1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:14,000
Medellin, Colombia, a city made famous by one man, the drug baron Pablo Escobar.

2
00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:20,000
For over a decade, he ruled these streets through extreme violence.

3
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:29,000
In the 90s, shootings, car bombings and random murders made it by far the most dangerous city in the world.

4
00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:40,000
Escobar is long dead, but the years of chaos have left the darkness in Medellin's soul.

5
00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:46,000
I have been following Colombia's drug wars for 15 years.

6
00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:52,000
In that time, most of the violence has moved to Mexico.

7
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:58,000
But this city is still suffering from its narco legacy.

8
00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:03,000
Medellin is famous for the women.

9
00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:06,000
And it's famous for the beautiful women.

10
00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:12,000
And many people come to meet beautiful women.

11
00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,000
They have sex tourism.

12
00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:21,000
For years, the easy cash of the drug trade has fueled a huge sex industry.

13
00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,000
Even the taxi drivers are in on it.

14
00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:31,000
They say here, if you put a roof on Medellin, it would be the largest brothel in the world.

15
00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:43,000
This is Medellin's red light district.

16
00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:48,000
Daniela has been walking these streets for five years since she was 11.

17
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:55,000
Prostitution is legal here, but the age of consent is 18.

18
00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:00,000
where the jingles should come from.

19
00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:04,000
Where are Chinese, Americans, Europeans, Europeans, people who hang out on the ground.

20
00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:06,000
Born by all over white man and their whole time.

21
00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:08,000
The boys come from and they walk out.

22
00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,000
How do you see this?

23
00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:11,000
is 18.

24
00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:37,720
But some visitors aren't satisfied

25
00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,360
with just young girls.

26
00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:45,120
Pablo Escobar famously likes sleeping with virgins.

27
00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:50,840
Now, for a premium price, sex tourists can do the same.

28
00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:52,880
As the drug straight fell away,

29
00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:55,560
the gangs that controlled these barriers

30
00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,640
looked for a fresh source of income.

31
00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:00,600
This shocking new trade

32
00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,720
means mothers all across Medellin live in fear.

33
00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:10,720
Milenguita's daughter is just 11 years old.

34
00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:16,720
But her mother says the gangs already have plans for her.

35
00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:23,720
But her mother says the gangs already have plans for her.

36
00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:26,360
They told me that she was a candidate,

37
00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:32,720
that it was very possible to take her.

38
00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:35,720
And what they're interested in is a virgin girl,

39
00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:36,720
a serious girl.

40
00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:38,360
What's more than a Christian girl?

41
00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:40,560
So they say they have no patience.

42
00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:46,760
Anyway, they joke that she knows what's going on.

43
00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:50,800
And they and me say, well, no now, but now she's a girl.

44
00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:52,120
She's thấy a girl.

45
00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:56,120
Have you talked to your daughter about the issue?

46
00:03:56,120 --> 00:04:00,120
No, but I do want to take care of her a lot,

47
00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:03,120
that if someone calls her, she doesn't do anything,

48
00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:05,120
that if someone is going to give her money, she doesn't,

49
00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:07,120
that if they are going to ride a car, she will scream,

50
00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:10,120
that she is very careful of things,

51
00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:15,120
and she doesn't know what they've said about her, no.

52
00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:17,120
But she keeps me very alert,

53
00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:20,120
I keep her very alert with the other girl too.

54
00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:27,120
This is not the image of Medellin the authorities want to promote.

55
00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:31,120
They have spent millions cleaning up the city,

56
00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:36,120
attracting visitors and trying to show it has moved on from the past.

57
00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:40,120
The mayor told me that they had reports of virgins being sold,

58
00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:43,120
but had not investigated.

59
00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:47,120
So local people have taken matters into their own hands,

60
00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:49,120
this graffiti says,

61
00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:55,120
it's not a rumor they're buying and selling girls for sexual exploitation.

62
00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,120
They means the gangs.

63
00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:01,120
The gangs control everything in the barrios,

64
00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,120
including the trading virgins.

65
00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:06,120
For weeks I've been trying to persuade them to talk.

66
00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:10,120
They finally agreed, but only if we don't reveal their identities.

67
00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:17,120
These men are part of the city's main gang, La Oficina.

68
00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:23,120
They inherited Pablo Escobar's empire.

69
00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:30,120
La Oficina control these streets.

70
00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:35,120
Their business is drugs, extortion and the sex trade.

71
00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:42,120
Tonight, they are keen to show me how easy it is for them to find new virgins.

72
00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:54,120
Medellin is less violent than it used to be, but still the life expectancy of these gang members is not high.

73
00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:57,120
They feel they have nothing to lose.

74
00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:03,120
They spot two young girls and start talking to them.

75
00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:07,120
They invite them to a party.

76
00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:12,120
A couple of minutes later, the girls give them their phone numbers.

77
00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:23,120
It was incredible to see how the gang members stopped two 14-year-old girls and groomed them in ten minutes.

78
00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:28,120
They got their phone numbers and possibly in a couple of days they will call.

