Jamaica’s High Murder Rate

Caribbean

Jamaica: An American businessman was pulled from his car, beaten and fatally stabbed during an incident in a poor neighborhood near Montego Bay, the Reuters news service reported. John Beckett, who lived and worked in Montego Bay, was driving a company employee home from work last month when his car knocked over a loudspeaker at an outdoor dance, and several people attacked him. Beckett was airlifted to a Florida hospital, where he died. Police statistics indicate a 24% increase in the island’s murder rate in 1995--a total of 777 last year, most occurring in the poorer areas of Kingston.

Central America

Costa Rica: Two European women were kidnapped from a hotel earlier this month, and the U.S. Embassy in San Jose reports that they are being held by a militant political group. The women--a 24-year-old German tourist and a 50-year-old Swiss travel agent--were seized at gunpoint in a hotel near the Nicaraguan border. According to the embassy, their kidnappers are demanding a multimillion-dollar ransom, an increase in worker wages, a freeze on utility rate increases and the release of prisoners who were convicted of kidnapping Supreme Court judges in 1993. The embassy notes that there have been several recent crimes against tourists.

Europe

Spain: In one of the worst such attacks in the Spanish capital in years, a car bomb killed six people and wounded 15 last month in a densely populated working-class neighborhood of southeastern Madrid. The bomb, which struck a military van carrying civilian employees, was suspected to be the work of the Basque separatist group ETA. The State Department terms civil disorder “very rare” in Spain and says Americans “have not been targets” of terrorism there.

Asia

India: A terrorist bomb devastated a crowded New Delhi bazaar, killing six people and igniting a fire that gutted several shops. Times foreign correspondent John-Thor Dahlburg reported that the bombing earlier this month, by a Kashmiri separatist group, was the third such attack in the Indian capital in five months and the deadliest in the last two years. As for the general security situation for travelers, the State Department says, “the potential exists for outbreaks of communal and inter-caste violence in most major cities.”

Briefly . . .

Worldwide: The Jan. 17 sentencing in New York of Egyptian Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman to life in prison for terrorism raised the possibility of reprisals against Americans. Because of the case, the State Department has warned travelers “to pay close attention to their personal security practices overseas.”

Montserrat: After a months-long evacuation order due to the threat of a volcanic eruption, the government of the British West Indies island has sounded the all-clear. Thousands of residents who fled are now returning, Reuters reports.

Australia: What may be the world’s worst infestation of stomoxys flies is shaping up around the western city of Perth, according to Reuters. Entomologists say the blood-sucking insect can carry salmonella and various other diseases.

Trinidad and Tobago: Home-invading gangs in the Caribbean republic have created an atmosphere of terror in Port of Spain’s Malabar neighborhood, according to local media. Bandits smash their way into homes, attacking residents and stealing money and jewelry.

Hot spots: The State Department has dropped Tajikistan from its list of places where Americans are warned not to travel. Remaining on the list are Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burundi, Colombia, Croatia, Guatemala, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Nigeria, North Korea, Rwanda, Serbia and Montenegro, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan.

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