Bubba
Dec 21, 2006, 7:19 AM
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State Department Oaxaca Travel Warning
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I note that the U.S. State Department´s Oaxaca travel warning, updated November 15 and set to expire January 18 is still in effect as of today, December 21 despite significant changes in that city which is no longer dangerous for U.S. citizens who are safer there now than in any major U.S. city. This is so irresponsible and many people dependent on the tourist trade are suffering mightily because of the State Department´s failure to update warnings when major changes for the better take place.
I am not surprised by this, however, since I used to work for a federal bank regulatory agency and one of our responsibilities was to determine country risk in assessing the quality of loans by U.S. banks both to the public and private sectors in developing countries. Federal employees are notoriously cowardly, after a political entity has been identified as "risky" in any number of ways, when moving to remove that stigma once the situation has improved. The reason is simple. If these people were aggressive risk takers, they wouldn´t be working for the federal government. Nobody wants to be an advocate for removing a stigmatizing negative public warning about a political entity because there is no future in doing so. If the advocate for upgrading is right nobody in the chain of command gives a damn. If the advocate is wrong and some Americans or American banks are subsequently hurt, their careers are in the tank.
Therefore, look for this grossly unfair and damaging travel warning to be there indefinitely or at the very least until its January expiration date when it can die on its own without anyone sticking his/her neck out.
Some think I´m cynical when it comes to this stuff. You go to Oaxaca, dear reader, and see the human damage caused to the some of the poorest citizens there, and go home without a certain degree of cynicism.
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