Travel Advisory : Heeding Singapore’s Strict Laws

In the wake of the controversial caning of 18-year-old Michael Fay, the American convicted of spray painting cars, the U.S. State Department is reminding travelers of Singapore’s strict penalties for a variety of offenses that might be considered minor in the United States, including jaywalking, littering and spitting, as well as the importation and sale of chewing gum. In addition, Singapore has a mandatory death penalty for many narcotics offenses.

Sri Lanka

Terrorist bombs went off in four luxury hotels in early April, followed by a warning that tourists and foreign investors will be targeted, diplomats and news agencies reported. Three of the bombs exploded in rest rooms at the Marriott, Taj Samudra and Sapphire hotels in Colombo, the capital. A fourth went off prematurely, killing the man carrying it, at the Mt. Lavinia Hotel on the coast south of the city. A week later, a letter from a Tamil terrorist group described the bombings as warnings and said that in the future, foreigners who enter Sri Lanka will definitely get killed. The letter justified attacks on foreigners, saying that the government uses foreign investment to battle the long-running Tamil insurgency.

Guatemala

Security forces rescued 7-year-old Georgina Robbins, daughter of an American businessman, who had been kidnaped while on her way to school and held for four days last month, according to the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City and the Reuters news service. Few details were released, but four Guatemalans were arrested in what was presumed to be an attempted kidnaping for ransom. In another development, the Mormon church took unspecified security precautions after rumors swept Mixco, a Guatemala City suburb, that two of the church’s missionaries were responsible for the disappearance of two local children. According to diplomats, the children’s mother expressed the belief that her estranged husband took the children. But rumors of child-stealing by foreigners have persisted throughout Guatemala recently.

Trinidad and Tobago

Killings in the two-island Caribbean country (pop. 1.2 million) now average one a day, according to a local judicial official quoted by Reuters, and officials have deployed soldiers and police in troubled areas. There is no indication that foreign visitors are targets. (In its last information sheet on the country, dated May, 1993, the State Department mentions only the risk of petty street crime.) In a sign of economic unrest, at least half of the government and private-sector workers in Port of Spain, the capital, observed a one-day strike April 25 to protest the government’s fiscal policies, including its plans to sell off some of the nation’s 67 state enterprises. Trade union leadership denounced “the sellout of the country’s patrimony to foreigners” and warned that another protest could bring the nation to a standstill.

Briefly . . .

Pakistan: The State Department advises Americans to defer all nonessential travel to Sindh province, which includes Karachi, because of the increase in rioting, and violence between police and anti-government forces. Deaths have occurred, and cars and buses have been burned. The road from the Karachi International Airport to downtown hotels is considered particularly unsafe.

Brazil: An armed gang blocked the highway from Brasilia, the capital, to the Atlantic coast city of Salvador for more than four hours on April 26 and robbed passengers aboard every bus that passed, Reuters reported. The gang, about half a dozen men, stole cash and valuables from more than 300 passengers on seven buses. Police are reportedly now riding the long-haul buses.

Israel and the Territories: A 22-year-old American tourist was stabbed in the hand by a young Palestinian near the West Bank village of Husan, according to an Israeli news service. The unidentified visitor was attacked while walking in an orchard, and police have made three arrests.

Hot Spots: Because of the widespread fighting in Yemen, the State Department has added that Arabian Peninsula country to its list of places where Americans might be at risk. Travel warnings also are in effect for Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burundi, Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, North Korea, Peru, Rwanda, Serbia and Montenegro, Somalia, Sudan and Tajikistan, and for East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The U.S. State Department offers recorded travel warnings and advisories at (202) 647-5225; the fax line is (202) 647-3000.