Spring break warning: Most unlikely American tourist hot spots emerge as deadly risk
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, currently the global director of counter-narcotics technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices.
"The Caribbean, although it's an excellent place to vacation, you have to be aware that it also represents one of the largest drug hubs in the Western Hemisphere," Brown told Fox News Digital. "It's also one of the best places — if not the best place in the world — to launder drug proceeds and create offshore accounts. So, again, although it's a nice place to vacation, many of the islands have been compromised. Some are safer than the others."
Brown mentioned the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, the Alabama teenager last seen alive on May 30, 2005, leaving a bar in Aruba with her killer, Joran van der Sloot. The Dutch national confessed to killing Holloway on the beach after she refused his sexual advances. He also confessed to killing Stephany Flores Ramírez in Lima, Peru, years later.
"You have people who come to these islands, and feel they are untouchable, feel they can break the law."
Here are the State Department's respective travel advisory rankings for popular Caribbean island destinations:
The State Department's Level 1 Travel Advisory represents the lowest travel security risk. The Department notes that while there is some risk in any travel, conditions may vary at any time in countries outside the United States.
The Caribbean islands under the Level 1 Advisory designation include Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Sint Maarten, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia.
The Level 2 Travel Advisory warns tourists to "be aware of heightened risks to safety and security."
Caribbean islands listed under Level 2 include the Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Netherlands Antilles and Turks and Caicos.
"Especially for young women, these areas, these resorts are where predators will look for unsuspecting individuals where they are for vacation," Brown said. "[Visitors] may be drinking too much. They may choose the use of narcotics. Their guard has been let down. The risk, to some extent, is the same."
Last year, Turks and Caicos made headlines when five unsuspecting Americans were arrested and detained for months after being caught with ammunition in the linings of their luggage. The islands have since repealed a mandatory 12-year prison punishment for people accused of carrying ammo.
An Illinois deputy was recently killed by a stray bullet while vacationing on the islands.
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The Dominican Republic, while a relatively safe and popular tourist destination for Americans, borders "Level 4" Haiti. The DR recently bolstered its security at its border with Haiti.
"There are significant drug trafficking organizations in the Dominican Republic that move tons of narcotics from the cartels. But the difference is, I believe those groups understand the red line that they should not cross, which can affect tourism. If those groups affect tourism, then the government will come down very hard on them," Brown explained.
Jamaica is the only island in the Caribbean with a Level 3 Travel Advisory, meaning tourists should "reconsider travel due to serious risks to safety and security," according to the State Department.
"I recently was in Jamaica for a conference, and although I stayed at a five-star resort, we were told: absolutely do not leave the resort," Brown recalled. "Jamaica has probably one of the highest crime rates and murder rates in the Caribbean."
If Americans do venture outside their resorts or hotels in high-crime areas, they should use precaution and consider carrying a tracking device, like an Apple Airtag, so that their loved ones know where they are at all times, Brown suggested.
"You can just disappear."
When Americans are no longer within U.S. borders, they no longer have access to "U.S. protection," he explained.
"You're dealing, perhaps, with governments who are not concerned about your safety — governments that have certain levels of corruption. You can just disappear," Brown said.
The only Caribbean country with a Level 4 Travel Advisory, meaning that Americans are advised not to travel there at all, is Haiti, as it could present "life-threatening risks," and the U.S. government has "very limited ability to provide assistance, including during an emergency."
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."
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."
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