Colombia outlaws prostitution in tourist-friendly neighbourhoods

The mayor of Colombia‘s second biggest city banned prostitution in some popular areas for six months to stop children from being sexually exploited.

The Mayor of Medellín, Federico Gutiérrez, said in a meeting with reporters that a rule will be put into action in the Provenza and El Poblado neighborhoods. These areas have a lot of popular bars and clubs and are visited by many tourists.

The area is now popular with sex workers who are looking for clients from other countries. They walk around the streets to find them. The mayor said that bad people are taking young people to these neighborhoods and making them do sex work.

“We need to take back control of this place,” Gutiérrez said. “We must also make sure to keep the community safe. ”

In Colombia, it’s okay for adults to do sex work if they agree to it. Colombian laws allow city governments to temporarily stop this activity in certain parts of the city if it is considered dangerous for public safety.

The Medellin prostitution ban was put in place because an American man was found with two local girls who were 12 and 13 years old in a hotel room. This was a big story in the local news.

The 36-year-old was kept by the police for 12 hours, then let go while officials looked into the situation. The local newspapers said that he left Colombia and went to Florida.

Gutiérrez asked Colombian authorities to investigate faster at Monday’s news conference.

“He said it’s disappointing that so many people think they can do whatever they want in Medellín. ”

Prostitution has increased in Medellín because more and more tourists are visiting the city for its nice weather, cheap prices, and fun parties.

Some visitors are finding sex workers in the city’s streets or on dating apps, and some of these meetings have been dangerous.

In January, the government warned people about the dangers of using dating apps in Medellin. This was because eight Americans had been killed there in the past two months.

The warning said that bad people were using dating apps to trick people into going to hotels, restaurants, and bars where they were given drugs, taken away, or stolen from.