Santo Domingo (AFP)

Since the new coronavirus began to hit the Dominican Republic in March, Luna Veras, a transgender sex worker, has not been able to boil the pot.

Between the fear of Covid-19 and the curfew, its clientele has shrunk by 80%.

"Me, I live on sex work. In these times of the Covid-19 pandemic, we, the sex workers + trans +, are going through a crisis. The economy has stopped," says Luna, who lives in a poor neighborhood of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Caribbean country where prostitution is not illegal if it is carried out on a voluntary basis.

Because to try to slow the progression of the virus, the Dominican authorities have implemented a night curfew.

So far, the government of the country of just under 11 million people has recorded 97,000 cases and 1,801 deaths related to the disease.

Luna, 47, is HIV positive and says she is "in a panic" about contracting the novel coronavirus because of the serious consequences it could have on her health.

Yet Luna continues to work and put on makeup as before the pandemic.

With one detail: the mask she uses to protect her mouth and nose, all stained by her fuchsia lipstick.

Mechanically, the curfew had dramatic consequences on its finances.

His clientele has shrunk by 80% and his contacts are now made exclusively by phone, says Luna.

She is now very far from the 10,000 monthly pesos (about 170 dollars) that she earned each month before the pandemic.

To compensate for her loss of income, she started cleaning up.

-The "shame" of customers-

Yohana Espinoza, also a transgender prostitute, is also a carrier of HIV.

It was impossible to find a regular and registered job, because Yohana was "not registered at birth" and therefore has no birth certificate or legal papers.

She can neither read nor write.

In her tiny room with a zinc roof, two fans blow the scorching air of the Dominican summer.

And customers are long in coming ...

Henely Flores, 20, has a hard time especially with the night curfew in effect from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. in Santo Domingo.

“One day I changed and went out to work as a transvestite. But I realized that the clients weren't stopping because it was daylight and they were ashamed,” she says.

Her situation is so precarious that she had to ask a friend to put her up because she had nowhere to go.

With their income falling, many sex workers now depend on aid from NGOs and international organizations.

"It is a difficult situation, some can barely survive. We have no means but we have tried to help them with food and protective equipment against Covid-19. It is one less charge. for them ", explains Christian Kingsley, who heads the association of assistance to transgender people TRANSSA.

According to him, the association has enrolled 600 people in the government program "Quédate en casa" (Stay at home) which allocates a monthly aid of 5,000 pesos (about 85 dollars) to buy food since the start of the pandemic.

© 2020 AFP