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Securely Travel Brief - 25 June 2018

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SUMMARY:

  1. United Kingdom - London Heathrow passport control hell
  2. Guatemala - Crime alert
  3. Argentina - General Strike
  4. Mexico - Elections - Sunday 01 July
  5. Russia - World Cup Week 2

Securely Travel Brief – 25 June 2018

Today’s brief is culled from global travel warnings and alerts.

INTERACTIVE MAP:


VIDEO SUMMARY:

United Kingdom - London Heathrow passport control hell

British Airways has complained that the Border Force (Immigration) processing at London’s Heathrow Airport, which is supposed to take, according to The Sun no more than 25 minutes for EU citizen travelers and 45 mins for non-EU citizen travelers is taking beyond 2 hours (120 minutes). The tabloid wryly points out that travelers from Amsterdam could have spent longer in passport control queue than on the flight which brought them to the UK.

Is there a means to jump the passport control queue? Absolutely, premium class travelers are offered the Fast Track option. Here is Heathrow’s Fast Track page. The Sun tells us that one is also able to buy their way into the Fast Track queue, for between £7 and £15.

Securely Travel - UK Heathrow Passport Control
@The Sun

Guatemala - Crime alert

The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s “Safe Travel” office warns travelers that there is “SOME RISK” to traveler’s security in Guatemala due to “violent crime and civil unrest.”

Guatemala has one of the highest violent crime rates in Latin America. Criminal acts often involve firearms and may include armed robbery, kidnapping, sexual assault and murder.

As readers are aware, Volcano Fuego eruption has caused general interruption of life for those affected and in general in the Guatemala City area.

Readers may recall, Guatemala has previously appeared in our briefs.

13 June 2018 - Guatemala - Volcano Fuego:

Guatemala authorities have closed off areas in proximity to Volcano Fuego, due to continued eruption and gas emission. Travel to the region is strongly discouraged. The US Embassy has issued the following advice: “As of June 12 at 7:35 a.m. Fuego Volcano continues to emit currents of hot gas and volcanic matter towards the Chimaltenango area based on direction of the winds. Guatemalan authorities discourage visiting closed areas. Avalanches have produced ash columns, which may result in ash fall in affected areas over”

07 June 2018 - Guatemala - Devastation follows second eruption

Reports coming in from Guatemala shows death tolls rising, and number of missing eclipsing 2,000. Aid is pouring in from around the world from both official (governments) and private non-governmental organizations (NGO). Evacuation of burn victims to the United States has commenced. According to the Weather Channel Canada, over 1.7 million people have been affected by the eruption of Volcano Fuego.

Argentina - General Strike

The US Embassy Buenos Aires warns citizens and travelers to Argentina to expect public transportation to be unavailable due to a country-wide general strike.

While eTravelAlerts advises that air travel to Argentina has come to a virtual halt.

Mexico - Elections - Sunday 01 July

The Mexican general election is scheduled for 01 July 2018. Mexico votes on Sunday in order to maximize voter turnout. This year’s elections has been marred by more than 125 assassinations of individuals running for office at the local and state level. The Canadian Embassy in Mexico has issued a warning to their citizens, to be vigilant during the election period. While UK service, Intelligence Fusions, notes that arrests have been made for the death of the PRD candidate in the state of Michoacan.

We continue assess the situation in Mexico to be acceptable for vacation travel (Read: How to manage your Mexico vacation without getting shot), though we do second the advice coming from the Canadian Embassy, that for the next week or two to use the utmost caution when moving about cities and avoid political rallies, which will be easily distinguishable from World Cup viewing parties.

Russia - World Cup Week 2

The first week of Russia-2018, saw a car-ramming attack in Moscow; the United States Department of State raising the alert level for Russia to LEVEL 3 - due to the ongoing harassment of US citizens by Russian law enforcement authorities. Minimal number of criminal or violent encounters have been reported.

For those contemplating going to Russia for the Round of 16, due to start next week, we recommend a read of our Russia-2018 Travel Guide.

We give the UK’s Foreign and Commercial Office travel advice group in Russia, high marks for their proactive and very visible presence. Three examples of Twitter posts and infrastructure they have in place to assist UK citizens in those cities where the Three Lions are playing. Including warnings on how to identify fake Vodka!

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About Christopher Burgess

Christopher Burgess is a writer, speaker and commentator on global security issues. He has appeared on CNN, BBC, I24, China News, Bloomberg, CBS, NBC, and ABC providing commentary and analysis. He is a former Senior Security Advisor to Cisco and served 30+ years within the CIA which awarded him the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal upon his retirement. He has lived and traveled abroad for more than 55 years. Christopher co-authored the book, “Secrets Stolen, Fortunes Lost, Preventing Intellectual Property Theft and Economic Espionage in the 21st Century.” He is the founder of Securely Travel.
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