Informative Columbia report by US Department

[Bolo]

I was doing some reading through a US department report on Columbia to find out about different area safety in the North areas. You can read the article at this address. It is a rich text file.

http://www.mindefensa.gov.co/derechos_humanos/informes/informe-usa-state2000.rtf

I thought there were a lot of murders there per year, but the real stats that I read here were something far beyond what I ever thought.
(No wonder that taxi driver didn't want to stop for the stoplights!)

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices -2000
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
United States Department of State
February 2001

..."The Central Directorate of the Judicial Police announced that 25,660 murders occurred during the year (2000), compared with 24,358 murders in 1999. The press reported that on average one person was killed every 20 minutes. The police and the Prosecutor General's office have insufficient resources to investigate most killings adequately. The Superior Judicial Council estimated based on a 1997 survey that 63 percent of crimes go unreported and that 40 percent of all reported crimes go unpunished.".....

[TexasRob]

... in response to Informative Columbia report by US Depart..., posted by Bolo on Dec 25, 2002

Yeah I read that too before I went.  If nothing else it helps to make one aware and reminds you to not take off overland as you would here.  Here we are aware of danger in the big cities but we go hiking etc, without a second thought.  There it is not like that.

[Hoda]

... in response to Informative Columbia report by US Depart..., posted by Bolo on Dec 25, 2002


Nothing new there. None of the guys here have been shot, murdered or kidnapped! Here's the mantra to repeat.
1) Stay in the main cities.
2) avoid traveling from city to city via land.
3) Just use the same common street sense, that you would use when visiting ANY city, ANYWHERE in the world!
4) Every wonder what the state departments of other countries say about the U.S.?

No place you decide to go is perfectly safe. Get that out of your head right now. Street crime is EVERYWHERE! If you're nervous about cities in Colombia, then you should be just as nervous of NYC, Miami, Wash D.C., L.A., Houston, etc, etc, etc... There's nothing wrong with being cautious! Use common sense, lose the fear AND GO!!!!

Later...

[pack]

... in response to Very old news Bolo...., posted by Hoda on Dec 25, 2002

yup...this has been discussed many times. we all know (especially after 9/11) that there is no safe place in the world. just live your life best you can....dont let anyone stop you from where you want to go.