Introduction
The increase in terrorism, sabotage, disruption and theft has attracted attention of security from the business and industrial sectors. In fact, in the modern history, there is no other time the sectors have been concerned with security issues like the current days. The reason being the increase in crime in most parts of the world especially after the 9/11 incident in the United States.
In addition, most multinational organizations have turned their attention to the security issues of their employees who travel to different countries due to the political instability, climatic changes that affect their travel and the threat levels from terrorism perpetrators on foreigners. The security levels and strategies used by the organizations aim at discovering the security holes and the improvement or changes required to limit or prevent the exposure to such issues.
To carry a qualitative research of the security issues, an organization require a team of professionals referred to as security consultants. The team observes, inspects, interviews and investigates the current risk and security issues that it further documents with recommendations of the appropriate measures to be taken.
The organization has to adhere to the report given by the team and ensure that the employees who travel to the country adhere to the control measures issued by the security consultant team. In addition, the team may issue recommendations for some places as no go zone depending on the level of insecurity at the place.
This paper gives a risk assessment by a security consultant of Caspian Construction PLC on the risks associated with their UK staff travelling to and residing in Caracas, Venezuela during a contract period. The paper gives an assessment on travel advice of the current political situation in Venezuela, nature and risk of crime, threat level from terrorism and the general risks to travellers.
Assessment
Political assessment: Venezuela is federal republic with a president as the head of the government and the chief of state. Since its discovery, the nation has experienced a long period of political instability. This occurred recurrently in both 19th and 20th centuries. The cause of this political instability was due to the effects of dictatorial rule that called for revolutionary turbulence. Before 1958, the president who had great influence of the army headed the country leadership.
However, after 1958 the country had a transformation of leadership with the military withdrawing itself from direct involvement in national politics. The country then turned to tradition civilian elected government that ruled the country until 1989. At this period (1958-1989), Venezuela experienced a prevailing political calmness that ended in 1989.
The country started experiencing political instabilities that were characterized by riots, which lead to death of over 200 people in Caracas. The riots opposed the economic austerity programs championed by President Perez. In 1992, the military organized two unsuccessful coups in February and December in attempt to overthrow President Perez. In response to the coups, the military asserted that the political system used by President Perez no longer had the interest of the people.
In 1993, the congress impeached Perez for corruptions, which lead to further political instabilities. In December 1998, Chavez was elected as the president with Venezuela citizens being optimistic of the change in political system depending on his promises about constitutional reforms and corruption crackdown. However, the political instability recurred in 2001 after the labour and business organizations were dissatisfied with Chavez authoritative form of governance.
In April 2002, the situation became worse as the massive anti-Chavez demonstration took place in Caracas that resulted to death of 12 people. In addition, the military and business organizations organized a couple that forced Chavez out of power. However, with the help of his supporters and Latin America government, Chavez returned to power after two days. In 2003, several strikes were held in attempt to force Chavez out of power without success. The tension continued in Venezuela with various attempts to overthrow Chavez every year.
Although the current situation in Venezuela is calm, the history of Venezuela politics as introduced above has been full of political mayhem. The advice to the UK staff travelling to and residing in Caracas Venezuela would be that they should expect changes in the political environment.
In addition, according to Venezuela travel issued by the ministry of foreign affairs they had alerted foreigner about the current protest matches that turned from peaceful demonstrations to violent with little or no warning. This is evident from the background indicated in this paper. In the background, Venezuela experienced periods of stable political environment that erupted to political mayhem. This shows a political environment that cannot be forecasted.
It is important for the UK staff to note that, the political trends in Venezuela might change everyday. The staff should hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. This is even more risky as Venezuela approaches election period in January this year. The staff should delay so that Venezuela election can take place as they watch the political atmosphere. This would help in reducing the risks involved during their travel to Caracas.
Nature and risk of crime assessment: With the trend of political instabilities in Venezuela, it is evident that the nature of crime in the country is developed. The nature and risks of crime in Venezuela include kidnapping, drug trafficking, theft, street crime and carjacking. The staff should therefore be aware of drug trafficking practices that are perpetrated by large organized groups across Venezuela. They should take caution during their travel and interactions not to fall into the hands of these groups.
The staff should understand that armed street crimes in Venezuelan towns and Caracas in particular are very high. I would advise the staffs to avoid carrying large amount of money or valuable goods that would attract the crime perpetrators. In addition, rate of kidnapping in Venezuela is very high. The UK staff travelling to and residing in Caracas should ensure that they use the right entry points to and from any part of the country to reduce the risks of being kidnapped.
