by David Neils July 26, 1991
Mugging Incident at Caberete, Dominican Republic
July 13, 1991
This is an account of the mugging incident on the Caberete beach
on Saturday July 13th. It was about 6:45 am when I left my room
at Casa Laguna for a last walk on the beach. I had on a pair of
green shorts and my sandals. I was not wearing a shirt at the
time. Since I still had to pay for my room charges I put my
wallet in my back pocket. I had planned to by some postcards
also. Fortunately I had taken everything out of my wallet at the
beginning of the week. When I left the room that morning I had
180 pesos, two fifty dollar travelers checks and my mastercard.
I had just put my mastercard back in my wallet before leaving the
room because I had planned to pay for the room charges with the
card. That way I would have enough money for the taxi and
airport tax.
I walked across the street and down to the beach. When I got to
the water I walked west or to the left. It was about 7:10
because I remember looking back to the east at the sun and
realizing it was fairly high in the sky for that time in the
morning. There were several other people walking on the beach
but nobody with 200 yards. As I walked past the last windsurfing
shop on my left I noticed a Dominican man walking towards me
about 300 yards away. He was walking along the high point of the
beach next to the brush and palm trees. At about 250 yards he
stared at me and walked away from the beach into the brush. I
didn't thing twice about the look he gave me until later. He
looked like he was in his late thirties or early forties and was
wearing a striped orange and purple short sleeve shirt. The
stripes were small at about 1/4 inch thick. He was also wearing
long pants.
I kept walking and was about 200 yards or so past the last
windsurfing shop when I caught movement out of the corner of my
left eye. I quickly turned around and was met by three Dominican
men, one of them being the man I had seen in the striped shirt
just moments before. As soon as I made I contact they were about
15 yards away and moving fast towards me. If I ran I could
possibly get in more trouble as I would have to run to the west,
away from the windsurfing shops. The guy in the striped shirt
pulled a machete out of a black sheath along his side. It was
about 15 inches long with a blade about 3 inches wide. If his
intent was to scare the hell out of me he and his buddies were
doing a good job so far. The next thing I knew one of the men
grabbed my arm and held me from behind. The third guy just stood
there looking around to see if anybody else on the beach noticed
what was going on. The guy with the machete held it up against
my neck and placed his index finger from the other hand up to his
lips motioning me not to yell. Then he slowly said, "Money". I
reached into my back pocket, grabbed my wallet and handed it to
the man with the machete. As soon as he had the wallet in his
hand they all took off running back into the brush. I had a good
chance to look into each of their eyes during the encounter.
They all had an intense fear in their eyes like they weren't
really in control of the situation and the guy with the machete
looked like he was on *** or something. I noticed his eyes
were not focusing on the same plane. I didn't smell any ***
on their breath. With that machete up against my neck I was
wondering if I was going to get killed for 180 pesos and looking
around for a possible body dumping site. Not what you would call
a pleasant walk on the beach.
As soon as the three men were out of site I ran back to the Vela
Center and jumped over the fence as the staff was still sleeping.
It was about 7:35 am. The first thing I did was look in the
mirror in the bathroom to see if I had been cut on the neck. I
wasn't sure where that machete had been last and I wasn't taking
any chances with getting some dreadful disease. When I realized
I hadn't been cut I yelled the names of the staff until they
heard me. Jim was the first to respond and then Jeff and Heidi
soon followed. They were a bit shocked and sad that it happened
to me on my last day there. Since I was short on cash to pay for
the taxi and airport tax Jim lended me 100 dollars. I said
goodbye once again and then ran back to the hotel. After paying
for my room charges I got my bags and grabbed a taxi for the
airport. Once at the airport I called American Express and
arranged for the refund of the travelers checks in Miami. I did
not contact the local police about the incident because of a lack
of time and felt they probably couldn't or wouldn't do anything
about it anyway.
For those windsurfers that are traveling alone to the Dominican
Republic I would suggest being cautious about walking on the
beach at any time there is not a sufficient crowd to deter these
muggings. This incident would not keep me from returning to
Caberete but I would take extra precautions next time.
If you do plan on going to Caberete I would highly recommend
going with Vela Highwind Centers. There is plenty of equipment
for rent for all abilities and the staff is unbeatable.
Still Alive,
David Neils