Since the end of March, the citizens of Medellín have watched and shared with indignation a video in which Timothy Alan Livingston, a middle-aged foreign citizen, is seen entering the Gotham, a luxurious hotel in El Poblado, in the company of two minors. , one twelve and one thirteen years old.
This fact led the Medellín Mayor’s Office to issue, not one, but two decrees to regulate nighttime activities and put an end to the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in Parque Lleras and surrounding areas.
Although an action with an objective as valid as the protection of minors is important for the city, it is no secret that this situation has occurred daily in the center of Medellín and other territories for years, so why only give it attention in the pink zone of El Poblado?
About the problem
The sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, according to experts, is a crime that has high levels of under-reporting in Medellín, which prevents having more precise figures in this regard.
From Centropolis we sought information from the district administration, through the Undersecretary of Security and the Metropolitan Police, but until the closing of this edition it was not possible to obtain a response. However, due to the importance of the topic, we resorted to secondary sources to review the situation in the center of Medellín.
“No data that we can give is consistent with the real situation of the problem, this is added to the fact that the information systems of the Mayor’s Office, the Police and the Prosecutor’s Office do not talk to each other,” he said in an interview with the newspaper El Colombiano. in 2022, Iván Muñoz Echeverry, who at that time was a member of the intersectoral Roundtable against sexual exploitation in Medellín.
According to data provided by the Medellín Mayor’s Office to said media, between January and November 2022, 157 minors were treated after being victims of sexual violence. The cases took place in 15 of the 16 communes of Medellín. In first place was Villa Hermosa, with 23 cases, in second place was La Candelaria, with 22 cases, and in third place was San Javier, with 18 cases.
In that same year, 2022, Caracol Radio conducted a tour to show how dramatic the situation was regarding the sexual exploitation of minors in the city. In journalistic work, few mentions are made of El Poblado, and it is the center that has the leading role.
“In the center there are entire blocks where dozens of minors wander in search of clients, and armed men on every corner control the entry and exit of everyone,” the article narrates. ”In the Los Huesos sector, girls barely 13 and 14 years old carry out orders from a network of women, according to reports, Venezuelan, who are even dedicated to trafficking people for sexual purposes to other countries,” he continues.
And for years the center has been the setting par excellence for these practices, which, although aberrant, are the reality of the sector; and hence the surprise that this area has not been contemplated in the Mayor’s decree.
Why then control the problem in Lleras and not include the center?
La Veracruz sector, downtown Medellín.
Transfer the problem, a latent risk
Although in the last four years prostitution in Medellín and other dynamics that arise from it, such as sexual exploitation, have been strongly concentrated on 10th Street, in the El Poblado sector, for decades their favorite territory was the center. Even today, the nights around Barbacoas or La Veracruz are full of girls walking along the platforms in search of clients, without any forceful action from the institutions to restore their rights.
In fact, according to a recent investigation carried out by the Roundtable Against the Sexual Exploitation of Boys, Girls and Adolescents of Medellín, the victims found in El Poblado do not live in that commune, they come from other more vulnerable sectors, the main ones being Villa Beautiful, La Candelaria and Popular.
The worrying thing then is that this scourge is not fought from its origin, that is, from the home, but with control and police actions that cause it to migrate from one area of the city to another, where there is greater tolerance.
Thus, and according to social organizations in the center, it is necessary that the actions of the institutions not be limited to the tourist area of El Poblado, but also reach commune 10.
By: Valentina Castaño
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