The new regulation instructs all inspections to be done in tandem with the Fiscalia del Estado (Jalisco Attorney General’s Office). The councilors said they were most worried about trafficking of minors and women as prostitutes in the salons. They noted that many of the salons advertised sexual services on the internet. The inspectors will turn over their database of public baths, esteticas, beauty salons, massage parlors and other such businesses to state investigative police.
In separate action, the councilors approved a National Conduct Code for the Protection of Children and Adolescents in the travel and tourism sector. In Mexico some 25,000 minors are estimated to be exploited for sex — 3,000 of them in Jalisco. In the Guadalajara metro zone (including Lakeside) it is estimated that the take on this trade reaches 152 million dollars per year.
The program includes three codes: detection protocol, channelization and alert, which will give tourism professionals the steps to report child abuse networks they encounter in their work. One of the ideas promoted by Councilor Maribel Alfeiran is for hotels that sign the code to place banners outside their establishments that say, “In this hotel, we look to care for and respect the rights of children and adolescents.” The tourism industry rejected the first proposed banner’s wording: “In this hotel we prohibit child prostitution.” The code of conduct is promoted nationally by the federal Tourism Ministry.