After dinner, Bloch returned home with his companion and uncorked a beer. He woke up the next noon without his belongings.
“It was difficult to get out of bed. It was like I was drunk. I went to my desk and noticed that my iPad was gone (…), he also took my wallet and my credit cards. At least he left my computer,” he says. the businessman, 28, in an interview with AFP when remembering what happened at the end of 2021.
According to a medical test, his memory was erased with scopolamine, a drug that torments tourists in a city that overcame the drug violence of the 1990s, but where other mafias such as sex trafficking persist.
With 2.6 million inhabitants, Medellín is the second city in Colombia, the largest producer of cocaine in the world. Attracted by reggaeton, spring weather and hectic nightlife, it is now also one of the main destinations in Latin America.
The “suspicious” deaths of eight Americans in Medellín between November and December 2023 led that country’s embassy to recommend refraining from using dating applications in Colombia.
“The circumstances point to possible drug use, theft and overdose. Several cases involve the use of dating applications,” the diplomatic mission details in its January alert.
In one of the most notorious episodes, American comedian and activist Tou Ger Xiong was kidnapped and later found dead on December 11 after meeting a woman he met online.
“I could easily have been one of those affected,” says a relieved Bloch, who continues to live in Medellín despite the robbery.
Total drug amnesia
Luxurious residential towers rise on the steep avenues of El Poblado, the favorite neighborhood of foreigners like Bloch.
“I thought I was just another girl, just another date,” laments the “digital nomad” or remote entrepreneur who works while traveling.
The number of foreigners visiting Medellín increased from 212,000 in 2015 to 1.4 million in 2022.
But violent deaths “increase as the number of visitors increases,” says William Vivas, human rights defender for the local mayor’s office.
The entity registered 32 foreign victims in 2023, 7% more than the previous year. The Prosecutor’s Office handled 82 cases of foreign victims of “theft by means of a toxic substance” in 2022.
The day after their failed date, Bloch woke up with a severe headache. “I just remembered going up to her neck to kiss her and then… Click!, I woke up,” he says.
man-medellin-tourist-afp.jpg
AFP
Scopolamine
Bloch’s relatives took him to a hospital where they detected traces of scopolamine, which is extracted from the Brugmansia tree, known as “borrachero” for its psychotropic effects.
The substance is prohibited in Colombia, but “the plant is found with a very wide distribution throughout the territory,” even in urban areas, explains Diana Pava, a toxicologist in the psychoactive substances research group at the National University.
Criminals extract scopolamine from the black seeds of the fruits and secretly dilute it in the victims’ drinks.
“There are people who may feel drowsy (when consuming it). Others may have amnesia (…). There is also tachycardia, hypertension and seizures,” warns Pava.
In high doses and combined with alcohol, it can be lethal. In addition, Pava warns, it is unusual to detect scopolamine because the body eliminates it quickly.
Sexpats
Birthplace of the dejected cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, Medellín is experiencing an increase in prostitution, which is legal in Colombia, and which accompanies the tourist boom.
At night, the commercial sidewalks transform into an open-air sex market with dozens of women offering their services, especially to foreigners.
“We position ourselves as a very ‘cool’ place (but) it has also been sold” to Medellín “as a place of great permissiveness,” questions Jazmín Santa, member of the Roundtable Against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents.
After being discharged, Bloch shared his story on social media and was surprised to find little solidarity from locals. Likewise, when these types of incidents reach the press, comments abound from people who consider the robberies a kind of “deserved” punishment for foreigners who participate in sex tourism.
With a play on words between sex and “expat” (expatriates in English), Bloch describes as “sexpats” those who “come here only looking for party, fun and sex.”
“I agree with the locals: there are gringos (foreigners) who are pieces of shit and take advantage of women. But what happens when it is the good guys who fall for scopolamine?” questions the businessman.
Source: AFP
