Tyler Schwab, activist against sexual exploitation disguised as tourism: ‘The gringos

A few months ago, Tyler Schwab, a 33-year-old Wyoming native, was heading to New York to attend the trial of Angad Amit Beharry. Accused of pedophilia, he had paid a Venezuelan woman for pornographic videos that had been recorded in the Colombian province of Antioquia, in which this mother sexually abused her baby. Libertas International, the NGO that Schwab founded in 2013, was supporting the little survivor and her new caregiver.

This is just one of several cases of sexual exploitation that Schwab tracks in Colombia. He gave up his medical studies to dedicate his life to the fight against the sexual exploitation and trafficking of girls in Latin America. In recent years, he has focused his NGO’s efforts on survivors in Medellín, a Colombian city where several of his “countrymen” — as he calls them — have sexually exploited minors behind the false curtain of tourism. His organization has supported more than 80 girls over the last two years. In addition to providing support to victims, Libertas International applies pressure so that perpetrators — especially those from the United States — are made to face justice.

In a hotel in western Bogotá, Schwab speaks with EL PAÍS about the scourge of sexual exploitation of minors in Colombia and the fight that lies ahead.

Question. How did you learn of the sexual exploitation of minors in Latin America?

Answer. When I was 19, I lived in the Dominican Republic as a missionary. There, I saw many girls on the streets with foreigners. At first, I didn’t even understand what was happening… but those images stayed in my head. I decided to go back. Upon returning, I understood the reality. I went to a brothel, where I found a pimp and a girl who was about 14. I paid to talk to her. She told me that her family was going hungry and that she had accepted a job offer to be a waitress. Afterwards, she was forced to sleep with men, because the pimp threatened to take advantage of her younger sister if she didn’t: 80% of the earnings went to that man.

I was very shocked and wanted to talk to her the next day, but they had already moved her. I never found out what happened to her. I spent two weeks talking to victims in the Dominican Republic. Some were immigrants, there were trans boys… others were from Venezuela, some had their documents taken away. This made me understand what was happening and I decided to change my life. I wanted to try to support them.

Q. After those meetings, what did you do?

A. I left my medical studies and underwent training on human trafficking. From there, I started working on prevention, then intervention and aftercare. Libertas International was formally born in 2013. I started working in the Dominican Republic. Then, I began to get calls about cases in Guatemala and Peru.

An agent from HSI (Homeland Security Investigations, the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, responsible for transnational crime) contacted me. She told me: “We have a case and I want to introduce you to a girl.” They told me that they had found her in an Airbnb with a guy, who had been sent to prison. The man, Víctor Galarza, raped girls, trafficked them and shared their images online. He was convicted in June of 2022. [The girl] was the first survivor I supported in Medellín. When I got there, everything changed. That case made me very angry. I decided that I wanted to dedicate 100% of my time to helping girls in Colombia who have been victims of Americans.

Q. What characterizes sexual exploitation in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Colombia?

A. Each country has particularities. There’s “sexual tourism” everywhere… although I don’t like that term, because they’re not tourists. They’re criminals — pedophiles — who travel. In the Dominican Republic, I found many families who were selling their children. That also happens here in Colombia. In Guatemala, there were gangs like MS-13 and Barrio 18, which were selling girls and women.

In Colombia, some girls have been victimized by the FARC and the ELN, but in Medellín, we mostly find lots of gringos who take advantage of girls, so that they can rape them. They leave them with sexual diseases, with horrible trauma. The videos [of the rapes] are posted online. Many return to the United States as if nothing has happened. That fills me with anger. The gringos who use Colombian girls — who are victimized by my countrymen — make me very angry.

Q. Your organization has 32 open investigations into Americans who have engaged in acts of sexual exploitation in Medellín. Why do you think they’re coming to the city?

A. It’s a very good question. I’ve thought a lot about that, including last year, when the Colombian [National] Police gave me an award. In my speech, I could only ask for forgiveness [for the crimes committed by] my countrymen. Colombia has suffered from the addictions that gringos have: drugs and sex, including sex with minors. I wonder what’s on their mind… I really don’t know. They’re pedophiles. I don’t think we can get to the point of knowing how a person can travel to another country and think that, just because there are vulnerable people around, he has the right to do whatever he wants with them.

Q. What’s your opinion regarding how the authorities and Colombian society have handled this situation?

A. We’ve had difficulties with some prosecutors. For example, recently, a prosecutor was asking for more victims in a case: we needed five, because four weren’t enough to open an investigation. That seemed very wrong…