Beware of the Crocodile

Scary stuff

“El Caiman”… The Crocodile… is “the baddest-ass of the bad-ass pimps” in Tenancingo, Tlaxcala — a small city whose main industry is said to be sex trafficking.  Being aa “bad-ass pimp” in a town of pimps you gotta have a gimmick.  Or a live crocodile in your basement.

A well-chiseled man, “El Caiman”, it is claimed, comes across as charming and gallant when he “rescues” young country girls from bus stations and malls around the country, only to turn on the other side of his personality.  He gives the girls a choice:  work as prostitutes in Mexico City and Puebla, or he’ll kill their families… or worse.

Girls who don’t pay up when El Caiman’s runners come to town, are “invited” for a visit to Tenancingo.  From which they never return.

After all, it’s not like you can find Purina Crocodile Chow in Tenancingo.

Apparently, it’s a true story!

According to former Federal Deputy Rosi Orozco, of Unidos Contra la Trata (Union against Sex-Trafficking), Tenancingo has built an entire industry based on sexual exploitation since the  1990s, its resident pimps overseeing illicit sex workers throughout the Republic and as far away as the United States and Great Britain.  An anonymous city official claims that between 30 and 50 percent of Teancingo’s residents are in the illicit sex trade in one capacity or another. The municipal official also says that El Caiman not only is for real, but adds that his generosity to local charities and in providing scholarships and stipends for students (especially those studying for careers as lawyers) makes him a well-regarded local figure.

Several women interviewed by El Universal (including one who paid 170,000 pesos to buy herself out of El Caiman’s stable and is now working as an independent sex worker elsewhere) all say the story of the crododile in the basement is true.

While feeding people to crocodiles is certainly illegal and pimping is a serious criminal offense (that can get you 18 years in the slammer), prostitution is, in itself, not illegal in Mexico.  In a few places, the sex workers have a strong union … probably the only union in the world that discourages apprentices … who — although technically independent contractors — have at least the normal labor rights.