Safety and Scams

Crime statistics released by law enforcement officials in several Caribbean nations show a decline in murder rates during 2012. 

The most significant drops were in Jamaica (from a 3-year annual average of 1,467 down to 1,087) and Trinidad & Tobago (from a high of 547 in 2008 down to 377). Also recording fewer murders were the Bahamas (currently 100) and Barbados (from 27 in 2011 down to 21). When considering these numbers, the greatly varying populations must be taken into account.

The Department of State advises deferring all nonessential travel to Pakistan. Across the country, terrorist attacks frequently occur against civilian, government and foreign targets. 

On March 3, 2013, a bomb attack in a predominately Shiite area of Karachi destroyed several buildings and killed more than 50 people. In January and February 2013, two bomb attacks in Quetta targeted members of the Hazara community; each killed over 80 people.

Welcome to the 447th issue of your monthly foreign-travel magazine. If you’re reading ITN for the first time, here’s what it’s all about: travelers keeping other travelers informed.

The Department of State warns that nonessential travel to the Philippines’ Sulu Archipelago should be deferred, due to the high threat of kidnapping of international travelers and violence linked to insurgency and terrorism there.

Exercise extreme caution on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, where criminal groups have clashed with the Philippine Armed Forces, particularly in rural areas, and terrorist groups have kidnapped international travelers and carried out bombings.

A Jan. 23 US Department of State Travel Warning stated that tens of thousands of US citizens safely visit El Salvador each year but that crime and violence are serious problems countrywide.

The Mexican government is targeting transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) which engage in narcotics trafficking and other unlawful activities. TCOs, themselves, are engaged in a violent struggle to control drug-trafficking routes.

As a result, crime and violence are serious problems throughout Mexico, including homicide, kidnapping, carjacking and highway robbery. Gun battles have taken place, especially in the border region.

Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world. San Pedro Sula is considered the world’s most violent city; in 2011 there were 159 murders for every 100,000 residents. These threats have increased substantially over the past several years, the US State Department points out. In January 2012, the Peace Corps withdrew its volunteers from the country.

Košice, Slovakia, and Marseille, France, are the European Capitals of Culture for 2013.

Planned events in music, drama, art, history and literature in Košice are listed at www.kosice2013.sk.

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 441st issue of your foreign-travel magazine, the one you can help write.

“Around the World in 80 Scams,” by Peter John (2011, Bennion Kearny — 326 pp.), alerts travelers to ways that they can be hoodwinked. The book’s 80 sections detail everything from restaurants’ not listing prices to the “Parisian gold ring scam” (June ’09, pg. 14). Softcover, $16.99, and Kindle eBook, $3.99.