Fact is that they once they arrived in Spain were told that accidents would happen to their families at home if they didn't participate trying to smuggle drugs from Peru to Spain. All the information about relatives they have given the criminal masterminds behind the crimes themselves by being on Facebook, Twitter etc. which is normal for many young adults.
That combined with the knowledge that it is normal for the hotels and travel agencies to know the names and hometowns of the guests in advance make it easy to learn all you know to force a person to do all you want.
Because who wouldn't try to save a kid sister or a niece from being run over by a car back home?
It seems that the authorities in Spain have done little to prevent similar cases from happening in the future. They have not arrested and taken everyone in with connections to Peru. They have not clamped hard down on immigrants from South America. Two woman is serving time in Peru under conditions which makes it unlikely for them to survive unless they are transferred to the United Kingdom or they manage to escape like the woman from Norway who aided by the embassy managed to get out of Bolivia.
The death sentence handed out should have resulted in bigger focus on the level of security tourists have to deal with in Spain. However it seems that the government in Spain doesn’t care about the tourist industry or the economy in general. Maybe the unemployment rate in Spain is not large enough. It seems that the only answer people can give is to stay away from Spain.
We urge all people who think about choosing Spain for their next holiday to reconsider. The Internet remembers almost everything. It is quite impossible to delete your entire online history and the criminals who work in hotels and travel agencies know when you leave, where you live and who your relatives are.
Don’t be the next Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum. Stay away from Spain.
Sources:
- 'Peru Two' could be freed in less than three years and serve part of sentence in UK: Girls jailed for attempting to smuggle £1.5m worth of cocaine (The Daily Mail Online)
- Norwegian drugs convict escapes from Bolivia, hides in the Norwegian embassy in Brazil, now planning to fly home to Norway (African Press Online)
