Tourists be careful
Submitted by nicareal on Tue, 2011/04/19 - 08:50.
This is basically a revised version of yesterday's post. Yesterday's post was taken down because a member here felt it was directed against him and his business.
Nonetheless, I feel it is important to let people know that not everything is perfect in "Paradise Nicaragua". Almost perfect but not quite:
What made me post this here was a cumulation of events over the past thirty to fourty days:
1.) Friends of mine were victims of a home invasion that could be part of a movie script. One person was shot in the process and spent over a week in a Hospital in Managua.
2.) We had some instances where groups of Nicaraguans led by dishonest lawyers (Now there is a surprise!), settled on land that was not theirs and tried to sell the land to greedy investors that were too lazy to perform their due diligence. In at least one case, police was called to remove the group and things turned violent. (Those of you owning property in developments have nothing to worry about and these are isolated incidents.)
3.) According to a police officer the Chocolata Road in the area of the Municipal Dump should be avoided by pedestrians. It appears masked, armed men are targeting especially tourists walking along the road and are robbing them of their money and other valuables. Many have lost cash and cameras. Suggestion: If you have all your photos on one memory chip, remove the chip when not using the camera. The point and shoot is replaceable, your photos are not.)
4.) A women, familiar with Nicaragua and a long time on and off resident here was victim of an attempted robbery near Playa Hermosa. She confronted by several armed men. When she sped past the roadblock she was shot at. Her truck was hit but she escaped injury.
Suggestions of areas to avoid:
The roads south of Las Delicias to Remanso. The road from the main road to Playa Hermosa. Chocolata road north of La Talangera. These are the areas that seem to have the most problems.
This does not mean that the entire SJDS area has turned into the wild west. It seems that prior to major holidays the crime rate goes up. Many of the Managua criminals move in to capitalize on the influx of visitors.
Enjoy SJDS, just be careful and use common sense. Even paradise has its dangers.
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Thanks
Good to see some down to earth facts and not the all too often Rah, Rah, Rah posts. They had incident a few years ago where a lady was robbed at El Coco by 3 barefoot guys. That was last straw after numerous thefts and drug use etc.
I remember El Coco 10 years ago and there were just a few people living on beach then over time there were probably 50-70 at the peak. So the main landowner is rumored to have called upon the 'goon squad'-same group that the Pellas's or Chomorros' would use and they came in from Managua and warned people to leave-those that did not were beaten up. Ex-police or police moonlighting I never knew but these were big Nicas-all 250 to 300 pounds.
I know of a guy who operates a fairly large size store in Managua and even though he has probably 4-6 people hanging in front he pays to watch merchandise from being stolen there was still much shoplifting. So they called police every time they detained a shoplifter. The Police finally told him to stop calling them and to handle the problem himself. So next thing he is doing with shoplifters is dragging them to the back of store and 2-3 guys beating up the suspects! Of course he hired 2 guys to do this in addition to the security duties etc. From what I gather these are mostly drug addicted people but not always. So anyway one guy they beat so bad that he was still unconscious behind the store for 2 days until he was taken away to hospital. So now they do not hit the body or head anymore-This advise given by the Police!
Now policy is hold guy down on ground and step on his arm and then put the boot to his hand breaking bones!
In San Juan during samanta santa
Watch out for pickpockets ,, and English speaking nicas from the east coast being to friendly and getting to close. If you are being bumped into you are getting felt up for a rip off or you just did get picked pocketed
And some things we just don't need to talk about do we Mark?
Especially on public TV.
If you have
to tell him, wanna bet he does not get it. Anyway, sounds like bar talk gone wild to me anyway.ZZT
John Wayne?
That's bar talk. Why not tell a story from the other side?
Always I hear about this robbery or another bike stolen.
There was a post I remember from a few years ago showing a guy tied up after he was beaten up by a few Nicas for attempting to steal a girls cell phone.
