German content creator accuses Cartagena bar of barring girlfriend as suspected sex worker

A night out in Cartagena’s historic center turned into a public accusation of discrimination after a bar allegedly stopped a German creator’s girlfriend at the door and labeled her a sex worker.

Luca Mariano, known on social media as “Nea Alemán,” described the incident in a TikTok video published on Aug. 30. He said he was walking through Cartagena’s walled city with his girlfriend and planned to visit a bar, whose name he did not disclose.

According to Mariano, staff initially told the group that the venue was hosting a private event and refused them entry. When they returned a short time later, however, security personnel allegedly gave a different explanation. Mariano said they told him the women accompanying the men could not enter because the establishment did not allow sex workers.

Mariano said the group included his girlfriend and the partner of a friend from Medellín. He challenged the assumption and made clear that the women had been wrongly identified. Days later, he responded to followers who suggested the bar may have been enforcing a dress code.

The creator dismissed that explanation. He said security had blocked him, his girlfriend, his friend and the friend’s partner from entering one of Cartagena’s busiest venues based on an unfounded assumption about the women’s occupations. He also questioned whether women in a hot-weather city should be denied the freedom to wear dresses and high heels without facing that kind of stigma.