Haiti travel warning issued by US after kidnappings, killings

The State Department has issued a revised Haiti travel advisory, warning Americans planning to travel to the Caribbean island nation about robbery, lawlessness, infectious disease and poor medical facilities.

"U.S. citizens have been victims of violent crime, including murder and kidnapping, predominantly in the Port-au-Prince area. No one is safe from kidnapping, regardless of occupation, nationality, race, gender, or age," the department said.

The new travel warning was released Friday to replace a less strongly worded advisory issued in June.


In recent months, travelers arriving in Port-au-Prince, the capital and largest city, on flights from the United States have been attacked and robbed after leaving the airport. This year, at least two U.S. citizens were shot and killed in robbery and kidnapping incidents, the State Department said.

"Haitian authorities have limited capacity to deter or investigate such violent acts, or prosecute perpetrators," the department said.

The State Department also noted that while the incidents of cholera have declined, the disease persists in many areas of Haiti. Medical facilities, including ambulance services, are particularly weak.

"Thousands of U.S. citizens safely visit Haiti each year, but the poor state of Haiti's emergency response network should be carefully considered when planning travel. Travelers to Haiti are encouraged to use organizations that have solid infrastructure, evacuation, and medical support options in place," the department said.

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Haiti - come and visit us, you might get kidnapped you might not.

  • 7 votes
Reply#1 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 12:59 PM EST

There are many Americans thinking This could never happen to us, then asking Uncle Sugar to Come Help Us. So fellow Americans, Stay Away and if you are there, Go Home.

  • 3 votes
#1.1 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:50 PM EST

What just go to little haiti neighborhood in Miami. They will likely kidnap you there too. Many of the people that were born in haiti act just like they did when they lived in haiti. They could care less about any laws, their attitude is mostly grab anything you can get.

  • 7 votes
#1.2 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:38 PM EST

Haiti's new travel slogan:

"Once you go...you will never leave"

    #1.4 - Thu Jan 10, 2013 8:45 AM EST
    Reply

    ...travelers should also be warned about nyc subways! and chicago!

    • 6 votes
    Reply#2 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 1:14 PM EST

    Don't forget Detroit.

    • 9 votes
    #2.1 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 2:28 PM EST

    Milwaukee Wi. is getting to be a extension of Chicago!

      #2.2 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 4:40 PM EST

      Before you make stupid statements you need to look at the crime statistics for NYC. And, on exclamation point per sentence is sufficient.

      • 1 vote
      #2.3 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:16 PM EST

      you need

      That would indicate something that someone MUST do.

        #2.4 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 9:54 PM EST
        Reply

        A fun loving and peaceful place....Firearms are banned from the general population so I do not understand how it could be unsafe....Must be some kind of mistake.

        • 14 votes
        Reply#3 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 1:20 PM EST

        Hm, more guns in Haiti, what could go wrong?

        Canada has strict hand gun laws and their murder rate is less than 1/2 of the US murder rate.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

          #3.1 - Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:29 AM EST

          Let's be honest, Canada also doesn't have the high number of savages living there that live here. So you really can not compare the two.

            #3.2 - Mon Jan 7, 2013 11:24 AM EST
            Reply

            Why would you want to go to that crap hole anyway? By the way, US government, stop sending money there, it only gets in the wrong hands.

            • 19 votes
            Reply#4 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 1:26 PM EST

            That's true, and most NGO's there end up spending the money mainly on keeping themselves going.

            • 7 votes
            #4.1 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 1:51 PM EST

            There is a cruise ship beach in haiti but you can only get to the shops in the secure area you can't actually get into the main city...well I suppose you could but the guards and gates are there to prevent anyone from the city coming down to the beach.

            • 1 vote
            #4.2 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:40 PM EST
            Reply

            Refuse to donate to Haiti for anything. Sorry, that's just the way it is nowadays.

            • 15 votes
            Reply#5 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 1:57 PM EST

            Haiti is a lost cause.

            • 16 votes
            #5.1 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 2:47 PM EST
            Reply

            So, why did the US even get involved in Haiti's government by helping get rid of 'Baby Doc' Duvalier? Things were about the same back then, too.

              Reply#6 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 2:29 PM EST

              Iraq is the same, Afghan is the same. A tourist has to watch it anywhere in the Caribbean and there are many places in Puerto Rico they tell tourists not to go. I was told last month from a guy who used to live a little ways from Montico Bay, Jamica that since the hurricanes came through and blew away shacks that that side of the island was to dangerous to stay. He moved back to the mainland.

