The barrios of Medellin are controlled by criminals and are full of prostitutes, with virgins commanding the highest prices. Unfortunately the years of evil and greed have marked this city for life, and the beauty hides a violent and disturbing criminal underworld. When Pablo Escobar was killed in the Medellin cartel was left without a boss β and most of the assassins, traffickers and foot soldiers were left without a job. But soon, criminal gangs started to appear to fill the gap.
They started literally as an office where anyone could hire a hit man. Years later they developed into one of the biggest criminal organisations in the history of Colombia. The narcos have always had an appetite for beautiful women. Money has never been an obstacle for them and in a city used to the flow of easy money, everything has a price. Escobar himself was known for paying thousands of dollars to have sex with models, actresses and even television presenters.
Prostitution is not new to Medellin. When you are out in the city you realise why he said that. The back streets are full of prostitutes, both male and female. The place looked like the end of the world. On the corner you could see the gang members looking around, controlling the barrios. I met several victims of the gangs but most were too scared to go on the record. Only one of them agreed to speak to us. She lives in one of the poorest barrios in Medellin. Her name is Maruja.
She is in her early 30s but looks older. She has no means to move to another barrio. She feels trapped. Incredibly, she tells me that she also was a victim of sexual abuse when she was young. I wanted to meet the new generation of criminals in Medellin. They are not the type of people that like cameras or journalists. It took several months of meetings to convince them to allow me to film them. The local boss β Chino β came out to a shop to meet me. We walked and talked about Escobar, the paramilitaries, Farc and the current peace process in La Havana.
Chino never met Escobar but he admired him. He was proud when he told me that he killed for the first time when he was just 13 years old. Now, he looked no older than 30 and says he has murdered dozens of people. Chino is well dressed and has clearly been educated. Before we sent coke to the world, now the world is coming to us. He is right. Skip to main news content Skip to news search Skip to news navigation Skip to All 4 navigation.
