By David Silverberg

SUNBURNS AND FOOD POISONING AREN’T THE ONLY DANGERS WAITING FOR YOU ON YOUR NEXT HOLIDAY. THERE’S MORE TO FEAR IN TRAVEL HOT SPOTS FILLED WITH KIDNAPPERS, RAPISTS AND MURDERERS

Digital Journal — Instead of enjoying a sunny week hiking through Panama with two backpackers like he expected, Robert Young Pelton was kidnapped at gunpoint by a Colombian death squad. Only moments earlier, the paramilitary group had killed four people in an afternoon ambush. Pelton, a writer for National Geographic on assignment in the region, feared for his life.

For ten days, the kidnappers pushed Pelton and his companions deep into the jungle, often nudging them awake at 4 a.m. but otherwise leaving them unharmed. Finally, the hostages were released when a Roman Catholic priest negotiated their freedom. Three years later, Pelton still doesn’t regret his venture into an area known for kidnapping foreigners.

“I like to think I am wired backwards,” Pelton says in an interview with Digital Journal. “I am calm and focused when others are screaming and running.”

If only everyone else had that luxury. While risk-takers like Pelton brave the dangers of countries filled with murderers and kidnappers, everyday travellers face that peril unwittingly. Often, we traipse around the world to bathe in sunshine or learn about exotic culture, but vacations can turn deadly when we’re blind to another country’s risks.

And a popular misconception still stands: It’s well known that business travellers in Latin America should be cautious about where they go. But now, even recreational travellers can encounter violent crime.

This is what the tourism industry doesn’t what you to know about.

Unhappy Holidays

Latin America has two faces. There’s the sunny Mexico of travel ads plastered on billboards, the epic Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, the storied rainforests of Colombia. But the second face is much darker: a kidnapping every 48 hours in Colombia, Brazilian street gangs prowling for tourists to attack, Mexican murderers practically aided by a corrupt police force. That’s not to say every South American traveller will confront the ugly face. But tell that to the son of Domenic and Nancy Ianiero.

Edward Greenspan, one of Canada's best-known criminal lawyers represents the family of Domenic and Nancy Ianiero, who were murdered in a Mexican hotel.

This Toronto couple was found murdered in a hotel room near Cancun two days after their arrival. Their son Anthony claims his parents were robbed. According to Edward Greenspan, the family’s lawyer, the killer is still on the loose and Mexican authorities are sitting on their hands.

“I want Canadians to stay out of Mexico until the killer is caught,” Greenspan says bluntly. The renowned criminal lawyer is known to speak his mind to the press and this case is no exception. He’s passionate and fiery.

When he talks about the uncooperative Mexican police, his voice rises.

“Never mind the danger flowing from the citizenry,” he says. “The police are not good at what they do. They’re corrupt.” Greenspan also cites data from United Nations: In murders per capita, Mexico is ranked fifth-highest in the world, while in total manslaughters, Mexico ranks first. In murders per capita, Canada places at 44 and the U.S. at 24.

“A feeling of security exists in North America that doesn’t exist in Latin America,” Greenspan says. North Americans are drawn south, though, because of the sunshine and currency. Getting cheap all-inclusive packages and a quick tan are too enticing to ignore, even if the risks are still making national headlines.

Pelton says we act naïve when we should be cautious. “Once a traveller goes beyond the control of the government and into danger zones,” he notes, “they quickly learn that our life in the bubble has not taught us many of the basic social skills most of the world uses every day.”

And where there’s paranoia, there’s money to be made. Violent crime in Latin America has spawned a lucrative trade in everything from bulletproof cars to armed bodyguards. In fact, a company in Ontario called Executive Security Services International provides security personnel for travellers who want that extra body for protection.

“In these countries, if you have a white face, that equals money,” says ESS’s Sunil Ram. “When you stand out like a tourist, criminals pick up on that. We’re here to either shadow you every step of the way, or keep an eye out for dangerous situations.”

At $600 (US) minimum charge per day, ESS’s services are for the cautious travellers with deep pockets. But for everyone else, Greenspan offers some advice he follows himself. “I’m not going anywhere with my family where I might need a bodyguard.”

Malice in Wonderlands: The Top Five Countries in…

• Murders per capita: Colombia, South Africa, Jamaica, Venezuela, Russia
  
  
• Kidnappings per capita: Colombia, Mexico, Philippines, Ecuador, Venezuela
  
  
• Rape victims: New Zealand, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Australia
  
  
• Total crimes per capita: Dominica, New Zealand, Finland, Denmark, Chile
  
  
• Total prisoners: United States, China, Russia, India, Brazil
  
  
• Total robberies: Spain, U.S., Mexico, South Africa, Russia
  
  
• Assault victims: Saint Kitts, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Canada