A pornographic video shot in Cartagena’s tourist district caused an uproar among residents, weeks after a sex scandal involving U.S. Secret Service agents rocked the coastal city.
The 42-minute clip was shot in the 997 Paintball Club in the upscale neighborhood of Bocagrande in October 2011 without the business owners’ knowledge of the video’s content. The club’s logo and equipment is easily identifiable in the video, which is not viewable from Colombia.
12 people had allegedly made reservations to play paintball the day the video was made and claimed “they were going to shoot a video for college,” according to the owner of 997 Paintball Club, Fernando Calderon.
“We saw people with good intentions, and then they hurt us(…) It was a breach of trust because they borrowed our facilities,” Calderon added in Cartagena’s El Universal newspaper. The proprietor filed a complaint with the local prosecutor’s office over the video.
The incident has raised eyebrows in Cartagena, whose sex industry has become the focus of international scrutiny since U.S. Secret Service agents hired 21 prostitutes days before the April 14 start of the Summit of the Americas.
“We are concerned because this is a healthy area,” said the president of Bocogrande’s Neighborhood Association, Ignacio De Villareal, who asked the city’s mayor to further regulate pornographic productions.
This isn’t the first time an adult video has sparked controversy in the region. The northern village of Puerto Colombia’s firehouse was used for shooting another pornographic film in May. The departmental seal and emergency phone number are clearly visible in the video. According to El Universal, the same production company, U.S.-based BangBros, is responsible for both productions.