              • 4 votes
              #6.1 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 2:40 PM EST
              Reply

              Haiti is decending into one of the worse places on the planet! Here's another country of predominantly people of color, where western powers, beginning with France, have systematically destroyed!!

              • 3 votes
              Reply#7 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 2:45 PM EST

              You never heard of Papa Doc and Baby Doc? The Tonton Macoutes?

              Blame the Western powers if you feel like it, but you're still wrong, and still an idiot.

              If you hate the West so much, you can find plenty of legitimate things to bitch about, unless you're too lazy to be bothered and it's easier to make things up. Or too stupid to know how to use Google.

              • 10 votes
              #7.1 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 2:57 PM EST

              Here is a news flash the French left long ago----do not look for them to come back either.

              • 9 votes
              #7.2 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 3:06 PM EST

              Haiti has been free and independent for over 200 years and this is the best they can do. All they want to do is to make babies, make voodoo and sponge off the American tax payers. The Haitians in South Florida are the same as in Haiti and act the same. They should all be picked up and sent back to Haiti.

              • 6 votes
              #7.3 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:07 PM EST
              Reply

              Yeah Rah13, blame it on whitey. Take no responsibility for your own actions or the corrupt dealings of your government. This is precisely what is wrong with the world...no one is responsible for their own actions...blaming others is the new world order. Enjoy what that brings you.

              • 12 votes
              Reply#8 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 2:53 PM EST

              Does anyone in the US really need the State Department to tell us what a shi^^hole Haiti is? I know lets send Billions more down that rat hole and things will get better. Some people (countries) you just cannot help. It has been this way since the French left, and always will be.

              • 11 votes
              Reply#9 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 3:04 PM EST

              "robbery, lawlessness, infectious disease and poor medical facilities" is that Haiti or any large city on the Continent?-can't tell. But we have obamacare, you betcha!

              • 6 votes
              Reply#10 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 3:30 PM EST

              This is the thanks we get for helping them. Savages!

              • 7 votes
              Reply#11 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 3:47 PM EST

              Helping them by suppressing wages so they can go on making our fabric in their bare feet?

              http://www.democracynow.org/2011/6/24/haiti_leaked_cables_expose_us_suppression

              • 1 vote
              #11.1 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 7:28 PM EST
              Reply

              The whole population of Haiti should be exterminated. Nothing but an island of losers, who cannot feed themselves without handouts... they contribute ZERO to the world or to society. They are too stupid to stop breeding. All humans there should be eradicated, and the island returned to nature. Wild animals have a better code of conduct than the sub-human black garbage animals that lives there. Wipe them out, or at the very least stop supporting them and let them starve. A Tsunami that wiped the island clean would be a blessing.

              • 8 votes
              Reply#12 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 3:51 PM EST

              Perhaps we continue to pour money there because we know of the precious resources like gold and oil there. I wonder how much "sAyItLikeItIs" knows his history. I wonder if he knows that the ancestors of these “sub-humans” fought courageously in the American Revolution. And James-303405, Haiti was cut out of the world community after its independence from the France. Not only was it cut out, it was forced to pay billions of dollars to the France. Those who talk about the "Tonton Machoutes", did you know they were supported by the US government? My country’s government financed most of the coup-d’états in Haiti and thus contributed to destabilization the country is experiencing today. Did any of you know that? This is not to say that they do not have their own issues. Corruption and crime are rampant in Haiti. The roads are not kept. The people are living in abject poverty. These are due in part by the lack of vision of Haiti’s leaders. The international community is not free of guilt either.

              • 1 vote
              #12.1 - Sun Dec 30, 2012 1:06 AM EST

              Roster#1,The first sensible post yet.

                #12.2 - Sun Dec 30, 2012 5:04 PM EST
                Reply

                How much more "borrowed" money is the United States going to pour into these lost cause countries, aren't there enough problems right here in the US to think about? I'm all for trying to be a good person/humanitarian but when the governments of these countries steal whatever aid is given to the people then it's time to cut said aid and let nature take it's course. ie: survival of the fittest, thinning of the herd.

                • 7 votes
                Reply#13 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 4:11 PM EST
                Reply

                Where's travel advisory, warning Americans planning to travel to the Florida?

                • 4 votes
                Reply#14 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 4:13 PM EST

                In your County Farm Report, and the monthly church newsletter.

                It's scary, traveling outside the county line, huh? Too many things you don't understand out there.

                • 3 votes
                #14.1 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 4:38 PM EST
                Reply

                You can take the animal out of the wild but you can never take the wild out of the animal !