Why not cover both sides?
trash
don't take your trash to the dump? or just around holidays? i am going to be into composting in a big way!
and extra high fencing....to preclude home invasions....
"Maybe, just once, someone will call me 'sir' without adding, 'you're making a scene." -Homer J. Simpson
Playa Hermosa
Eduardo Holmann should be not too happy to hear about highwaymen working the road to his new surf camp. That's a shame, as it sure is a nice setup. I'd hope that he has the ways and the means to ensure security on that road, especially since the entrance post/tollbooth is so close to the main road. Pls keep us updated.
Personal Security Warning - Del Sur News, story not yet in print
Playa Hermosa Article
Remanso Article
Letter to the Editor of Del Sur News
Response to that letter
_________________________________
A robbery and an attempted robbery (with shots fired) near the beaches south of San Juan del Sur have frustrated tourism operators and are worrying tourists.
Playa Hermosa - On Friday of last week, a lone female driver was held up by armed bandits as she was leaving Playa Hermosa (south of SJdS) after a day at the beach. The driver (a 'residential tourist' from the US) managed to escape as 4 men with arms tried to stop her vehicle. She drove off at speed and the bandits opened fire, hitting her vehicle twice (behind the rear passenger door and on the drivers side rear bumper).
Remanso Beach - was the scene of a robbery earlier this month when two tourists were robbed of 1,100 Córdoba's and a $300 camera. The pair were walking back from the beach to their rental car when they were ambushed by three masked robbers wielding machetes. The victims have written to Del Sur News, read their Letter to the Editor on Page 17.
Dear Editor
We recently returned from Nicaragua after being robbed by bandits with masks and machetes on the road leading to Playa Remanso. We would appreciate it if you could publish our story for others to read so that this will not happen to them.
We arrived in SJDS on Sunday night, April 3, 2011 and spent that night and the next morning exploring this charming little village. Around lunch time we asked the person at the front desk of our hotel how to get to some nearby beaches. We decided on Playa Coco for lunch, but when we drove that direction, the road was under construction so we turned around and headed toward Playa Remanso. We had a rented sedan and realized we could not drive it down the road to the beach. We parked our car and walked onto the beach.
We spent approximately 1-1/2 hours there enjoying the beautiful scenery and watching the surfers. When we walked back to our car, we were ambushed by three masked robbers wielding machetes. They robbed us while holding machetes to our throats.
We returned to SJDS and someone from our hotel went with us to the Police Station. We found out that this type of activity is prevalent on that road. We cannot understand why there are not warning signs on the road; why the police are not doing something to curb this activity and why hotels do not warn their guests of this danger. This is a very dangerous situation and must be stopped. Please help us get the word out.
Thank you. D & S W.
Editor, Del Sur News: We have had several communications with this very genuine couple, verified their story and received a copy of the crime report they filed here in SJdS. They are two tourists that Nicaragua has lost and who will spread the word amongst their friends when asked about their vacation. Yes, this sort of crime is a world problem, not just a Nicaraguan problem, but it is affecting tourism here, therefore it is problem that the authorities, businesses and the general public need to address and address now. We have no idea of the amount of damage this and other similar incidents cause by way of loss of revenue to Nicaragua's fledgling tourism business. If the authorities are willing, then together with the entire community´s support, these criminals can be stopped.
This is exactly the point! The area is losing business...
I for one have lost sales over incidences on the Remanso Road. Since some of our clients were robbed 2 years ago, we started to warn all of our clients and advising them not to walk along that road. People are better off to try to park inside the Remanso Resort. But even there, I'm not sure how safe the area is.
Signs along the road may help, but how long would these signs remain there? I think the answer is for tourist dependent businesses to warn their clients. Now I'm sure the management of the Remanso resort would not be too pleased as would the Playa Hermosa owners. Maybe that pressure would force them to help out in controlling crime so their properties can shed the bad reputation.