79
00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,120
They will take them out shopping, buy them a mobile phone.

80
00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:36,120
And in a week or two, those two girls could be sold as virgins.

81
00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:41,120
Half an hour later, I meet up with the gang members.

82
00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:44,120
Do you think that these girls were virgins?

83
00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:46,120
They had cars.

84
00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:50,120
That's where you have to start to talk more detail with them.

85
00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:54,120
No.

86
00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:56,120
They used to go there.

87
00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:59,120
They often find out how to contaminate.

88
00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:05,120
They have to spend the combined bubbling on purpose.

89
00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:08,120
It's probably one hour later of saving tea.

90
00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:11,120
They have to spend the shores of Guetta and figure out what the church was first.

91
00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:14,120
Those少ves have 14 years ago.

92
00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:16,120
Did they know what's incool they wereonomized?

93
00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:18,120
No..

94
00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:47,120
In this men's violent and cynical world,

95
00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:54,120
the two young girls were nothing more than a way to make money.

96
00:07:54,120 --> 00:08:04,120
I wanted to know what kind of man would come to Colombia to have sex with girls this young.

97
00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:11,120
Paul Brailsford is the only Briton convicted of having sex with children here in Colombia.

98
00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:16,120
In 2011 he was arrested in a hotel room with child pornography

99
00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:21,120
and accused of sleeping with two girls aged 12 and 14.

100
00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:25,120
He didn't have a gang to groom the virgins for him.

101
00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:29,120
He did it himself.

102
00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:34,120
He's now spending 20 years in prison.

103
00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:39,120
I managed to get him to agree to an interview from inside the jail.

104
00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:48,120
We know the sentence and the charges that were put against you. What do you have to say about that?

105
00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,120
Well, basically I'm still fighting to get out. I'm innocent.

106
00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:52,120
Yes.

107
00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,120
You say you didn't abuse...

108
00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:59,120
No, no, no. Unfortunately here there are many underage hookers.

109
00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:00,120
Yes.

110
00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:01,120
Okay.

111
00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:06,120
And I got caught in a sting. I thought they were older. Yes, no problem.

112
00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:08,120
They were 12 years old.

113
00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:11,120
One and the other one 40 and a half.

114
00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:12,120
Yeah.

115
00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:13,120
Okay. Both tall.

116
00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:14,120
Yeah.

117
00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:15,120
Yes. Tall as you.

118
00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:16,120
Yeah.

119
00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:17,120
Very well endowed.

120
00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:18,120
Yeah.

121
00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:19,120
Yes.

122
00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:21,120
So you thought what? They were over 18?

123
00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:24,120
Yes, I thought old enough. No problem.

124
00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:32,120
What he didn't know is that the day before I had gone to see one of the girls he was convicted of abusing.

125
00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:38,120
The legal age of consent in Colombia is 18. Naomi is now 16 years old.

126
00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:45,120
When Paul Brailsford slept with her, she was just 12. She told me she was not a prostitute,

127
00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:52,120
that he groomed her after seeing her on the beach and then abused her over several months.

128
00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:56,120
No, mami, then she began to cry. Then when she told me that she had been threatened,

129
00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:00,120
that they couldn't tell me anything because they were threatened, that if they told me something,

130
00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:02,120
or the neighbors would kill them.

131
00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:09,120
What that lady did was to lower her self-esteem to my daughters and to kill them.

132
00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:14,120
I mean, she's 16 now, and for me, she doesn't look 18, still.

133
00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:15,120
Okay.

134
00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:20,120
So if I think back, and three and a half years ago, when she was 12, she wouldn't have looked.

135
00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:23,120
This is your opinion, okay? No problem.

136
00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:24,120
Yeah.

137
00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:26,120
So you didn't thought she was 12?

138
00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:28,120
No. Your opinion, my opinion.

139
00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:31,120
Yeah. So you didn't think she was 12?

140
00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:34,120
Your opinion, my opinion, and that was it, yes.

141
00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:37,120
And do you have anything to tell them?

142
00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:39,120
Do I have anything to tell them?

143
00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:45,120
Yeah. If you had them in front of you, Gloria and her two daughters, what would you tell them?

144
00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:48,120
I don't know. I don't know.

145
00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:58,120
Close it. Down. Close it down. Close it down. Close it down. No. Close it down. Down.

146
00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:00,120
Wait, watch out, watch out.

147
00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:07,120
Paul Brelsford is one of just three foreigners in jail in Colombia for this crime.

148
00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:12,120
No? You don't have anything to say to the 12-year-old girl that you abuse and the 14-year-old girl that you abuse?

149
00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:15,120
No, buenas.

150
00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:24,120
With the authorities failing to confront this growing trade, it's left to mothers like Milenguita to fight for their daughters' futures.

151
00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:36,120
Medellin might be a safer place for tourists nowadays, but not for young girls growing up in the barrios, among the gangs who are exploiting their innocence for profit.

152
00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:42,120
Guillermo Galdos, Channel 4 News, Medellin.