I'm Sophia Betteza and you're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

In this edition of assignment, I'm in Colombia's second city, Medellin.

It's becoming something of a tourist trap, but many of the streets house a thriving, hidden industry, webcam modelling.

I'm going to explore this industry, warts and all, and what its impact is

on the hundreds of thousands of Colombian women working in it.

This is Laurelis, an upmarket district of Colombia's second largest city, Medellin. In recent years, this place has

thrown off the reputation it gained during the years of drug lord Pablo Escobar as being one of the

most violent places on earth. This barrio or community is thriving, packed with fancy bars and restaurants catering to locals,

and also to tourists and digital nomads coming to this place of eternal spring,

thanks to its moderate climate, as well as its low cost of living and speedy internet connection.

But there's a seedy a seedyer side to the city.

Here in Laurelles, it's much more discreet than in districts like Poblado,

where at night sex workers walk the streets trying to attract tourists.

For instance, few people would know that behind the door in front of me is a webcam studio,

one of hundreds, maybe even thousands in Medellín. These studios live-streamed sex acts to men

around the world. But not everyone is happy that this business is booming in Colombia.

Even the president, Gustavo Petro, has condemned the industry, one which is thought to employ

half a million women in Colombia alone, and which is turning over hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

I'm Sophia Betteza, and this is the documentary on the BBC World Service.

And in this edition of assignment, I'm trying to find out if the webcam business is a

pragmatic way for Colombian women to earn a good living in the sex industry

without resorting to working in the streets, or an exercise in exploiting the vulnerable,

...