allen‘s twin brother:
- ―Is this your first to Costa Rica?‖
- ―Not at all- he responds - It is my fourth time.‖ Lorna asks the same question to her other neighbor
- ―This is my twelfth visit‖- he answers with a sardonic smile. The man already smells like alcohol.
- ―Where are you headed in Costa Rica?‖ Insists Lorna.
- ―I am headed to San José‖- answers the fat man. The other guy nods in agreement.
16
- ―So you are not on holidays?‖ Continues Lorna, who knows that if you are headed to the city; it is unlikely that you‘d be on vacation.
- ―No, no –replies our Woody Allen. We are on vacation and on adventures, but our target is Hotel Del Buey.‖
No more information is necessary. In the same way gay people used to reveal their sexual orientation by indicating they‘d visit Deja Vu Bar in San José, sex tourists only need to mention Del Buey and everyone knows what they are talking about. This hotel is the largest sex tourist establishment in the region, a place only rivaled by Campo Alegre in Curazao.