Dominican Republic Travel: Is It Safe?

There's trouble in paradise. A string of suspicious deaths in the Dominican Republic is raising serious safety concerns about traveling to this popular Caribbean island, and with the news of yet another American traveler dying there while on vacation, travelers are skittish. Their fears are being compounded by other highly publicized incidents, including the assault of a female traveler and a subsequent attack on a male traveler at the same resort, the shooting of a former Boston Red Sox player and a multitude of reports about mysterious illnesses in the Dominican Republic, including that of Melissa Rycroft, a former contestant on "The Bachelor" who got sick after a vacation with her family in early June.

The Dominican Republic’s minister of tourism insists that the country — which attracts 2.7 million American tourists a year — is safe. "The Dominican Republic is a safe country," Francisco Javier García told reporters on June 21. “There is no such thing as mysterious deaths in the Dominican Republic," he said. "There is not an avalanche of deaths.”

According to García, the number of recent deaths is not unusual and is actually lower than in some previous years like 2011 and 2015, when — through June — 15 tourists had died in the Dominican Republic. “We want the truth to prevail,” said García, who attributes all the deaths to natural causes. “There is nothing to hide here.”


García also pointed out that the U.S. State Department has not raised the threat level for the country, which was issued in April 2019 and remains at a two ("exercise increased caution"), the same level of countries like Spain and France. "Violent crime, including armed robbery, homicide and sexual assault, is a concern throughout the Dominican Republic," reads the advisory, which has not been revised to include health warnings.

But Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5W Public Relations and crisis management expert, tells ForbesWomen this is the wrong response. "Officials from the Dominican Republic have not addressed the issues and events in a constructive way. They have been very combative and defensive with their response," says Torossian. "These incidents have placed a dark cloud over the island. People are worried and have chosen to express their worries and concerns over social media, which spreads like wildfire. To dismiss these accounts as 'fake news' is a huge mistake — and they are ignoring the real problem. Multiple dead vacationers is about as serious as it gets."

How Endgame actors reacted to the movie's biggest moments

Of the many things that makes Avengers: Endgame stand out — not only from other movies but even other MCU films — is that in many cases, the stars were kept in the dark almost as much as the fans, and for almost as long. Some of the more blatant examples include Mark Ruffalo filming five different endings for Endgame, Tom Holland being denied a script for Endgame because of his penchant for spoiler-dropping, and Letitia Wright not finding out her own character, Shuri, died in Avengers: Infinity War until character posters for Endgame were released shortly before the film's theatrical premiere.

As a result, fans have a unique opportunity to learn the genuine reactions of the movie's stars to the same revelations the audience had to weather. The nature of Endgame meant — whether because of death, retirement, or something else — many of the film's heroes would experience a finality their comic book counterparts almost never get to see (e.g. dying and actually staying dead). With reactions ranging from the emotional to the irreverent, from actors who have walked alongside their character's exploits for a decade in many cases, we have the chance to see just how much these stars grew attached to their parts and how they feel now that — for many, at least — their journeys have either ended or changed drastically.

One of the most crowd-pleasing moments of Avengers: Endgame comes when Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) channels his inner Black Sabbath one last time and says "I am Iron Man" before snapping his fingers and using the Infinity Stones to wipe out Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his forces. It wins the day for the good guys — and it's a powerful sacrifice, as the physical toll of using the Stones is what kills Tony. It's a perfect moment, and one that wasn't in the script. At a Q&A, directors Anthony and Joe Russo said the line was editor Jeff Ford's idea that came up during a discussion about needing a response to Thanos' "I am inevitable." It was added during reshoots — but it almost wasn't, because Downey didn't want to do it.

The Russos brought Downey to dinner to pitch the reshoot, and producer Joel Silver tagged along. According to the Russos, Downey's reaction to his character's death was so powerful he was hesitant to face it again."I don't know. I don't really want to go back and get into that emotional state," they recalled him saying. "It'll take… it's hard." It was apparently Silver — an old friend of Downey's — who changed Downey's mind, responding to the actor's doubts with "Robert, what are you talking about? That's the greatest line I've ever heard! You gotta say this line! You have to do this!"