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Sex Tourism: Predators in Paradise

By Calliste Weitenberg, Bruno Federico, Simone Bruno and Micah McGown

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Music track: PORTAL KOMBAT or BETTER OSCILLATE THAN NEVER

Sex tourism is a multi-billion dollar 1global industry – and Colombia is one of its leading destinations.

Here, prostitution is legal ..but a number of foreigners are coming for illicit sex .... with minors.

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V1

21.09.50 Cal PTC walking through airport: So I’ve just touched down in Medellin, Colombia’s second largest city,and I’m actually about to meet my driver. By day, she works for journalists like myself, but by night - she actually works as a pimp.

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Mariana – which is not her real name - fixes sex parties for foreign visitors.

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Calli: What are the tourist looking for? What do they ask for?

M: They come to get prostitutes to be with them. // They ask me for a mansion or a rural property, with women, drugs...

//

23.27.01.CALLISTE. So, a party like that, How much does that cost?

23.27.28. I have seen parties that cost around 10,000 USD, 15,000 USD, and up to 20,000 USD //

ALT/ Mariana denies she’s a pimp and sees herself as a tour operator.

But under Colombian law, any sexual transaction facilitated by a third party is pimping. x

6.

23.34.35. CALLISTE. Have you ever had any Australians?

23.34.43. Mariana: Yes, (CALLISTE says really) I’ve met some Australians.

//

23,37.07. Mariana: They like Colombian women a lot. That’s why they like to come here often.

//

7.

This is where it all takes place > Parque Lleras. A mix of high end hotels, airbnbs, brothels and nightclubs. Everywhere, sex is for sale.

27.08.17. Look… Sex tourism in Colombia is a big mafia. Our city has wonderful things, but, unfortunately, the attraction is mainly sexuality. It is, inevitably, the thing that moves the Colombian economy.

Accessing a girl, is as easy as picking from catalogues that are shared across Whatsapp networks.

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01.53.31. CALLISTE: So, how old is this woman? What is her age?

01.53. 41. MARIANA: 20, 22, 25, 30. At most, 30. 01.55.02. We don’t know

their age, where they live or what they do.

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22.17.00 CALLISTE. How likely is it that some of the girls working in this industry are under 18?

//

21. 38.40 MARIANA: A lot. // There is a probability of 90 % that there are underaged.

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Music + Transition

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Show the sex tourism free for all + underage girls

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Even though sex work is legal here, it’s not if you’re under 18.

But it’s estimated around 12% of sex workers in the country are children. 2 3

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00.02.55 PTC CAL/ Right now the scene here is absolutely extraordinary – there are hundreds of party goers and countless women looking to pick up clients. And this corner is where it’s all happening. 00.03.31

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Natsot + Music

By 10pm,, Parque Lleras becomes an open air brothel - tourists and young women fill the square.

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CALLI (00:06): Why are you guys here? Speaker 1 (00:12):

We have a special love for Columbia, okay? Interviewer (00:30):

And what do you do while you’re here? Speaker 4 (00:31):

We party! //

Speaker 1 (02:24): We have a special home here in this club. I’m gonna come here and they’ll have a table ready for me. Drinks.

we’re going to leave with as many girls as possible. Take it back to where we are, where we’re staying, and we’re going to have a party.

//

Lights, camera, action if you’re with us it’s a movie!

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Many of the girls here tonight, look to be underage.

And while police patrol the streets, no one seems too concerned.

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CAL PTC there's a lot of police out on the street. We've seen a few ID checks. But it's hard to imagine how this would be really very effective.

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MUSIC: LIGHTNING BUG.WAV

Later, I meet one sex worker who agrees to speak to with me at a nearby hotel, as long as we protect her identity.

She tells me shestarted this work when she was just 15.

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00.20.27. Sex Worker: I go to Lleras Park because a client pays you a million or 500,000 pesos for the hour. If you work in an honest job,

minimum wage is too little. You can not support yourself properly. 00.20.51.

