One of the issues which we follow is the high crime rate throughout the Caribbean islands which are visited by U.S. tourists on cruise ships. One of our articles – Top 10 Most Dangerous Cruise Destinations in the World – caused a fervor among many tourist-dependent ports.
We cited a Huffington Post article entitled the 10 Countries With The World’s Highest Murder Rates. The article reads like a cruise line itinerary: Honduras (No. 1), Venezuela (No. 2), Belize (No. 3), El Salvador (No. 4), Guatemala (No. 5), Jamaica (no. 6), St. Kitts – Nevis (no. 8), and Colombia (no. 10). The UN executive summary says that Caribbean countries are home to to 8.5% of the world’s population, but they account for about 27% of world crime.
We still look for incidents of crime where cruise passengers are victimized. Today there was a account of a cruise passenger mugged in in Roseau, Dominica. You can read the article Cruise Ship Passenger Robbed in Roseau here. According to the news account, the “victim and another lady was about to enter a wine store on Long Lane when she was pounced upon by a young man. ‘The guy ran up, grabbed the lady’s chain from her neck and threw her down in the drain,’ the eyewitness said.”
No attempts were made by anyone to stop him. “There are all the bus drivers and vendors and nobody stopped the guy,” the newspaper stated.
The newspaper refers to prior crimes against cruise ship passengers in earlier years where chains were pulled from tourists’ necks.
Dominica has around 22 murders a year as a country per 100,000. The per capita rate is less than many other dangerous Caribbean countries, but it is still considerably higher than the U.S. national per capital rate of around 4.5 per 100,000.
Yes, crimes like this while you are on vacation do occur!
Map Credit: Public Domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php