Boy's Town, prostitution

Boy's Town, (or "La Zona" (en: the Zone) as it is known in Spanish), is a commercial district in the border town of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, serving primarily as a "zone of tolerance" in the city for legal prostitution, and also a variety of other nocturnal entertainment. It is a walled compound containing three short east-west streets and two short north-south streets. It houses a range of brothels, bars, restaurants, small stores, a small police station, and a health clinic. It is located near the intersection of Monterrey and Anahuac Streets, about 5 km southwest of International Bridge #1.

The origins of the Boy's Town concept along the U.S.-Mexico border can be traced in part to the relationship that developed between the United States Army and various ad hoc entrepreneurs in northern Mexico during the army's 1916–17 Punitive Expedition; specifically when General John J. Pershing's forces were pursuing General Pancho Villa in Chihuahua. While the troops were based 100 kilometers south of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, at Colonia Dublain, a small group of vendors, launderers, barkeeps, and prostitutes set up businesses next to the army camp. Eventually, General Pershing ordered that the prostitutes be restricted to the southern end of the camp where they would be inspected and certified by the military medical officers. A flat rate for sexual intercourse was also established.

Within a few decades, this concept was adopted by vice entrepreneurs and city managers elsewhere along the border. These enclosed compounds, called zonas de tolerancia or Boy's Towns, were eventually established in at least seven Mexican cities along the U.S.-Mexico border (San Luis Río Colorado, Agua Prieta, Ojinaga, Ciudad Acuña, Piedras Negras, Nuevo Laredo, and Reynosa). Later, several other cities, not located on the border, established enclosed zonas as well, including Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, and Salina Cruz, Oaxaca. The government of Ciudad Victoria, Mexico, has considered establishing a similar zone.

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