Santa Rosa’s Deputy Mayor: Women are Prostitutes “Because they want to be”

Deputy Mayor of Santa Rosa, capital of La Pampa province, has caused an uproar over his polemic views on prostitution. In the middle of a debate over social programmes, Ángel Ceferino Baraybar said that women who are prostitutes do it “because they want to”, going on to note that it is “the world’s oldest profession”.

To underscore his position, the Frente por la Victoria politician highlighted an experience he had had with a local priest, Ricardo Ermesino, with whom he worked on a plan to train women who were working as prostitutes in various skills, helping them to move into different job sectors. “It was a total failure despite all of our efforts. Nothing worked. Father Ermesino was even threatened as he put seven prostitutes with seven nuns in an attempt to cure them, and he couldn’t. All seven returned to the streets. And many of them want to come and get their social plans and carry on doing what they want to.”

Baraybar’s statements have led to calls for his resignation from women’s groups both in the province and on a national level. Mónica Molina, from women’s rights Asociación AKUN, said: “He can’t talk about the subject as if it were an illness … this is a step backwards when both the national government and many organisations are working really hard to advance women’s rights.”

Molina went on to say “his comments strengthen stereotypes, inequality of relations, prostitution, and human trafficking.”

Baraybar has responded to the criticisms, highlighting that he is “absolutely against trafficking”.