Violence And Death Continue For Guatemala

Visit the Toronto Globe & Mail for extensive coverage on the levels
of violence and death, constant crime and robbery and its dangers for
visitors, business people and tourists.



"In 2002, before the violence began to escalate, roughly 2,900 people
were killed. Last year, the total reached 6,033, although international
observers believe that it could be as high as 8,000 (the National Civil
Police doesn't count people who are injured in an attack but die later
in hospital). Canada, with a little less than three times Guatemala's
population of 13 million, had only 605 homicides in 2006."



CONTINUE AT THE GLOBE & MAIL



This is yet another story of a corrupt Latin American country offering
so much charm and beauty that is rendered dangerous to visit by its
unwillingness to control its rampant crime and violence.

American Man Held In Nicaragua

I have been very distracted by the holidays, the economic situation and the repairs and hassles of trying to sell my home. Therefore this blog (and my others) has been sorely neglected.

Today I was galvanized into writing for the first time in nearly a month by the plight of a young man in Nicaragua. I have posted this to my blog, Travel Dangers and repeat it here because it deserves wider exposure.

Eric Volz is a young, American man who was wrongly accused of murder in Nicaragua -- according to an appeals court in that country. The accusations appear to have come because and through anti-Americanism and xenophobia in that country. The community was barraged, it is reported, by stories of murder, rape, money-laundering, etc. The desire to get the gringo took over for the justice system. Please remember that "gringo" is a highly derisive word in Latin America that equals "spic", "dago", "kike", and "nigger" in American English. It doesn't just translate to foreigner or American.

Miscarriages of justice happen. The ability of a legal system to redress its wrongs makes for a successful rule of law and for constitutionalism to carry the day. That happened in this case when a higher court reviewed the case of Eric Volz and declared him innocent. They also ordered that he be freed from the penitentiary where he was being held.

The "judge" prosecuting the case has sequestered the records and applied for an appeal to the supreme court of Nicaragua and is thereby keeping the American imprisoned in defiance of the court's orders. The man and his family are sure that he will be killed or disappeared if he is left in this third world prison. The State Department has offered hopeful words but seemingly little action.

The family has asked for an American boycott of tourism and investment in Nicaragua until he is released.

Watch the Internet TV coverage by ABC News and then go the the website of The Friends Of Eric Volz. Contact your elected representatives to push our timid State Department to actually support threatened Americans in America Latina.


travel warnings
Latin America
Travel
Expatriates
Nicaragua
Anti-Americanism