Slayings of tourists and Colombian women expose the dark side of Medellin’s tourism boom

MEDELLIN, Colombia (AP) — The lush valley enveloping Medellin was once the heart of a brutal war involving the Colombian government, drug cartels, and a smattering of other armed groups.

But a sharp dip in violence in the country's second-biggest city has attracted a flood of tourists to its vivid colours, busy cafés and booming nightlife.

About 1.4 million visited last year, many of them American.

Now the tourism boom has presented officials with a new set of dark challenges, including an uptick in sex trafficking and the killing of tourists and Colombian women after rendezvous on dating apps.

“This area has spun out of control,” Medellin Mayor Federico Gutiérrez said recently while touring a park known for the sex trade.

Sex and drug tourism has long been a problem in Medellin, but the dangers came to a head late last year.

Between November and December, eight American men were killed, many after meeting local women who are often used as pawns by criminal groups that target foreigners.

The killings prompted the US Embassy in Bogota to warn in January that some tourists had been slipped drugs and were later robbed or killed.

American officials cautioned men against using dating apps. The apps offer a way to seek out sex workers, whose business is not criminalised in Colombia.

Medellin lead prosecutor Yiri Milena Amado Sanchez said most of the recent killings followed similar scripts: A tourist contacts a local woman through social media or a dating app.

When they meet, the man is handed a drink spiked with a substance such as scopolamine, which can cause people to fall unconscious and block their memories. The victims lose their belongings and, in some cases, their lives.

Just this year, authorities have investigated the deaths of five more tourists, including a Dutch visitor found dead in a hotel, three Americans and a Lithuanian, who may have died by suicide.

Foreigners, too, have been behind some of the violence.

Earlier this month, the body of 20-year-old Colombian Laura Lopera was found jammed inside a suitcase. Authorities say her middle-aged Canadian ex-boyfriend, whom she met on a dating app, was likely behind the death.

The rise in tourism has also coincided with an uptick in sexual exploitation and trafficking in a place where rates of violence against women are already sky-high.

In 2023, the city documented 1,259 cases of possible sexual exploitation of minors, a nearly 60% increase from the year before, according to data collected by the city.

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