Yes. You prolly didn't hear cause Gringo deaths are minor incidents according to the wise Mr. Happy. There was a shooting-to-death in a Sosua disco last week. A couple of weeks ago a car rammed a motoconcho from behind in front of Scotiabank; his head flew clear across the street. They swept everyinging up except most of his liver (looked like a liver to me...) within half an hour.... minor incident in Sosua.
It's taking you longer than most, but you're learning.
BTW, when I say minor incidents, I am saying that, to the gov't and police here, things like that are minor incidents, and don't get a lot of attention, except for the folks that like to stand around and look. The govt. folks got better things to do.
It's not necessarily MY opinion.
With most of these incidents involving a Tourist, there is a THRESHOLD that was passed. Without trying to sound like a Crime expert let me just explain a little.
EVERYONE has a price. In the DR that price is just a lot lower.
Here in the US for example, must muggings and robberies involve someone who is KNOWN to have an amount of CASH or valuabes on them.
That person becomes a statistic, when the opportunity arises for a criminal who thinks he can get away with it. Granted we all hear about the crack head who holds someone up for $20, but those cases are more rare.
Normally, the criminal targets someone with money.
Now switch over to the DR.
As soon as we step off the plane, we are targets,. (checkl out that other thread about ciminal gangs who are specifically targeting passengers leaving the SDQ airport)
Now, from the airport we go to the Hotel, where we store our valuables in a SAFE... Now we are LESS of a target, but still a target.
So the criminals are constantly sniffing for that PERFECT target, who either is CARRYING something of value, or has access to valuables.
If words were to get out that you have an ATM card on you, and $10K in your checking account, like lets say you open your BIG mouth at some Bar within earshot.. or almost as bad, u have a specific PATTERN of when and for HOW much you hit a specific ATM machine.
You are now a PRIME TARGET.. 10K is like 100K to us here in the USA. Tigres will KILL you for a whole lot less than that.
In LaCapital,(true story ) a Tigre told another tigre in front of my NYPD bud, " I will kill him for $10, the other says, I will kill him for $5. My Ny cop friend spins around and says to both of them, " I will kill both of you, for free & walk away" ( all in spanish, perhaps they were testing to see what was understood) .. Our driver already had his pistola drawn and 7 of us surrounded them. We never saw them again. Our mistake, We were dressed like NY guys, and wearing Jewelry, Talking Loud, so we looked like soft targets. too much flash. Locals get Jealous , real fast.
Now if you are only known to carry say 1500-2K Pesos or so for drinks etc, and NO other valuables, and keep you mouth SHUT about any assets you may or may not have, you have a better chance of blending IN, and the Criminals attentions hopefully will NOT be focused on you for the duration of your stay.
Oh you may still get your pockets picked, etc. But at least the chances of being HUNTED down and killed will be greatly reduced.
Im no detective, but this is my oversimplified view of it, having grown up in a City environment.
I wear some of the rattiest shit during the day. I actually have 4 pair of shorts - 2 of one pair, and 2 of another pair - so it looks like I practically wear the same clothes every day. I beg the chicas to buy me beer because I'm out of money, and have the "street concierge's" find me cigarettes when they are looking for one for themselves. I tell all the chicas that I only go with them during the day because I can only pay 500 pesos and don't want to mess up their night-time high dollar business.
Do you think that I might be a target?
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Bookmarks