Julia: I have no idea where you are from, but Dominican Republic is safer than most Latin American nations, including Venezuela, Brasil,Colombia, Puerto Rico,most of Central America and even Mexico. Remember, all the countries I mention before either have guerrilla warfare, drug wars, military type regimes with great instability,and lots of muggers in their streets. Big cities in Brazil are plagued with glue niffing youths who are as dangerous as hardened criminals. I though your comments were referring to New York's Dominican community, not Dominican Republic. There is more crime in Washington Heights, South Bronx and Harlem alone than the entire Dominican Republic. Muggers are waiting for you in Washington DC, Miami,La, Philadelphia just to name a few. LA police is as corrupted as our own police. Our police corruption is nickel and dime stuff compared to New York City Police corruption. I moved back from the United States 7 years ago and I have yet to be acosted by a criminal in DR. Of course, those who want to get mugged can be accomodated by visiting our ghetto neighborhoods like Capotillo, Los Alcarrizos, Simon Bolivar and some other neighborhoods. If you stand all night long at the intersection of Nicolas de Ovando and Avenida Duarte someone might get the idea you want to get mugged. You can find neighborhoods like this in Paris, London and Rome. Have you checked the Sevilla, Spain housing projects where the police doesn't dare go in and firemen are stoned for just trying to put out fires? Anyone has been to North Avenue in Cabrini Green at the projects in Chicago or the South side by Comiskey Park, where gang members take rifle shots at people from vacant apartment buildings? Or Lake St. at night where you get acosted by pimps, robbers, muggers and drug dealers. This is right in the loop neighborhood area of Chicago, Julia.
Julia, you will be perfectly safe here as long as you use worldwide common sense practices good for everywhere you go.
