An American man has been arrested in Colombia after being caught allegedly sexually abusing a child on a balcony in footage that outraged the South American nation. 

Colombian authorities said they arrested the man, described as a 36-year-old from Texas, on Sunday after footage of the act went viral across social media. 

The suspect, whose name has not been publicly identified, was seen allegedly sexually abusing a seven-year-old boy on a balcony in the capital Bogota in broad daylight. 

Stunned passersby screamed at the man from the street during the heinous episode, with one woman screaming: 'He's abusing the child!' 

'Let him go!' others yelled from the street, with the suspect eventually grabbing the child and heading inside from the balcony. 

A mob formed outside the building where the man hid inside, before police arrived and took him into custody. He is expected to be charged with aggravated sexual assault of a minor under 14 years of age, reports say. 

Furious witnesses then crowded around the entrance of the building as he was perp-walked out to a police van, with several officers forming a shield around him to protect him from the angry mob. 

The suspect's arrest was announced Sunday by Bogota Mayor Carlos Galan, who slated his alleged attack and said there was 'no room for mistreatment or abuse of boys and girls.'

The suspect arrived in Colombia on June 6, a spokesperson for the nation's immigration authority told AFP. 

Bogota Councilwoman Diana Diago alleged on X that despite the furious response from witnesses at the scene, police did not arrest the man for over two hours before eventually taking him into custody. 

When officers entered the suspect's apartment, they found three children inside, Galan said. 

The children were taken to hospital for evaluation, and sources told CBS News that the suspect may have adopted the children. 

Colombia's child protection services said the three children are now under the care of the state, with an investigation into the suspect still ongoing. 

According to Diago, another foreign woman was also removed from the scene in the same ambulance as the children, which sparked even more controversy over the heated incident. 

She alleged that the woman was escorted out with the children 'without knowing what her responsibility is regarding the incident.'

'Where are the child protection protocols?' she questioned. 

'Children must be at the center of the district's protection efforts, and we cannot allow Bogotá to become the new epicenter of child sexual exploitation.' 

The incident has ignited fierce outrage across Colombia after the footage went viral, with Colombian President Gustavo Petro also wading into the controversy by accusing the US of allowing 'pedophiles' to enter the country. 

'The foreign ministry must examine the procedures for visas for Americans to enter Colombia,' Petro said on X. 

'Just as they impose visas on us, we need to impose health visas to prevent pedophiles - who abound in the US - from coming with dollars to mess with the minds of parents who we know would hand over their girls and boys for sexual pleasure,' he wrote in another X post.