The rise of the Cuban hustler

Since the dawn of the twenty-first century, commerce and the trade of young male bodies has been flourishing in Cuba. It has become more conspicuous than female prostitution.

In Havana, hustlers are set apart by their youthful appearance: slender, athletic bodies, sculpted through daily exercise; tight designer clothes, the latest mobile phones, and expensive perfume. They are metrosexual with hairless legs and underarms, plucked eyebrows, well-trimmed hair, piercings, earrings, manicured nails and for some, makeup.

Cubans refer to them in vulgar terms identifying them with their primary working tool. Unlike female prostitutes, these commercial sex workers usually take male and female clients alike.

Clients are primarily foreigners visiting Cuba: Italians, Spaniards, Germans, and more recently, Canadians and Mexicans—people with much coveted money to spend. The ultimate goal is customer satisfaction. But these young men are far from being bisexual or homosexual. At the end of the day, they could very well be the neighborhood, clean cut, boy next door. The way they see it, they are only doing what they have to do, struggling to make ends meet. That struggle began at the height of extreme crisis euphemistically called, the “special period in the time of peace,” the name given to the economic crisis that began in the early 1990’s lasting though about 1995.

Of all the market varieties of Cuba’s underground that have thrived since the economic debacle of the 90s, prostitution or hustling focused mainly on foreign tourism. It has been one of the most lucrative and certainly most accessible paths for the younger generation, especially after the crisis devalued the importance of pursuing higher education or obtaining a job with the state.

It was also the least persecuted path. Roy, a young Cuban who traveled to Italy though the sex trade, wrote in a forum called “Lovers of Cuba” (Forum degli amanti di Cuba):

"Sometimes I’d try something different. I’d sell guarfarina,' (a low-quality, clandestine homemade rum), pork and many other things. But I always came back. I became a bookie and took illegal bets on the Venezuelan lottery. That was profitable, but oh, man, if the police had caught me! So, I went back to hustling."

Periodically, the government sanctioned police raids to round up prostitutes, the broadest occurring in 1998 and 2002. However, by and large, the government has ignored the issue. Why?

The type of tourism the Cuban regime chose to promote as a lesser evil and salvation following the loss of their Soviet pimp has been one comprised of cheap, all-inclusive packages. Vacationers who buy these packages are usually from the low or lower middle class. They go to Cuba with the intention of spending as little as possible. The toleration of prostitution--remember that Fidel Castro did not condemn them, but called them "the most educated prostitutes in the world" -- is a way to force visitors to leave behind what little money they have in their pockets.

The fodder for this new "battle of the revolution" was not exhausted. Roy writes about how his family was prostituted:

"I started hustling when I was 20 years old. It was during the 'special period' and every day was harder than the last. The hunger was overbearing. Everyone was fed up with eating rice and beans, beans and rice, every single day. I was 20. My brother Raulito was 17, and my sister the Doll (as we called her) had just come into the world. My father was a fifty year old doctor, and my mom was a 37 year old teacher."

"I invented a job for myself with a small camera that had been given to me by a German. I took pictures of the prostitutes to help them market themselves to the gringos. I charged two dollars for each photo, and in a month I became the photographer to the prostitutes (that’s what they called me). My brother developed the photos and the business went well."

"But it wasn’t enough and my mom also became a prostitute. My dad went on with his revolutionary bullshit. I fought hard with him (...). I think he blames me because my mom became a prostitute. He said I had brought destruction to the house. Actually, I think he knew that what was killing us was the ideas that he was sticking to at all costs."

After some years of persecution, the "activity" is now the new “normal.” You don’t hear of raids anymore. First Daughter Mariela Castro says that this is a job like any other. A couple of years ago, the weekly Digital Spring reported that with the new impetus to self-employment, authorities were expediting "companion abroad" licenses for prostitutes, which would exempt them from being jailed, accused of harassing tourists.

However, although male prostitution was reborn in the 90’s alongside female prostitution, raids or a mass incarceration of male prostitutes was unheard of. Only individual cases were reported.

Juan Antonio Madrazo, independent coordinator of Citizens Committee for Racial Integration, has written about male prostitution for Cubanet. The male sex trade he writes, has long been a harsh and uncomfortable reality that narcissist revolutionary sexism tries to hide.

Speaking with martinoticias.com, Madrazo said that since early in this century, the sex trade among males has been more visible within the tourist circles of the island—more so than females. Madrazo believes that one reason for its success is profitability—everyone profits. Many cops are bribed into looking the other way and some act as pimps to the prostituted youth.

The official media has approached the problem of prostitution with kid gloves. Until now, it has overlooked the boom in male sex workers. Madrazo stresses that it is one of the most profitable businesses in the black market today. Some of the profits are being reinvested in a fledgling porn industry made in Cuba.

Independent journalist and blogger Iván García, places most of those male prostitutes in the emerging middle class. These workers may be high school graduates or have some type of university education. Many of them speak English or have learned other languages. Because they can afford to buy shrimp, beef and name brand liquor (which is sold in stores where CUC’s or Cuban convertibles pesos are allowed—the official currency of tourism on the island), hustlers are deemed financially solvent. They frequent nightclubs and have their own method of transportation, usually a motorcycle. Their lifestyle allows them to stay at tourist resorts a couple of times of year. The resort stay may be for pleasure but it’s also an opportunity to grow the customer base without secrecy.

The trade-off is far from fair. Hustlers don’t just sell their bodies. They sell their dignity, self-esteem, and mental stability. Tristan is a 22-year old computer science graduate from Camaguey. In one instance, he told Madrazo:

"It's hard to sleep with old men who smell. It’s not easy to seduce a stranger, but I do it out of necessity. To me, Europeans are better customers than Latino men; they respect men and don’t want to kiss me or hold hands in public. They do their thing and that’s it."

Medrazo writes that "many of these young men live in the slums of Havana that the tourist doesn’t get to see. For them, there’s this larger than life masculinity that is simultaneously a straitjacket and an armor allowing them to survive. They are virile young men, muscular, and at the same time, very fragile.”

Tristan adds:

"No one can imagine the perversion that customers can ask for. But at least it allows me to pay debts and indulge in small pleasures, from sending money to my mom, to buying myself a perfume, or invite a girl to dinner or dancing at a nightclub. This is very hard on the self-esteem, but you have to overcome the many difficulties until you can get out of this stifling island."

Every prostitute's dream, whether male or female, is to find someone--anyone--who will fall enough in love with them to get them out of Cuba.

Roy found that someone. In Milan, his Italian mother-in-law describes him as “useless, penniless, uncultured, and with no prospects." According to her, says Roy, Cubans "are only ‘good for relaxing and partying’".

This young man from Central Havana believes that living abroad has been a great experience, but concludes:

"I know I can’t live in Italy. Sometimes I can’t breathe, I feel bad. I need my Cuba. My wife can’t believe it. She just says that I want to go because I don’t love her. She’s been crying for days. It pains me, but I think if I stay here, it would be worse. It’s better if I go."