Yesterday a cruise passenger was murdered while ashore in Venezuela’s Margarita island.
The international press reports that “a gunman shot dead an elderly German tourist on Venezuela’s Margarita island,” in the latest incident “illustrating the country’s rampant crime.”
Reuters identified the dead man as Goldhahm Hors Kurt, age 76, from Germany.
A German cruise blog explains that the cruise tourist had gone ashore on an excursion from the Carnival owned Aida 
Luna cruise ship. The crime occurred at a tourist shop in a shopping center.
The El Universal newspaper says that two armed robbers on a motorcycle tried to rob the tourists. A struggle ensued and Mr. Kurt was shot and killed.
Venezuela’s murder rate is one of the highest in the world, and reflects a trend we have observed of substantially higher crime against tourists in the Caribbean region. Last month a former Venezuelan beauty queen and soap opera star Monica Spear was shot and killed when she returned to her homeland.
The Venezuela Tourism Minister tweeted (@IzarraDeVerdad) his condolences and said that authorities were pursuing the criminals. However, newspapers state that over 90% of murders in Venezuela remain unsolved.
The Aida Luna is a Sphinx class cruise ship, owned by Carnival Corporation and operated by AIDA Cruises.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia / Frank Schwichtenberg / GNU Free Documentation License