5878: Re: 5872: RE: 5849: State Dept. warning text (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Maxetluc@aol.com

Employees of the U.S. Government have not "evacuated their families."  Rather 
Washington has authorized family members to return to the United States at 
government expense and receive a stipend until the State Department 
determines that the current threat situation has passed.  Essentially, crime 
and political violence have reached levels where the government has decided 
that dependents should not be forced to remain in a dangerous situation out 
of financial necessity.  

U.S. law forbids embassies to maintain double standards.  If an embassy has 
reason to believe its personnel or their families are at risk it must inform 
the general public.  It must also advise the public of wat steps it is taking 
to addres the situation.  In extreme cases, it must even assist private 
Americans with their own departure plans.  Haiti is not considered such a 
threat situation.

Travel warnings and specific threat warnings are distributed within Haiti via 
wardens - Americans who assist the embassy's American Citizen Services unit 
by passing on important information to other Americans in their district.  
Travel warnings and country information is posted on the State Department web 
site - www.state.gov.  

If your son has not registered with the embassy's consular section, he should 
do so immediately.  The embassy cannot contact Americans if it does not know 
they are in Haiti.  Tell him to bring his passport (to prove his citizenship) 
and a photo of himself  (to be attached to his registration card) to the 
consular section, 104 Rue Oswald Durand, in Port-au-Prince.  There is no fee 
and the process takes only a few minutes.
He will then be assigned to a warden so that he can be contacted quickly in 
an emergency or in other situations.  Registering also allows consular 
officers to contact you or other family members in the event of an emergency. 
 Finally, it will greatly speed up the replacement process, should his 
passport ever be lost or stolen.

Maxetluc@aol.com