                • 1 vote
                Reply#15 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 4:47 PM EST

                How utterly horrible that persons would even think to make a statement that Haitians should be exterminated or let them starve to death. Survival of the fittest, thinning the *herd?* Despicable!

                • 2 votes
                Reply#16 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 4:51 PM EST

                If you keep making the poor pay for the rich then ... (fill in the blanks)

                Or maybe: SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!

                Ha! soon The MASTERS won't feel safe anywhere!

                • 1 vote
                Reply#17 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 4:55 PM EST

                I wonder what Sean Penn thinks of that report. I didn't give a dime to Haiti during their Earthquake and feel No sorrow for those people at all. Why Black people can't get it together after Thousands of years is beyond me. Whites and Blacks were created at the same time, but Blacks all over the World never Advanced. Why?? Was it "Political Correctness? Or were White people smarter from the git go.

                • 4 votes
                Reply#18 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:11 PM EST

                You make statements like that, and the absurd use of capital letters, and you ask if white people are smarter? Incredible!

                • 4 votes
                #18.1 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:23 PM EST

                They were put there for a Purpose. Are Capital letters a Crime. ABCDEF. Hope that didn't HurT YoU. First time I ever Heard of Capital Letters being Absurd.

                • 1 vote
                #18.2 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:58 PM EST
                Reply

                Yep figures and start letting them into this country they will turn it inside out as well...

                • 1 vote
                Reply#19 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:17 PM EST

                Yep, just look at South Florida and how they act down there. Same as in Haiti.

                • 1 vote
                #19.1 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:56 PM EST
                Reply

                Any place that is predominately black will inundated by violent crime, rape, robbery, general lawlessness, infectious disease and poor medical facilities. The article could probably replace Haiti with any urban area in the US or country in Africa.

                • 7 votes
                Reply#20 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:21 PM EST

                Haiti shouldn't deserve no funds or support from the US. My brother was stationed in Haiti in 1994. There were snipers that would shoot at them on a regular basis. The gutless wonder Clinton would not let our soldier to have any clips with them for protection. Clips were to be held by a commanding field officer. The only way they could get access to ammunition was if Clinton gave the orders. If anyone recalls between 1994-1996 there was a lot of suicides from troops in Haiti due to stress. Imagine having to walk around with a rifle drawing even more attention to yourself but being unable to defend yourself being fired upon. I say just tell people not to go there because it's a s**thole filled with a**holes.

                • 2 votes
                Reply#21 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:02 PM EST

                I am Haitian. I read as many positive and negative comments I could from this video article.

                I want to know.... Ho can I use my skills, knowledge, and abilities to help deter the negative economic, social, and political atmospheres in Haiti?

                • 2 votes
                #21.1 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 8:18 PM EST

                Lagoon - start with your own community ... show respect for your neighbor and yourself ... make the law subject to itself ... don't allow people who break the law to get away with it - report them for serious stuff, admonish them for small stuff... help people be responsible for themselves ... once a community cares about itself and does something for itself, then it will spread to other communities. When all we hear in the states is lawlessness, granted that is mainly what sells news, then that is all we expect. change our minds and we'll change our hearts. So far, we don't see anyone in native Haiti care, only asking for handouts.

                • 3 votes
                #21.2 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 11:03 PM EST
                Reply

                I know you folks want more Democrat voters, but.... please, please.....

                Keep these Neanderthals out of the U.S. too.

                If you want to go there, go at your own risk.

                • 5 votes
                Reply#22 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:14 PM EST

                I know you folks want more Democrat voters

                No, we have plenty. That's why you lost. What a dummy! LOL!!!

                  #22.1 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:30 PM EST

                  Why god, and all this time I thought you were impartial.

                  • 1 vote
                  #22.2 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:41 PM EST
                  Reply

                  No wonder we are broke, we waist our money on all these other nations while our own people suffer. Lets quit caring about what the rest of the world thinks and let's take care of our own.

                  • 3 votes
                  Reply#23 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:33 PM EST

                  WTF,after sinking billions into this country this what we get?

                  • 3 votes
                  Reply#24 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 7:11 PM EST

                  and kids stay out of the United States public schools. People are walking to public schools and shooting kids randomly there. The state department should issue a warning to kids to stay home instead of going to school too. Oh, not just kids...the NYC subway (stay away from there).

                  "Ignorance only wins temporarily"

                    Reply#25 - Sat Dec 29, 2012 7:40 PM EST

                    MeandMY,You just had to bring up the Connecticut tragedy.Have you no heart what so ever?

                      #25.1 - Sun Dec 30, 2012 5:08 PM EST
                      Reply
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