With the winter months upon us, many New Englanders are in the process of planning vacations to warm-weather climates.
Among the most popular locations is the Caribbean, where millions of U.S. citizens visit each year, according to the State Departmentﾴs Bureau of Consular Affairs.
With a total of 35 countries making up the region, each with different levels of population, development, and standards of living, itﾴs difficult to do anything but generalize about safety standards in the Caribbean.
On the whole, the Caribbean is safe for visitors. However, travelers should observe certain common-sense measures.
For tourists, the most common hazards are bag-snatching and pickpocketing, but violent street crime, such as assault and rape, is on the increase, according to the U.S. State Department figures.
One Seacoast-area travel agent who asked not to be identified had this to say about vacationing in the Caribbean:
“Although weﾴre not obligated to, most travel agents will say something to their clients along the lines of reminding them to use caution and common sense.
“But you have to realize people are coming to us thinking about relaxation and entertainment, and personal safety issues are secondary on their minds. Tourists are less likely to observe the normal precautions they would at home, and that sometimes leads to trouble.”
Former Fosterﾴs editor Peter Swanson has spent a great deal of time sailing and working in the Greater Antilles. Although he has never personally been a victim of crime while in the area, heﾴs experienced enough of the region to formulate an educated opinion of what to be aware of while vacationing there.
“Iﾴd have to say the U.S. Virgin Islands are probably the worst. Thereﾴs a great deal of racial tension there and the crime rate is high, especially armed robberies. Unless youﾴre particularly street-wise, my advice would be to stay on the reservation. In other words, if youﾴre staying at a resort, I wouldnﾴt leave the grounds,” he said. Conversely, the Dominican Republic has a low crime rate and friendly atmosphere, according to Swanson.
“Right now, because of the fluctuation with the U.S. dollar, the Dominican is a little more expensive than usual, but the country is not considered a high-end destination in the tourist industry, so itﾴs still a bargain.”
Jamaica, and in particular its capital city of Kingston, has earned the dubious distinction of having the most violent crime in the region.
Although most violent crime occurs far from tourist centers, many island visitors continue to report being robbed, mugged or scammed, according to travel advisories furnished by the U.S. State Department and the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which also urge tourists to avoid taking public transport and visiting downtown Kingston.
Women are cautioned to be especially wary of young Jamaican men, as rape is common.
Glossy travel magazines advertise the island as a tropical paradise with 365 beaches and pristine coral reefs whose motto is “Land of Sea and Sun.”
But in recent years, violent crimes have increased and armed assaults have been perpetuated against tourists, according to a State Department publication providing tips for Caribbean travelers.
The U.S. State Department offers varying degrees of caution for tourists visiting the Caribbean. While places such as the Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados and the Netherlands Antilles are considered relatively safe, island destinations such as Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts and St. Maarten are experiencing a increase in violent crime.
Prior to his death several years ago, Klaus de Albuquerque, a professor of sociology at the College of Charlestown in South Carolina with extensive teaching, research, and policy experience in the Caribbean, conducted a study on tourism and crime in the region.
In an effort to offer insight into the escalation of predatory crime against tourists, de Albuquerque cited high levels of unemployment, low levels of educational attainment, coupled with few opportunities for meaningful employment.
According to de Albuquerque, even self-policing, somnolent communities such as the British Virgin Islands, Grenada and St. Barths have seen an escalation in their serious crime rates, much of it due to drug trafficking and local drug use.
Despite the clouded outlook, there is help on the horizon.
With assistance from Wellcome Trust, a private British charity with an endowment in excess of $10 billion, experts in the nations of Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica are now in a position to quantify the growing problem of violence.
The project team ﾗ a multidisciplinary group of six researchers from all three nations, including sociologists, a criminologist and an epidemiologist ﾗ that began its study in January, plans to share its findings with governments, social policy makers and law enforcement agencies.
In a prepared statement on Wellcomeﾴs Web site, professor Elsie Le Franc, a sociologist and lead researcher behind the project, explained the purpose of the study.
“The project represents a rare attempt to systematically document violence and to rigorously identify where its roots may lie,” said Le Franc a sociologist and lead researcher behind the project, based at the University of the West Indies in Barbados.
“The Caribbean is by no means the only region affected by violence,” she said. “The results could thus be of more general relevance. In the future it may be possible to extend this research to other ethnic communities who suffer from many of the same problems.”
By JAMES BAKER from www.fosters.com