//

She tells me its common for pimps to hide a girl’s age using fake IDs and that some tourists pay more for a girl’s virginity.

01.06.46. Sex Worker: Selling your virginity gives you a lot of money.01.06.52. I have friends who told me they lost their virginity with a “gringo”. I asked whether they pay you a lot. They said yes, he took them shopping, gave them clothes, money, everything.

01.07.36. CALLISTE: How much did they pay for a virgin?

01. 07.44 Sex Worker: A maximum of a million and a half, no more than two million pesos. It depends on the guy.

//

00.46.42. Sex Worker: In fact, What the “gringos” look for in a Little Girl is her beauty. // They don’t care if they’re underage. To pretend with a beautiful woman, to feel like a king, that’s why they get with a Little Girl. At that age, they are gorgeous.

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MUSIC: HALF IMPRESSION.WAV

In the north of Colombia, lies the tropical beach town, Cartagena.

It’s ranked among the most coveted cities in the world by travellers. But it’s one of the most notorious areas

FOR CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING IN THE COUNTRY AND THE

PERPATRATORS ARE HARD TO CATCH.

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Speaker 3 (36:09): Why is tackling human trafficking so hard here in Cartagena?

ANA MARIA (11:31): It's really hard to tackle it because they are extremely powerful. I think they have funded police and networks within the structure. So you never know who really is on your side or not and that makes it really, really, really hard.

Ana Maria Gonzalez-Forero is Cartagena’s Secretary of Interior.

Tonight she’s trialling a NEW PROTOCOL FOR CRACKING DOWN ON TRAFFICKERS.

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Speaker 3 (24:10): who's the target of tonight's action and why?

Speaker 1 (24:21): We have identified at least seven different networks. They move girls, sometimes from the other parts of the country, some from other parts of the city. And what we're going to target today is specifically brothels.

ANA MARIA IS CONDUCTING RAIDS ON THE CITY’S BROTHELS TO CHECK THEY HOLD THE CORRECT DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH PAPERWORK

SHE’S USING A LOOPHOLE TO GAIN ACCESS AND SEARCH FOR UNDERAGE SEX WORKERS

BUT SHE’S NERVOUS BECAUSE NOT EVERYONE SUPPORTS HER METHODS.

ANA/ because it's innovative, people tend to be fearful a little bit when they're doing something new.

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NATSOT + MUSIC: THE REAL KING.WAV

Leading the operation tonight is Captain Fatima Castro from the Federal Police.

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01.50.50 COPS ENTERING BROTHEL 1

SUBREEL 7 Let’s go. Yes please Turn the music off and lights on.

SUBREEL 7 Good evening, everyone.

Federal Police. We are conducting a routine check to verify this establishment.

SUBREEL 7 Ladies. Everyone in that corner, please. All women with identification on them into that corner.

01.52.19 GIRLS MOVING TO THE CORNER

01.52.30 COP DIRECTING PEOPLE

01.52.54 SOCIAL WORKERS WATCHING ON

01.53.07 CAL PTC/ We’ve just raided the brothel.

//

01.58.07 CAL PTC/ There are some police who are in here right now who are checking the ID’s of the sex workers here in the building. And we’ve got another group of police over here who are checking the business documents.

SUBREEL 07 UPSOT/ The Health Department officials are already looking through the procedure, and if they find any inconsistencies I will proceed with a suspension.

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ACTUALITY AT BROTHEL 1

SUBREEL 07 Okay, perfect. Perfect. Ready.

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02.03.10 ANA OUTSIDE/ They had all the papers. But I don’t know if you noticed but the real form was blue on special paper and the form that we saw was on white paper. So I don’t know if they got informed we were coming and somebody falsed it up. 02.03.36

//

02.03.43 I’m kind of used to those things happening.

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MUSIC

Police surprise two more brothels, both also avoid being shutdown.

