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The Caribbean has long been a popular spring break destination for Americans, with islands featuring a variety of different cultural experiences, high-end resorts, clear-water beaches and other beloved tourist attractions.
The islands depend largely on tourism to help fuel their economies. The Caribbean Tourism Organization estimates that there were approximately 16.3 million overnight stays booked by U.S. citizens in 2023.
While many Caribbean islands are considered safe for spring-breakers, tourists should still exercise caution in the region, according to former DEA senior special agent Michael Brown,
Police patrol the streets of Port-au-Prince amid rampant gang violence, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, April 23, 2024. (REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol/File Photo)
In fact, the State Department encourages Americans currently in Level 4 territories to leave “as soon as it is safe to do so.” The Department also recommends Americans in Level 4 countries write wills prior to traveling and “leave DNA samples in case of worst-case scenarios.”
“Under no circumstances would I advise even people working for the Peace Corps or church groups to go to Haiti.”
“It is completely lawless at this point,” Brown said of Haiti.
He noted that its neighbor, the DR, takes “extensive precautions to keep the bad elements in Haiti out of the Dominican Republic.”
Residents walk past a burnt car blocking the street as they evacuate the Delmas 22 neighborhood the morning after an attack amid gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Gang violence in the country has reached record levels, killing at least 5,600 people in 2024. A report from the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights said an additional 3,700 were injured or abducted last year.
Brown noted that “numerous drug trafficking groups” operating within the Caribbean islands “assist the Colombian, Peruvian and Mexican cartels with moving narcotics through the Caribbean.”
“I don’t want to be an alarmist, but in many cases, drug and sex traffickers and other criminal elements are based in the Caribbean because of the high volume of narcotics that transit through them all the way to the U.S.,” he explained. “That creates a very dangerous environment related to the individuals who are there to prey upon what I call the unsuspecting.”
