The Dark Side of Colombia Tourism: Child Sex Trade in Medellín

 https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/the-dark-side-of-colombia-tourism-child-sex-trade-in-medellin-2c583fad?mod=hp_lead_pos8

In the last three decades, Medellín has shed its image as capital of the world’s cocaine trade, with homicides falling 97% since the days when cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar ruled. Cheap living and an eternal springlike climate has, since the pandemic, lured an influx of foreigners, among them tech entrepreneurs, digital nomads and foreign retirees—so many that locals complain of skyrocketing housing costs.

The appeal of a far safer city also attracts sex tourists, many of them American, who come here searching for underage girls often managed by organized-crime groups. U.S. investigators have charged some Americans with filming sex with underage girls, then posting it online for profit. Medellín officials say child predators take advantage of the city’s booming nightlife, in which legal adult prostitution flourishes, to help cover their tracks. While the age of consent in Colombia is 14, the minimum age for sex work is 18.