Secret Service partied in El Salvador

A Seattle TV station is reporting that US Secret Service agents drank and partied in a Salvadoran strip club prior to president Obama's visit to El Salvador last year.   The Secret Service is currently enmeshed in a scandal over similar activities in Colombia prior to a presidential visit there.

From the KIRO-TV report:
 The strip club’s owner confirmed a large number of U.S. secret service agents (and some military escorts) “descended on his club” that week prior to President Obama’s visit. He claims agents were there at least three nights in a row. "No surprise to me." The owner told Halsne his club routinely takes care of high-ranking employees of the U.S. embassy in San Salvador as well as visiting FBI and DEA agents. The owner says his reputation for "security" and "privacy" makes him a popular strip club owner with "those who want to be discreet." 

Comments

Sean said…
¨Colombia¨ (sp)
10:16 AM
Seattle CISPES said…
Good job being "discreet". Jajaja.
1:00 PM
Anonymous said…
Tim: I realize you work for a higher authority than the President of the United States, but really... is anyone shocked that security guards, on their own time, indulge their carnal desires from time to time. I'll bet the Swiss Guards don't go to Mass and tour churches on their off days when they're on the road, either.
3:07 PM
Tim said…
@Sean: Thanks

@mexfiles: I tend to agree with you, but for some reason this is a big deal with hearings in Congress and lot of media attention.
4:43 PM
Karen said…
Well a national tour guide I know who does a lot of work for the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador over the years - who I know has told me personally about escorting the Marines to strip clubs. I hope that the U.S. embasssy does not pay the bill for those nightlife tours. I had gone there too and the strip club is a very sad affair. Women like me who pay taxes would be sad to think about the lives of the lovely women there - and what lying hypocrites we are as "Americans" going on official junkets and exploiting these beautiful innocent human beings under the guise of improving our world. Shame on the military if they exploited these ladies...
10:56 PM
Carlos X. said…
I'm not sure the moral rectitude of the agents is the only issue. Sex tourism is part of a morally disturbing international trade that includes human trafficking and a lot of abuse. I think people are rightfully appalled that American govt officials should be contributing to sexploitation that preys on poor girls from the third world.
12:35 AM
Anonymous said…
@karen and poloycarpio: right now my company (http://editorialmazatlan.com) is preparing an English-language translation of a book by a Mexican sex-worker (and has the rights to the original Spanish version): The Table Dancers' Tale (scheduled for release this August).

What's fascinating is that while the owners of these clubs (and the customers, obviously) are men, the managers, who control the working conditions and are responsible for the labor abuses, are almost exclusively other women... often retired sex-workers themselves.

Much as I agree with you, Polycarpio, that the sex tourism trade depends on "third world" exploitation, it doesn't in itself seem any different than other forms of "third world" labor exploitation... that the rich countries prey on our labor, not just that of commercial sex workers.
10:39 AM
Carlos X. said…
Point taken, Mex. But it's particularly galling to me that the US Govt is pontificating to Latin American govts that they must get their delincuencia under control because it's creating an environment that will be exploited by drug dealers and al Qaeda, and I don't know what, but meanwhile the president's entourage is patronizing the brothels.
2:53 PM
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