US STATE DEPARTMENT WARNS AMERICANS OF THE DANGERS OF TRAVEL TO GRENADA; IS THE COUNTRY'S PRIME MINISTER'S ANTI-AMERICAN RHETORIC TO BLAME?

 

This week. the United States Department of State, in a Travel Advisory that increased the Threat Assessment to a Level 2, warned Americans traveling to GRENADA that the risk of physical harm, including becoming victims of homicide, poses a clear and present danger. The Advisory bluntly noted that "in some cases, Americans have been killed," when detailing the risks of armed robbery, assault, burglary and rape. Our government definitely is discouraging any travel, for vacation or work, especially including visiting Grenada during Caribbean maritime voyages on cruise ships and on private yachts.   

The Advisory has been met with sheer panic in Georgetown, Grenada's capital, as members of the country's tourist industry, and their employees, fear that the American tourists who constitute a large percentage of those visiting each year, will seriously diminish. One of the leading representatives of the local travel and tourism sector, in a video posting on social media, warned that tourist-related income in Grenada will most likely take a major hit, and demanded to know why the country's leaders were strangely silent on what their plans were to reduce the threat level declared by the United States, by direct contact through diplomatic channels. She noted that the recent Christmas tourist season brought a reduced level of tourism to the country, and that this new development would mean the loss of jobs, diminished revenue for many local businesses, and financial hardship for many Grenadians dependent upon tourist spending.

PM Mitchell with Maduro in Venezuela

Some Caribbean observers point to the ever-increasing rhetoric of the country's Prime Minister, DIKON MITCHELL, who has been an outspoken advocate of both Venezuela and China, and maintained close relationships with the leaders of both autocratic states. He blocked the recent American Government request to station radar facilities there, resulting in their placement in Trinidad, where the Prime Minister and the government support American policies in the Caribbean. Mitchell has openly defended the dictatorships of China and Venezuela, in his public statements.

As a part of his pro-Chinese platform, Mitchell has been highly critical of the foreign policies of the United States, equating its actions as imperialism, which he has delivered to the people of Grenada for several years. It is believed that such a virulent frankly anti-American position has had an influence on the population, making American tourists targets of violence, due to local political anger directed at America.

Mitchell in China with President

Additionally, the Grenada media has been openly hostile to the United States actions in Venezuela, accusing America of making a power play, disguised as a response to narcoterrorism; local media conveniently ignores the issue of undue Chinese financial and political influence in Venezuela, as well as throughout the Eastern Caribbean in General. This has not gone unnoticed in Washington; where previous American administrations have sought to downplay increased crime in the region, and would have hesitated to impose a Level 2 assessment, the Trump Adminstration has shown itself to respond to threats in the region, with direct action.

When added to the recent decision of the European Commission, that the EU, for national security reasons, intends to remove all Caribbean states that have Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programs from their existing visa-free status, which is expected to pose an existential threat to the future of those lucrative programs, Grenada may face  an income loss there, resulting in an uncertain financial future, in large part brought on by its own CBI actions, and that of its Prime Minister, in taking sides against American foreign policy, on all issues.