Protesting prostitutes sew mouths shut

Bolivian prostitutes on a hunger strike have sewn their mouths shut as part of a protest against the governmental shut-down of brothels and bars in El Alto's red light district. From Reuters:

"We are fighting for the right to work and for our families' survival," Lily Cortez, leader of the El Alto Association of Nighttime Workers, told local television.

"Tomorrow we will bury ourselves alive if we are not immediately heard..."

Link (Thanks, Lindsay Tiemeyer!)

• [Dan]

  Actually, Lily Cortez probably sounded a lot like:

  “Mee mur myting mur duh might tuh mrrk..”

  Needless to say, I don’t really see this turning out well.

• [Annaphis]

  How are they all going to bury themselves, assuming that they will not have an “outside” accomplice to do the burying since that would be an act of murder, or assisted suicide at the least?

• [Crash]

  According to prior news coverage, the “government shutdown” was also forced by citizen protests. Per BBC News on Oct 17: “Protesters armed with sticks and stones smashed windows and set furniture ablaze in at least 20 bars in El Alto, on the edge of the capital, La Paz. They want local government to pass laws banning pubs and brothels near schools.”

  Or, Time has the more inflammatory, “The rampage began after citizens demanded that brothels and bars be located at least 3,200 feet away from schools. Within 48 hours, angry mobs had taken matters into their own hands, burning more than 30 establishments. Hundreds of women and transvestites were forced to strip while their belongings were torched; dozens were beaten and mutilated as the police stood by and watched. ‘It was something we needed to do,’ says El Alto resident Roberta Quispe Mayta. ‘Now our husbands will behave better and the prostitutes will leave.’ The municipal government responded by closing all brothels within 1,600 feet of schools, but took no action against those who had attacked the prostitutes.”

  So there are citizen protests on both sides. The prostitutes are really protesting the restrictions their neighbors have demanded.

• [Tim]

  Maybe it isn’t their mouths they should be sewing shut…

• [PaulT]

  Hmmm… while I understand the reasons behind the protest (livelihoods being taken away, etc.), I don’t see why they’d think that this would achieve anything. that is, of course, if they go through with their extreme threat.

  Surely by killing themselves, they’d be ridding the town of prostitutes permanently, which is what the authorities wanted in the first place…

• [driveby hootenanny]

  “Tomorrow we will bury ourselves alive if we are not immediately heard…”

  Somehow, I don’t really see it necessary to call this bluff. If they’re dumb enough to go through with it, well, maybe they’ll be taken seriously in death. Maybe.

• [surgicalsnack]

  that’s hardcore.

• [Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator]

  Prostitutes and transvestites plying a legal trade were beaten, mutilated, and robbed of their possessions while the police stood by and said nothing. I’d say they have cause to protest.

• [Stephen]

  Some posters here seem to be assuming the brothels were legally shut down. However, prostitution is legal in Bolivia and the brothels where illegally shut down in support of mob violence. Notice in the linked article that the restaurant and bar owners are protesting is support of the prostitutes not against them. So by their extreme actions, the prostitutes are trying to get enough attention to force the legal authorities to enforce their legal rights. I wonder if the opponents of prostitution have tried to get it outlawed or if they are only using mob tactics. The article doesn’t say.

• [Parq]

  There isn’t a single thing I could say about this that wouldn’t get me banned.