Politics

Uruguay Issues Travel Advisory For Citizens Visiting ‘Dangerous’ Cities Like Baltimore

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David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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Uruguay is suggesting its citizens exercise “extreme precaution” if they are visiting American cities like Baltimore, Detroit and Albuquerque.

A travel advisory issued this week in the aftermath of the El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio shootings that claimed more than 30 lives, states that the cities are prone to “indiscriminate violence.”

School children walk back after school on a rainy day in the McElderry Park area on April 12, 2019 in Baltimore. - In Baltimore, an investigation targeting the Democratic mayor could be too much a scandal for the city of the eastern United States plagued by poverty and violence, that real estate renovation programs seem unable to stop. (Photo by Eric BARADAT / AFP) (Photo credit should read ERIC BARADAT/AFP/Getty Images)

School children walk back after school on a rainy day in the McElderry Park area on April 12, 2019 in Baltimore.  (Photo by Eric ERIC BARADAT/AFP/Getty Images)

In its advisory, the South American country referenced CEOWORLD magazine that listed the American cities as three of the 20 most dangerous in the world, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Although Albuquerque may seem ill-placed in the grouping, the New Mexico community has attracted media attention for the preponderance of auto thefts and gun violence. (RELATED: Only One Country In The World Has A Higher Homicide Rate Than Baltimore)

Baltimore recently marked its 200th homicide of 2019 and is ranked as the third most violent city in the U.S., according to USA Today. The city has endured at least 300 homicides for each of the last four years, according to the Baltimore Sun.

The city has continued to be the focus of national attention due to a still-simmering feud between President Donald Trump and Democratic Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings that began when the president called Cummings’ congressional district a “rat and rodent infested mess.“ (RELATED: Feds Charge 90, Nab Dozens Of Guns And $1 Million In Baltimore Drug Raids)

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) prepares for a hearing on drug pricing in the Rayburn House Office building on Capitol Hill July 26, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) prepares for a hearing on drug pricing in the Rayburn House Office building on Capitol Hill July 26, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

That prompted accusations of racism against Trump from Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while others, like Dr. Alveda King, came to Trump’s defense, stating that he was only saying Baltimore’s poverty and high crime marked it as a city that needs “to be fixed.

In its travel warning, Uruguay specifically told potential travelers to eschew theme parks, malls, craft shows, religious centers or sport stadiums.

Albuquerque city spokesman Matt Ross told AP that including Albuquerque in the travel advisory was ludicrous.

Venezuela, where political violence is commonplace, also issued a travel advisory about the need to “postpone travel” to the United States because of the spread of “hate crimes,” AP reported.