A procession was also held in the tolerance zone of Guayaquil.

On 18th Street, at ten in the morning, the party is usually in full swing. The loudspeakers of the 25 establishments in the red light district play salsa at full volume. However, yesterday (Wednesday of Holy Week), this was replaced by sacred music to accompany the procession that the workers and owners of establishments in the sector have been carrying out annually for thirteen years.

Teresa Aragundi, owner of the La Casa Verde store, was one of the first organizers of the small Via Crucis that they carry out in the area, located on Brasil and Salinas streets, in the south of the city.

“A former owner of one of the shops started the tradition and we all thought it was a good idea, since it is not out of place that, despite the fact that this is a red zone, a morning is dedicated to the Lord,” he said.

She said that the business, which she runs with her daughter Rosario, is a family tradition that her mother started. Every year during the procession she prays for the well-being of the establishment and the women who work there.

The Adoring Sisters, together with Father César Rico, are in charge of delivering the images that adorn the 14 stations through which the Stations of the Cross passes and the wooden Christ that they carry.

They say they visit the area approximately once a month to talk to the young women who work there about the possibility of them taking workshops to learn a profession.

However, this year the walk was made up of only about twenty people, because after the coverage given last year by some media outlets, many were afraid to attend.

“They put our faces on the front page. That is wrong. Many of the women who work here are mothers and their children do not know what they do, that is why we are not going to appear,” said Margarita Peralta, owner of a shop in the sector.

Mireya (name protected), who has been working in the area for 16 years, said that a photograph published by the newspaper Extra caused problems for her with her family.

“We do this out of devotion. We pray for our children. My brother was shown the front page of the newspaper and they told him 'look, there's your bitch sister'. That's why I'll be praying here this year, and that hurts me. I am a devotee of the Virgin of Cisne,” she said.

At each of the stations, the participants prayed and sang. However, when they arrived at the Thousand and One Nights venue, Sister Rosalba Cortés stopped and prayed for the soul of Alba Cantos, a worker who was murdered there eight months ago by her former partner.

“I pray for myself,” said Sulay Pozo. “I ask God to protect me so that something like this doesn’t happen to me, so that I can return home safe and sound every night to see my children,” she said. 

At 11 a.m. the procession reached the last station. There Sara (name protected) sang at the top of her lungs with her companions: “For a god who knew temptation, surely you forgive me.”

After the final blessing, the altars were removed, the shops opened, the salsa started playing again on the speakers and the women slowly returned to their work stations. (MT)