BY CHRISTOPHER RICHARDSON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 06/28/19 04:00 PM EDT 75THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL
There has been a frenzy of news stories related to the deaths of more than 10 Americans in the Dominican Republic over the past year.
The New York Post sent a reporter to the island to sniff the alcohol at resorts, while The New York Times quoted a toxicologist from John Hopkins who theorized that these people might have been victims of alcohol poisoning. Fox News had an expert on TV who said it may be a “colorless, odorless, intoxicant.” There have been calls for investigations, cancellation of tours, and even a congressman calling for the State Department to change its travel advisory for the country.
Yet the simplest explanation is normally the correct one, and the intensity and baselessness of these stories should be the story itself. The fact is, there are perfectly explainable causes for these deaths — and to suggest more without evidence is a dangerous rush to judgment.
These deaths are ones that I unfortunately know all too well. When an American citizen dies abroad — naturally or not — it’s the job of the U.S. Embassy to contact the families, break the bad news, and manage what is a terrible situation. During my career at the Department of State, I served as the American Citizens Services Officer (ACS) in Madrid, Spain; Karachi, Pakistan; Managua, Nicaragua; and Lagos, Nigeria. In this role, I comforted and helped the family members of Americans killed in terrorist attacks and from suicides, murders, car crashes, and a host of horrors that occur.
