Prostitutes told to clean up act
Fri May 24, 7:39 PM ET

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - In a sanitary crackdown on Colombia's sex trade, Bogota authorities have ordered prostitutes to use plastic-covered mattresses, change bedsheets and spray rooms for cockroaches, lice and rodents.

"Sex workers will have a higher status. They will be more respected," said Bogota's flamboyant Mayor Antanas Mockus, commenting on the new edict for the Colombian capital on Friday.

The regulations were imposed after a frustrated Bogota man sued the city over its unruly brothels. The sex trade long has been legal for adults in Colombia, with prostitutes and police often sharing the same Bogota street corners at night.

Among the rules, brothels in Colombia's capital will be restricted to specially authorised zones, and they must have ventilation systems, as well as adjoining showers and toilets.

Mockus, an eccentric mathematician known for imposing a strict drinking curfew and declaring a one-day annual "ladies night" banning men from the streets, said he thinks the rules will discourage prostitution.

"There is less prostitution in societies which are more free, in terms of sexuality," said Mockus, who married his wife at a circus, perched on top of an elephant.

"My experience as a Latin American student in Europe is that when talking to classmates of mine, practically none of the French had used prostitutes, whereas eight or nine of every 10 Latin Americans had visited prostitutes."