I really don't know what if anything these businesses are doing to combat crime in their neighborhood, but I'm reasonably sure that the Holman family will not sit by while their investment is being destroyed.
The trick is not to put this into someone else's lap. All of us living here and making a living of visitors have to get involved.
Private property
The Remanso incident is sadly familiar. I certainly agree with your editorial comment on the far reaching affect of these petty crimes (though not so petty seeming if you have a machete at your throat).
What is surprising is that the Hermosa robbery sounds as if it happened on the Holmann family property. If the most powerful SJdS family can't secure the approach to their showcase project on their own property, what chance of securing public thoroughfares? I hope he raises Hell about this..
It's a long road, about 5 kms following a river bed
One option would be two shuttles (they have one now from SjdS and back) to do the town runs and another to take people from the gate to the beach and back.
The parking lot would have to be moved from the beach and you would need a lot of security for the parking.
Its a "Wild West" issue. How many Sunday afternoon matinees did I watch where John Wayne would resolve this for his boss and then sat around the camp fire drinking Presto.
Surf boards have replaced cattle but the rustlers are still around. And in those movies, the new landowners sometimes had to sit and watch it all go on. So many comparisons.
Huh??
1. What is to stop them from stoping the shuttles? Even more picking. Oh, you say, let's have armed guards. Great for a tourist place. Would kill it all quicker than you can say, we need John Wayne.
2.The rest of what you wrote is not understandable to me...john wayne, etc. Seems like you need some hard ideas, not waxing poetic.
Can't the tourist industry poney up some cash to bounty them? small town with lots of rivalries might get some results.
How about helping the police...cannot that be done pretty cheaply? Two cops (or "tourist deputy") can secure the 5 KMs with no sweat. Not needed to be done forever either.
More ideas are there...the village needs to do them and someone needs to lead.
A while back we had a discussion about Kelly Ann's husband chasing down a purse snatcher. You need more action like that...people taking resonsibility to protect themselves and others.ZZT
We have armed guards everywhere now,
the tourists don't seem bothered by that in town.
The "Amigos de la Policia" was tried and failed when the money stopped (US100K in total) coming in and/or because there was no change.
Hence my comment "If the authorities are willing". A big part of the community did step up to the plate last time. The authorities just saw that as we had too much money to throw at the problem. They took it until it was exhausted.
He is paying for Police on the beach (least there have been some there on every occasion I was there). They all sit under one shady tree staring at bikini clad girls. Can/should he deploy them on the road? yes if he gives them motorbikes or quads.
That is why someone
(here it is me) from outside cannot just offer up a solution. You tried some things and they do not work. Actually they kind of worked, but too many things make them ineffective. I think the sight of armed guards in town is such a common thing so people just get on. But the armed shuttle or something like that is not the same. Anyway, as I do not have to tell you as an ex cop...getting away with it will embolden them and others and pretty soon SJDS will rue the day when the problem was containable. I remember when they got the 100K...a lot of money for here.ZZT
Sad but true
that in situations like this violence sometimes need to be met by violence. If the police caught one of these people in the act and simply shot and killed a few that would probably solve the issue. I dont want to hear any hippy crap about peace and love and violence doesnt solve anything stuff. Pure 100% fact is that since the begining of time only violence has stopped violence. What a shame all these lazy fools doing this dont understand they are huring themselves and their country by driving out business. I have lived in Central America, Nica and C.R. for almost 20 years and have only had one issue and that was in San Jose but I stopped it by putting a .45 Cal handgun to the face of three thieves at the Coca Cola terminal in San Jose.
Machiavelli wrote in his treatise "The Prince"
It is better to be feared than loved. I think that applys to this situation with these thugs, they only know FEAR.
A f****ing men
Try to make friend with them or show them the way and toy are a dead piece of meat. Some people just need to know they wlll get their asses kicked if the mess with you or your. of course, that pushes them off on the wimps....ZZT