Prostitution in Guatemala is legal but procuring is prohibited. There is an offence of "aggravated procuring" where a minor is involved. Keeping a brothel is not prohibited. Child sex tourism is a problem in the country especially in areas such as Antigua and Guatemala City.
Human trafficking is also a significant and growing problem in the country, particularly the exploitation of children in prostitution. Many women and children are brought into the country from El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras by organized rings that force them into prostitution.
In colonial Guatemala, and into the 20th century, prostitution was thought of as necessary to protect the virtues of the "ladies" of Guatemala. Brothels and street prostitution were tolerated and commonplace. Guatemalan law held that prostitutes could not be raped and that violence was an occupational hazard.
Any woman, whether a prostitute or not, convicted of "bad conduct" could be incarcerated in a brothel for up to 3 years. Until outlawed in , individual women and their sentences could be brought and sold between brothel madams. In Guatemala City there is a red-light district by the "La Linea" railway track. About prostitutes work there in shacks. The women women rent the shacks directly from the owners and work for themselves, not pimps.
They do have to pay protection money to local gangs. Generally the local police ignore the area. The 'Oblate Sisters of the Most Holy Redeemer' provide outreach services to the women and run a drop-in center. In , some of the prostitutes formed a five-a-side football team to bring attention to the indignities and dangers of their lives.
