MEDELLIN, Colombia — The lush valleys surrounding Medellín were once the epicenter of a brutal war involving the Colombian government, drug cartels and a few other armed groups.
But with a sharp drop in violence in the country’s second-largest city, its bright colors, bustling cafes and booming nightlife are drawing tourists in droves. About 1.4 million people visited last year, many of them Americans.
Now, the tourism boom is presenting authorities with a new set of dark challenges, including an increase in sex trafficking and the murders of tourists and Colombian women they meet on dating apps.
“This area is out of control,” Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez said recently while touring a park known for sex trafficking.
Sex and drug tourism has long been a problem in Medellin, but the dangers came to light late last year. Eight American men were murdered between November and December, many after encountering local women who were often used as pawns for criminal gangs targeting foreigners.
Following the killing, the US Embassy in Bogota warned in January that some tourists were being robbed or killed after being slipped drugs. American authorities have warned men not to use dating apps, which offer a way to find sex workers, whose business is not criminalised in Colombia.
Medellin’s chief prosecutor, Iri Milena Amado Sánchez, said most of the recent murders follow a similar scenario: A tourist gets in touch with a local woman through social media or a dating app. When the two meet, the man is handed a drink laced with a substance such as scopolamine, which can render people unconscious and block their memory. Victims lose their belongings and, in some cases, their lives.
Police said the most well-known of the killings involved the death of Tu Gel Siong, an activist and comedian from Minnesota who was dating a woman from Medellin.
After meeting with the woman, Xiong was abducted on December 10, where she was tortured, beaten and robbed. Despite his family paying a ransom for his release, he was taken to a nearby forest area and thrown off a cliff some 80 meters (80 meters). He was found dead the next day.
Colombian authorities have not suggested that he was involved in prostitution. Zion reportedly went out several times with the woman and two men charged in this case.
Friends and relatives described Mr. Xiong as an outgoing man who loved to travel, especially to Colombia, where he had friends.
“It was like a second home. He loved it,” his brother Yi Xiong told the Minneapolis Star Tribune, adding that although he was aware of the U.S. government’s warnings, He added that he had only expected “the best in people.”
Just this year, authorities investigated the deaths of five more tourists, including a Dutch tourist whose body was found in a hotel, three Americans who may have died by suicide, Includes one Lithuanian.
Foreigners are also involved in some of the violence.
Earlier this month, the body of 20-year-old Colombian Laura Lopera was found stuffed inside a suitcase. Authorities say her ex-boyfriend, a middle-aged Canadian man she met on a dating app, is likely behind her death.
Gutierrez, the mayor of Medellin, said the boyfriend had fled the country and was now being tracked by Interpol. The Associated Press reached out to the suspect through social media but did not receive a response.
The Canadian embassy in Bogotá said it was following the incident but could not release further information due to privacy concerns.
“How sad and painful to know that another murder has occurred.” Gutierrez wrote to X.(Old Twitter). “I send my solidarity to her family.”
The increase in tourism has coincided with an increase in sexual exploitation and human trafficking in a region that already has extremely high rates of violence against women. In 2023, the city recorded 1,259 cases of suspected sexual exploitation of minors, an increase of about 60% from the previous year, according to data collected by the city.
Much of the city’s sex work is also fueled by poverty and the migrant crisis from neighboring Venezuela. Vulnerable women often sell sex to make a living. Such was the case for a young sex worker who fled Venezuela’s economic crisis five years ago.
Every weekend, she dresses up and walks through Lleras Park, surrounded by clubs frequented by foreign tourists. This small park is the center of Medellin’s sex industry.
“Americans will pay $100 or even $200 for sex, but Colombians would never pay that much,” she said, speaking on the condition of anonymity for safety reasons.
Not only did she earn a good salary, she also had to scrape together at least $50 to pay for a room to live with her 8-year-old daughter and her mother.
“Some people think we’re trying to harm them,” she said of crimes against tourists. “But we’re not all criminals.”
On a recent night, dozens of police officers and local government officials patrolled the park, accompanied by Mayor Gutierrez.
They asked women for identification as they entered the park through a police checkpoint. Most were let through, but several teenagers were stopped and forced into vans. Once the police left, the area was filled again with sex workers of all ages.
Despite the rise in prostitution tourism, many visitors to Medellín are drawn by the vibrant culture, the stunning natural beauty of the valley, and the city’s complex history.
In the hillside neighborhood known as Comuna 13, hundreds of people take walking tours every day to observe the changes in the area.
The area was once the site of a fierce battle between drug cartels, leftist guerrillas, the military and government-backed militias. The dead were buried in mass graves.
Though the area still suffers from gang problems, tourists stroll through colorful streets connected by electric staircases. Visitors can take photos of elaborate murals painted by local artists and buy handicrafts in small shops.
During the tour, Ola Ayedun, 38, from New York, stopped to take a photo with two friends. He didn’t come to Colombia looking for a partner, so he said he wasn’t concerned about his safety or the warnings to avoid dating apps.
“Colombia is so much more than just women,” Ayedun said.
Associated Press writer Steve Karnowski in St. Paul, Minnesota, contributed to this report.
