LOS ANGELES—The Latin America Adult Business Expo on Tuesday was shut down by city officials in Cartagena, Colombia, due in part to political pressure and public protests about the adult-oriented nature of the event.
The fourth annual conference started Monday at the Julio Cesar Turbay Convention Center in the heart of downtown Cartagena despite being under heavy scrutiny by local government officials such as the city’s Secretary of the Interior, Fernando Niño, and the Mayor Manuel Vicente Duque.
At press time, it did not appear the show activities at the convention center—exhibit booths and seminars—would re-open. However, off-site activities are going on as scheduled, sources at the show told AVN.
According to reports in El Universal, Niño stated the government's opposition to the conference being held and also alleged that organizers did not obtain the necessary authorization to open. Show organizer Anthony Rivera was not available for comment at post time, but several attendees said LAL executives were negotiating with government officials this morning to try to keep the three-day Expo going.
"All events outside of the convention center are going to continue as planned," said adult industry attorney Corey Silverstein, who is at the show. "At the actual convention center right now, it appears all the protestors and police have left the area, but regardless for today there’ll be no events taking place at the convention center. The LAL Expo organizers are working tirelessly with their local attorneys to fight this illegal government action.
"In the United States this sort of governement intervention would be considered a blatant violation of First Amendment rights and it’s a shame that an event that has been nothing short of spectaular, safe and professional is being interfered with."
A couple dozen protestors—some holding religious-themed signs—stood outside the convention center this morning before the show opened, while a handful of TV news outlets covered the controversy.
Meanwhile, numerous show attendees were left standing outside the convention center, which was locked down by local police, or were still at their hotels waiting for word on the show's status.
“The convention decided to close the doors and at the moment the organizers are negotiating with the mayor of the city of Cartagena and we wait and see if we can come in,” said Andy Wullmer, the CEO of SGM Media who is at the venue. “It’s a controlling country with everything related to porn.”
At post time, the show’s official site LALExpo.com had gone offline.
The LAL Expo, which enjoys a large presence from live-cam companies due to the popularity of camming in the region, for the first two years was held at a hotel with no trouble from the city.
“It was a private environment,” Wullmer said. “The government wants to get the adult industry out of the city. It’s political for them. In many countries, they think the adult industry means prostitution and abusing women. That’s the worst for me. I’m in business for 20 years. This is not an illegal business.”
Wullmer said the first day of the show was crowded. One estimate of this year's turnout was more than 2,000 attendees. Just past the 11 o'clock hour in Cartagena there was a modest police presence at the center and most of the protestors had left the area.
“I talked with a police officer and they told me they are only here to protect the buliding,” Wullmer said.
No arrests had been made.
According to El Universal, Niño said the event will be canceled.
"We have to evaluate the administrative behavior, the decision we take now is to dissolve the activity, so that it is not carried out for not respecting local rules," he said.
Silverstein added, "This seemed to be a response to small protests at the convention. It seemed to be more of a localized government issue rather than some massive issue. It’s not an international incident. It’s very localized to the Cartagena area.
“I’ve been in contact with show organizers who are looking out for our safety. The events at the actual convention center are suspended right now but the organizers are doing everything they can to get back up and running at the convention center.”
Another industry executive said two armed police officers with dogs were now standing guard outside the show hotel.
Pedro Javier, a cam executive from the Colombia-based Studio Goce Pagano, told AVN, “The government is against the Expo but they think that we do something wrong right there and the reality is we only do business.”
“Models come with their sites and make a lot of relations,” Javier continued. “Here in Colombia the politics are trying to make this a big publicity. This is a shame.
“It’s a shame because Cartagena is a beautiful city and has a lot of facilities to do the Expo. But in this case we lose time, we lose money. It’s a shame with all the attendees.”
Javier said the cam biz is big in the country.
“Every year it grows and a lot of girls here in Colombia that have normal works is going to move to webcam because it’s a good opportunity to make money and they have more possibilities to have a different job,” he said. “Every day you find new models and this is a good thing for us.”
Maria Fernanda Duque from the Medellin-based H&M Studios, said, “The event has a few inconvenience. The main idea of the event is good for us. But it’s a little bit unfortunate what’s going on.”
Duque said she would consider returning to the show despite the issues this year.
“It depends on the way things work out after this. If they find a way to solve the problem and continue the event, I guess maybe,” she said. “But they need to have a way better preparation and everything for the event and be totally sure to have the permissions for every activity.”
Her H&M studios colleague Hammer Tapias added, “I think the government is doing something that is illegal.”
“Also they are using arguments that are false because they are saying we are contributing to prostitution,” Tapias said. “We don’t have to talk about that because we are not even related to prostitution.”