01.14.33 COPS ENTERING BROTHEL 4

But at the final brothel of the night, it’s a different story. The condition of this brothel is horrific.

SUBREEL 07 “There is no evidence of infestations.” They haven’t really looked

because there must be cockroaches here.

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ACTUALITY BROTHEL 4

The rooms where girls are working are covered in black mould. It’s enough to force it to close.

SUBREEL 07 So you cannot operate

the business for three days. You have to go to the Bocagrande Police Inspector and take him the authorised payment so he can lift the suspension.

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But the most important check is of sex worker ID’s.

Calli/ were any underage sex workers identified?

Ana Maria (01:13): No, and I think that is a result of the frequency of our operations.

//

At first, it was just very open. So every time we went into a place like this, we would find a minor. It's been like three or four months, we haven't found a minor in any brothel.

//

I think they're hiding girls better. I don't think they have stopped exploiting girls. I just think that they're doing it more discreetly.

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02.30.13 HEAD COP FILLING OUT PAPERS

02.33.44 SEX WORKERS AT BAR

02.34.19 COPS AND MIGRATIONS FILLING OUT FORM

02.32.37 CU COP FILLING OUT PAPERS

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The raids may not have uncovered any minors, but this footage was captured by police in April this year.

It shows police cracking a major trafficking ring with 15 targets, including traffickers, pimps, and clients, who were mostly foreigners. They found a labyrinth with more than 50 rooms where a number of minors and women were being held and exploited.

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According to local NGOs, many of these transactions can take place here, in the town square.

By night, clubs and bars are in full swing and we see many tourists stopping to pick up girls.

Many look to be underage.

With some transactions facilitated by two men – these men, in red and white shirts.

We’re told many girls can be controlled by pimps and traffickers… being sold and held against their will.

And with sex for sale everywhere, impoverished children are easy targets for abuse.

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13.45.33. WENDY: I was a minor when I was kept in that square.

//

13.26.12. It is shocking to see how sexual exploitation is made invisible when it is so visible.13.26.24

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Wendy was just 16 years old when she was trafficked and sold TO FOREIGNERS for sex.

They do not know, nor can they imagine the harm they're causing that young girl. While they enjoy a moment of pleasure, that young woman is scarred forever. She is being destroyed, her dreams are falling apart.13.24.26

From a rural area, she had never before stepped foot outside her town – when a neighbour promised her work in one of Cartagena’s restaurants.

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/// A person who was very close to me gained my trust and took advantage of my needs and my vulnerability.// He never told me that I would be sexually exploited ///

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When she arrived, she was forced to live with her pimp who monitored her 24hours a day.

Under his control, Wendy says she was regularly drugged and threatened.

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13.36.43. Many people say

she is there because she wants to be, she decided to do the job, but that's not a job. 13.36.50.

//

13.36.55. It turns out that she is not alone. Because the one you see having a beer or the one drinking a coffee, that could be her trafficker or pimp.

13.37.06. Because one is never alone. The trafficker or pimp always looks and acts like one in the crowd. It goes unnoticed, but you're scared, and you recognise him by looking at him. 13.37.20

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At the hands of her pimp, Wendy says she also endured extreme physical and verbal abuse.

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13.50.02. WENDY: He hit me with machetes. My legs were green. I had bruises everywhere. He hit me on the street. I said no more. I wanted to die. “Kill me if you are going to kill me.” And one day, he grabbed a knife and started to attack me.

//

13.51.18. He cut me here and here. I can’t move my pinkie finger on my right hand properly because he cut my tendons. He tried to cut my neck, and I took the knife and pulled it, and when I pulled it...

//

But you’re at a disadvantage because you are a woman against those huge men, and I felt like a grain of rice. I felt tiny.

//

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Now free, it took 8 years before Wendy managed to escape.

8 YEARS OF LIFE... LOST

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WENDY: I wanted to do everything…. for my family.

