By Glenda Anderson, Staff ReporterIT LOOKED simply like an overcrowded, subdued country bar and shop.
But the curious would have been struck by the crowd of close to 35 men and women huddled in small groups all around the yard, inside the bar and at the front of the shop.
But it was no ordinary country bar and shop.
Each woman came casually dressed, a travel bag or small suitcase in hand. A clearing to the left of the shop served as a car park, already filled with five cars and a small van.
Outside a dreadlocked man described his 'find' to a client on his cellular telephone, "Yeah man she more than proportion" (having the right shape).
The bar/shop, was a blue painted wood and concrete, rough cut structure with a small yard which housed a dwelling house. A bamboo cookshop was out front. 'Costumes' or stage wear, hung from a window on a clothes hanger.
Every few minutes a taxi would stop at the shop to let off more 'girls' while those who had been 'selected' were loaded into waiting vehicles and taken away.
One young woman, who had hitched a ride with a truck was let off a little way off down the road, slowly made her way up to the group.
AUCTION OR TRADE FAIR
This is Culloden, Westmoreland, one of the sites in Jamaica described as an 'auction or 'trade fair' for girls.
Within the last month, there have been allegations of children involved in commercial sexual exploitation throughout the
country.
There were allegations of an "illegal exploitation of young girls in 'go-go clubs', and in particular a special 'trade fair' for girls at certain locations in western Jamaica and other entertainment centres in the tourism resort areas."
Jamaica was also identified by the United States Government as 'a country of internal trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation, particularly connected to the domestic tourism industry.'
However, residents and visitors to Culloden insist that they are simply doing regular job recruitments.
