March 2013 Blog Posts (22)

The U.S. government has issued a travel advisory to its citizens over the presidential election petitions filed against Uhuru Kenyatta.  In the advisory, the Barak Obama led administration tells its citizens to avoid gatherings and demonstrations as the ruling on the petitions is likely to be issued on Easter weekend.  …

Things must be getting bad in "Latin America's Safest Country" -- the U.S. State Department has finally gotten around to issuing a warning about the violent-crime spree that has been plaguing Costa Rica:

Within the last few weeks, the Embassy has received increased reports of armed robberies of tourists in the Puerto Viejo…

KRGV in Weslaco, Texas, reports that the number of United States residents missing in Mexico keeps climbing, according to federal investigators. Law enforcement officials said the chances of finding them are slim.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has at least 272 cases on file. Each case may include more than one victim. FBI stats show that 254 of the missing were from McAllen…

Inside Costa Rica reports that  Costa Rica is the safest country in Latin America, according to a study published recently by publisher-analyst, Latinvex. The ranking of 19 countries is based on data from…

Michael Overfield, who was named Silverton’s First Citizen for 2000 and was known for his efforts to restore historical buildings in the small East Valley town, was shot and killed Feb. 27 on an island off the coast of Honduras. The 53-year-old developer moved to Central America about a decade ago, according to his son, Tim Overfield, who declined to discuss the details of his father’s death.

Overfield was killed…

A 46-year-old homeless man suspected in the killing of a Sarai Sierra, the Staten Island, NY, mother of two who was murdered in Istanbul, Turkey, in January was taken into custody on Sunday, the Turkish authorities said. 

The authorities in Hatay, near the Turkish-Syrian border, said the suspect — identified only by his initials, Z.T., and a nickname, Laz Ziya — had been detained in Reyhanli Township. 

In a video recorded shortly after his…

The Honduran government is asking for help from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in solving a five-month-old homicide case involving a Canadian citizen. Themy-Alexandre Vallée, 34, was shot outside a bar on the island of Roatan while on vacation in Honduras in October 2012. His friends and family have been questioning why the suspect, whose identity is known to police, hasn’t been arrested.…

The daughter of an Ottawa man who'd been missing in Panama since November says a body found last Friday in the Central American country was her dad. Ed Moynan's daughter, Sandy, posted a message on Facebook confirming that her father's body had been identified.She thanked family, friends, patients and colleagues for their support over the last four months and said funeral details would be posted shortly.…

The body of a Minnesota man who went missing after bodysurfing in Mexico has been located. Mark Stoneberg, 58, was on vacation in Sayulita, near Puerto Vallarta on Feb. 26 with his wife when he went missing at about 5 p.m.

Nancy Stoneberg, 47, says that authorities in Mexico called off the search for the father of three after only a few hours, saying he was presumed drowned. After Nancy requested urgent action, however, a Mexican navy search and rescue team was deployed to search for…

Mexico is one of the countries where journalists “face the most danger” from criminal organizations, resulting in the murders and disappearances of many members of the media, the president and CEO of the Mexico City daily El Universal, Juan Francisco Ealy, said Monday. More than 70 journalists have been murdered and 13 others have gone missing in Mexico,…

The Australian government issued an advisory on Friday warning its nationals not to travel to  Mindanao because of  the “high threat” of kidnapping in the province. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued the advisory amid tension between the Malaysian government and the followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III over the latter’s claim on Sabah.

“We continue to strongly advise you not to travel to central and western Mindanao, including the Zamboanga Peninsula and…

Six years after concerns about student safety prompted the California State University System to suspend programs in Mexico, the chancellor’s office has announced that it is relaxing its policy in areas of the country considered safe for travel by the U.S. State Department. 

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CSU's decision is based on the U.S.…

The U.S. State Department's latest travel warning for Libya still advises U.S. citizens "against all but essential travel to Tripoli and all travel to Benghazi," citing ongoing instability and violence, but says non-emergency U.S. government personnel can return to the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli.The State Department had ordered all non-emergency U.S. government workers out of Libya on September 12, the day after an attack that killed four Americans -- including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens --…

A shocking 32% of all non-natural deaths of U.S. citizen’s outside this country occur in Mexico, according to the Mexico Vacation Awareness website. Many of these deaths happen inside of the resorts and are a direct result of poor or nonexistent safety standards.

List of recent tourist deaths

Spring Breakers who want to take a dip in the Gulf of Mexico south of the border should be reminded of security concerns when visiting Matamoros, according to a U.S. Department of State Spring Break travel advisory.

“Travelers to the Mexican border should be especially aware of safety and security concerns due to increased violence in recent years between rival drug trafficking gangs competing for control of narcotics smuggling routes,” the advisory states.…

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The German Embassy in Costa Rica has stated that delays in receiving healthcare for a tourist in Costa Rica caused her to suffer the amputation of her right arm.

The incident  occurred on December 14, 2012, when the German Evelyn Jurgensen, 23 years old, was vacationing in Santa Teresa de Cóbano, Puntarenas. According to the note, the girl and her boyfriend had an accident on an ATV and she suffered “multiple open fractures.”

The German Embassy said the Malpais Emergency asked…

The mother of a man slain in Honduras in October is asking the Canadian government to put pressure on Honduran authorities to catch her son's killer. Chantal Vallée's son Themy-Alexandre Vallée, 34, was shot in the head outside a bar on the island of Roatan, a popular destination for divers and other tourists.

Honduran police have arrested a suspected accomplice in the slaying of the Montreal man, who was an officer with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans. However, Vallée…

More than 26,000 people have gone missing in Mexico over the past six years as violence surged and the country's government cracked down on drug cartels. Mexico's Interior Ministry announced the staggering statistic on Tuesday but noted that authorities don't have data about how many of the disappearances are connected with organized crime.

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A heartbroken mom is staging a one-woman protest in an effort to get information about the murder of her son in Honduras. Donna Bryan wants Government or police to help ensure the killing of her son, Seaford Lee Russell, in La Ceiba on October 13 last year, is properly investigated. Ms Bryan said her son was shot multiple times. She claims she has been given no information about any investigation in Honduras or whether arrests have been made in the…