14.09.52. WENDY: if all that hadn't happened... I wouldn't have moved away from my family. It was very... I will never get over it. Where there should be memories of the whole family, all reunited for Christmas, there aren't for me. We did not have that because I was not there.

// These are the things that hurt because they suffered because of me. Those are moments that I will never get back. I will never get those moments back.

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Tourists who have sex with children are breaking the law. But they take advantage of local situations in which minors are made easily available for exploitation.

Poorer economic conditions, favourable exchange rates for the tourist and relative anonymity are all key factors.

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SHIRLEY: The other face of Cartagena.

//

We are in La Boquilla, which is on the north side of Cartagena. As you can see, it has been abandoned by the government. It lacks so many things.

//

On the doorstep of Cartagena’s luxury beach resorts, locals herelive in extreme poverty.

UPSOT: Hello

Shirley is the local community leader.

//

03.52.02. SHIRLEY: We have zones that have no water, and the electricity is practically stolen. The education here is not good.

All of those things make you vulnerable to any situation.

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SHIRLEY SAYS POVERTY MAKES KIDS MORE VULNERABLE. TOURISTS SEEM TO OFFER MONEY AND OPPORTUNITY

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03.52.52. If someone with bad intentions offers you what you need, and you believe that is well-intentioned, you take it.

//

What young person doesn’t want a telephone? Who doesn’t want a modern toy? They watch TV, “I want this,” but their parents can’t buy it. An outsider comes with bad intentions and offers it to them, the child will take it.

//

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MUSIC

Making matters worse, is the fact the community lacks any knowledge of what sexual abuse and sexual exploitation are.

This can mean the family is complicit or reluctant to intervene.

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03.47.48. I had a case where I helped a 14 years old girl. She said to me, “I didn't know that being touched, by someone older than me, was sexual exploitation.” 03.48.16. I was in shock. When there are things you don’t know, you open the door for abuse. 03.48.24.

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It’s this context, that traffickers and foreigners exploit.

SHIRLEY; This is the house.

Shirley shows me the house of one foreigner who was living here inthe community.

He’s been arrested on charges of child sexual abuse . 4

SUBREEL 3

03.43.06. CALLISTE: What is this next door? Is that a kindergarten?

//

Yes that, with the blue door, is a school. And there, diagonally, is another one.

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MUSIC

This is the man who was living in that house – a 79 year old Italian national named Dario Lavoratori.

03.19 Currently in jail, he’s accused of sexually abusing 3 girls aged just 11 years old.

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PHONE CALL: 16:42:10:18 Hello.

- How are you?

- Good, thank you.

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Veronica, not her real name, is the Mum of one of the alleged victims. She’s agreed to speak to me by phone, to protect her identity.

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16:45:34:10

R – She is very sweet and nice, she gets along with everybody. She is very, as we commonly say here, she is very clingy.

16:45:45:07

//

59.

According to Veronica, in June last year, her daughter was introduced to Dario Lavoratori by a cousin, who met Dario while attending school. 5She says they visited Dario’s house on several occasions after he promised to teach them to speak Italian.6

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16:47:55:17 She says she only went once or twice to this man’s place. . She told me that he was touching her, he did things to her that... And since she didn’t know it was bad, she followed him. He told her he was going to give her money or sweets.

61.

Then in November last year, her daughter’s cousin and friend went missing for

several hours.7

They were later allegedly found drugged and alone. 8.

It’s alleged at least one of the girl’s was raped. .

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SUBREEL 4

16:56:57:09 C+ B – this is incredibly shocking and upsetting to hear, how did you feel when you heard this? When you daughter told you this?

//

16:57:32:06 I told them if they hadn’t jailed him, I'd have killed him with my bare hands . // these girls don’t even have the adequate body yet to do this sort of thing.16:57:53:18

//

63.

17:10:44:11 C+ B – how is your daughter doing now?

17:10:52:08 07:11:03:18 She is not depressed or distraught or anything like that.

