MIAMI – Experts say the arrest of a Miami pharmacist is drawing new attention to the prevalence of child sex tourism in Colombia.
Authorities said Stefan Andres Correa was searching the 42-year-old man, who was traveling alone, at the exit border as he stepped onto the jet bridge at Miami International Airport to board a flight to Bogota on Friday. It was discovered that he was in possession of approximately nine mobile phones.
Some of these devices, prosecutors allege, contained photos and videos of Correa raping girls and sex traffickers’ plans to victimize an 11-year-old girl. It is said that he discovered a conversation with
In a series of graphic text messages, Correa offered both the trafficker and the girl 300,000 Colombian pesos (about $75) and an iPhone to the girl as long as he allowed him to rape her in Medellin, according to court documents. I promised to give it to you.
Prosecutors allege he had similar conversations and made similar promises to another girl of a similar age.
“I don’t want her to say no,” they allege, with Correa texting the trafficker in Spanish, then saying, “Whatever happens, stay out of my way, okay? ”, he said.
Investigators said Correa told police he flew to Colombia multiple times to sexually abuse children. Prosecutors said records showed the suspect had visited Colombia approximately 45 times since 2022.
Mayor of Medellin I can’t hear anymore After his arrest, he posted on Platform X, formerly known as Twitter: We will not rest in this battle that has just begun. ”
Mayor Fico Gutierrez added the English hashtag “#Don’tEvenTryIt.”
“Unfortunately, there has been a war on children since the days of the ‘Cocaine Cowboys’ in the ’80s, and that has led to the sexual exploitation of children,” said Kristen Reynoso, who has represented clients in federal investigations. Attorney Jack Win told Local 10 News. “It’s 12-year-old children, and we’re finding American citizens with children in hotel rooms. This is horrifying.”
Mr. Gutierrez recently announced new measures to combat child sex tourism, including seizures from property owners who allow the sexual exploitation of minors.
Jackwin praised the mayor but said more needs to be done.
“Because even if you just close a facility, there’s always another way to open a new one and continue to exploit children,” she says.
Jackwin explained that while prosecution is not the only goal outlined in the U.S.-Colombia partnership signed two years ago, it is key to decisively combating child sex tourism.
This partnership is called the U.S.-Colombia Child Protection Agreement.
“We’re actually prosecuting criminals, and that’s a problem because a lot of these cases aren’t actually being prosecuted,” Jackwin said. “200,000 children are victims of sexual crimes in Colombia each year, but only a few thousand are actually prosecuted. There is further progress in treating people as victims rather than as persons themselves.”
US Embassy in Colombia We have promoted joint measures Worked with national officials to combat sex trafficking.
Medellin: The sinister side of global tourist growth
Local 10 News spoke to experts about why Medellin has a reputation for child sex trafficking.
Larry Gambiner, a former U.S. diplomat who twice served at the U.S. embassy in Bogotá, said Colombia is “opening up to the world and, in doing so, opening up to the underbelly of international tourism, the international sex tourist trade.” I see it a lot,” he said. ”
Mr. Gumbiner currently works as a senior advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean at the consulting firm WestExec Advisors. He said Colombia had suffered a decades-long decline in tourism due to internal conflict between the country and guerrilla groups.
When the situation finally calmed down, Gambiner said, “It felt like a whole new country had opened up that many tourists had not been able to visit.”
“In particular, we are beginning to see that Medellin, which was the center of Pablo Escobar’s territory, and a place that has been a dangerous place for many years, is finally starting to open up to the world,” he said.
Gumbiner said the city has cracked down on drug trafficking and cleaned up its image in order to attract tourists, but the number of child sex tourists has also increased.
“Colombia is a great city, with many tourist attractions, great weather, and attracts tourists, and on top of that, as we have seen, adult prostitution is legal in Colombia, but it is not. Prostitution among adults started to skyrocket, and with it, the reputation of this place grew: “It’s cheap for Americans to go,” he said.
Gambiner added that Gutierrez is likely now taking the issue seriously, as recent high-profile arrests of American citizens there have catapulted the issue into the court of public opinion.
“This has been building for many years in terms of the growth of Medellin and this industry,” Gambiner said. “Things reached a climax when they discovered an American citizen with two underage girls in a hotel room. The political system had finally reached a breaking point and the mayor felt he had to do something. I think it is.”
As for Correa’s case, the pharmacist faces federal charges of attempted sex trafficking of a minor and attempted travel for the purpose of unlawful sexual activity, and will appear in Miami federal court on Friday for a detention hearing. It is planned.
If convicted, he faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, a maximum of life in prison, and up to supervised release.
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