Well I hate to post this because alot of fearful folks will be discouraged from visiting, which is a shame, because even with the increased incidences in violent crime in the country of late the crime rate is still significantly lower than most other places (in terms of violent crimes anyway, non violent crime, petty theft, etc. is of course rampant as in all 3rd world countries)
But it does seem to me from a purely observational standpoint that everyday these incidences are getting closer to home.
Last night a friend of the family was robbed on the Santiago overpass by robbers who had parked their cars at the top of the overpass pretending to have a typical Dominican "let's block traffic" conversation in the middle of the road. They didn't take his car, but they did take the keys so it would take him longer to report the crime.
Last week the manager of my Santo Domingo store was car-jacked coming out of an ATM, and beaten pretty bad. (pistol-whipped) They got the car but it was recovered a few blocks away because Hector doesn't ever keep more than a few drops of gas in the tank. I guess some bad habits pay off eventually.
I wonder when all this will end up, I know Leonel claims to be doing all he can to patrol the streets more, but it doesn't seem to be slowing the crime wave down any.
But it does seem to me from a purely observational standpoint that everyday these incidences are getting closer to home.
Last night a friend of the family was robbed on the Santiago overpass by robbers who had parked their cars at the top of the overpass pretending to have a typical Dominican "let's block traffic" conversation in the middle of the road. They didn't take his car, but they did take the keys so it would take him longer to report the crime.
Last week the manager of my Santo Domingo store was car-jacked coming out of an ATM, and beaten pretty bad. (pistol-whipped) They got the car but it was recovered a few blocks away because Hector doesn't ever keep more than a few drops of gas in the tank. I guess some bad habits pay off eventually.
I wonder when all this will end up, I know Leonel claims to be doing all he can to patrol the streets more, but it doesn't seem to be slowing the crime wave down any.