Birmingham is one of several U.S. cities being mentioned in travel advisories for foreign nationals following this weekend’s deadly mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.
USA Today is reporting that the Venezuelan government has issued an advisory for its citizens to postpone trips to the U.S. after “recent acts of violence.”
The official press release advises that Venezuelans stay away from cities that have the most violence, citing a 2019 Forbes article listing the most dangerous cities in the U.S. Birmingham placed fifth among them, with the news site stating that “Birmingham’s persistently high crime rate can be attributed to the drug trade and its high poverty rate - 26 percent versus 17 percent for the state as a whole, according to the U.S. Census Dept.”
Other cities listed by Forbes and cited by the Venezuelan government, were Cleveland, Detroit, Baltimore, St. Louis, Oakland and Stockton, Calif., Memphis, Atlanta, and Buffalo, N.Y.
There could be more motivating the advisory than recent violence in the U.S., however. Gallup in 2018 ranked Venezuela as the most dangerous country in the world for the second straight year, according to a survey, after years of food and healthcare shortages, protests and a high murder rate, According to the survey, 42 percent of Venezuelans reported having property or money stolen in 2017, and nearly 25 percent of Venezuelans said they had been assaulted.
But Venezuela wasn’t the only nation warning its citizens. Uruguay also issued an advisory saying citizens should take precautions when visiting the U.S. because of violence and hate crimes fueled by “racism and discrimination that cost the lives of more than 250 people in the first seven months of this year.”