//

17:11:20:06 But the other girl was very affected. She is rebellious, she doesn’t listen to her mum, she has been very affected by all these things. 17:11:31:11

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65.

COMING UP + MUSIC

Cal: Why should we believe you and not the girls with respect to what happened?

Dario: How can I rape someone?

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Ad Break

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MUSIC

CELL 68: At Cartagena’s jail, 143 inmates are being held for sex crimes, including child sexual abuse and trafficking.

Among them,

Some of them are foreigners, from as far afield as Italy and Germany.

79 year old Dario Lavoratori is being held here…. awaiting trial.

68.

Calli/ Why do you think you think you’re in here right now?

//

09:09:49 Dario/ I can only say what all prisoners say: “I am innocent, I am innocent.

09:10:08 Dario

I am a person who at the time of the (pre trial) sentence, was 79 years and four months old.

09:10:26 Dario

I was walking even worse because // I have big problems with my knees and look at these hands.

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Dario is a former fencing instructor who coached junior and national squads in Italy.

He says he first came to Cartagena to give fencing classes.

” And that he bought a house in community only after he was invited to volunteer for a “foundation.”

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SUBREEL 5

09:35:25 Calli/Interpreter

We spoke to someone at the school who told us that in fact you used to give books and give gifts to the school, do you consider this being normal behaviour?

09:35:40 Dario

Normal. It's normal. Yes. 09:35:46 Calli/Interpreter Why?

//

09:35:56 Dario

To help these kids.

09:36:28 Dario

When people visit other people, they bring gifts. Sometimes you bring food, sometimes books or clothes. 09:36:42

09:37:45 Calli/Interpreter

Some might say that this behaviour could have been...

09:37:53 Dario

It could hide an ulterior motive, sure.

//

09:38:06 Dario

(But) No, because I had very brief contact with the children.

71.

Dario says he knew one of the girls who he met through the school and does not deny that two girls visited him on several occasions at his home.

We can’t go into too many details about the allegations because Dario is awaiting trial.

72.

SUBREEL 5

10:47:09 Dario

Maybe you want to know if I was sexually attracted to them. I don't know. Ask me a precise question and I will answer you.

10:48:14 Calli/So were you attracted to the girls?

//

10:49:23 Dario

If you're asking if I was sexually attracted to them, no. Is that enough or would you like me to explain why? You're very curious, right? No, because for me they are too young. They're little girls. How old are you?

Calli/ 34.

Dario/ You know perfectly well ... For me to like a woman... at the very least... she must menstruate. Secondly, she must lubricate.

CELL 73: Whilst offensive, this denial of attraction appears to be part of Dario’s defence, along with claims he’s impotent.

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SUBREEL 5

11:12:32 Calli/Interpreter

Why should we believe you and not the girls with respect to what happened?

11:13:05 Dario

Why should you believe me and not the girls? It's fine. Your questions are valid. But who do you believe... more? A man? Or a ten-year-old child?

//

11:15:36 Calli/Interpreter

But why is a grown man more trustworthy than a child?

11:16:21 Dario

A grown man can reason. He can reason. A child, nine or ten years old, doesn't reason much. // For example, a psychologist,// can understand very well whether the child is lying or telling the truth. It is a little bit more difficult to tell with an adult. An adult knows how to hide.

11:17:17 Dario //Adults can hide among many things. Children can't. They're limited.

11:36:06 InterpreterThe accusations against you and are in many ways horrific, how do they make you feel?

11:38:02 Dario// I don't know. How does a man, a man, rape a 10-year-old girl who does not lubricate? How? I can't even imagine. You'd have to tear everything. I can't get hard. I have leathery skin. That's all. How can I? How can I rape someone? 11:40:18//

74.

NATSOT + MUSIC

Now deemed a threat to society, Dario will be kept in prison until he faces trial.

If found guilty, he could receive 30 years behind bars.