Further, I would advise the staff to travel in groups to reduce the risks associated with kidnapping. On car bombing, the advice to the staff is to use well checked cars provided by the hotels or a reputable tour company organized by the Caspian Construction. The staff should avoid use of bogus taxi operators especially those that operate at Caracas International Airport.
The level of terrorism threat assessment: The level of terrorism threats in Venezuela is high. The terrorists in Venezuela are associated with indiscriminate attacks that target government buildings, public transport, embassies, public places and other places frequently visited by foreigners.
The classes of terrorism attacks in Venezuela include suicide operations, bombings, shootings, hijackings and kidnapping, attacks on commercial aircrafts and use of chemical, and use of nuclear materials.
The advice to the staffs is to regularly check the travel advices while travelling to and residing in Caracas, be vigilant in areas that attract most foreigners such as target points for the terrorism perpetrators, be informed by watching and reading news about Venezuela, register with the British Embassy in Venezuela and report anything suspicious.
Further, the staff should ensure that they avoid routines that would expose them to any target. For instance, they should ensure that they change their time and routes of their regular journeys.
The general risks for travellers’ assessment: On the general risks, Venezuela is currently receiving heavy rains. The staff should therefore seek local advice before travelling to areas experiencing heavy down pours to understand their terrains. Venezuela also experience volcano activities and the staff are advised to avoid travels to Volcano hills.
I also advice the staff that if they have to travel to the volcano areas, they should pay attention to all warnings issued by the local authorities and strictly adhere to them in order to reduce the risks. There are frequent earthquakes at Venezuela and the staff should follow the information from the media as well as instructions from local authorities.
On health, malaria, yellow fever and Dengue fever are common in Venezuela. The advice to the staff is that they should take appropriate vaccinations up to the time they will be in Venezuela. In addition, in their stay in Venezuela the staff should ensure that they have frequent medical checkups to be physically fit.
When travelling, it is important for the staff to have insurance cover. Travel insurance is meant to cater for any risk during their travel to Venezuela and back to United Kingdom. On the other hand, the medical insurance caters for all medical expenses incurred while in Venezuela. The staff should also register with the British Embassy in Venezuela so that the British consular and crisis staff can offer better assistance to them in case of an emergency.
The staff should further ensure they have the Venezuelan Visa, passport, copy of data page and other identification documents at all times in Venezuela. This makes identification easier in times of emergencies. Finally, they should avoid the risk of economic inflations, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations and other economic related risks, the staffs should have enough money in their banks to cater for all their expenses while in Venezuela.
Preventative measures
After evaluation of the risks, the security consultant comes up with recommendations aimed at preventing, reducing or eliminating the outcomes associated with these risks. The first and most common recommendation would be registering of the staff at the British embassy in Venezuela.
This helps the embassy to know the number of people from the United Kingdom residing in Venezuela as well as updating their citizen statistics. The statistics give the residential place, the kind operations being carried out by the staff and their status from time to time. The update of the statistics help the embassy to answer questions that may arise in case of any emergency as well as ensuring that their citizens have the right assistance in case of any problem.
To ensure that the staff register with the embassy, as a security consultant I shall follow the registration procedures to the later to ensure that the embassy know their existence in Venezuela. The other recommendation is ensuring that the staffs have all the required documentation to allow them to reside in Venezuela.
They should have Venezuelan visa, their passport, a copy of data page and other important identification documents before they leave for Venezuela. When travelling, it is important for the staff to have insurance cover. To ensure that this recommendation is implemented and adhered to, I should receive a copy of all the documents one week before the time of their departure.
his would help in identifying the missing documents, check the validity of the documents and ensure that all the documents meet the required specifications by the Venezuelan government. Further, I should ensure that all the staff travelling to Caracas meets the entry requirement such as the yellow fever, malaria, and Dengue fever vaccination certificates and the custom regulation on departure. This will help in elimination of risks associated with the staff being referred back to the United Kingdom.
On political risks, I would recommend that the staff should travel to Venezuela after the presidential elections to avoid the risks associated with election violence. The staff should then travel to Venezuela after the release of the election results and after a clear observation of the outcome of the election and the political stability in Venezuela. In case of the political instability, the staff should abandon their travel to Venezuela until the country is politically stable.
To ensure that these recommendations are implanted I shall ensure that I know the names of the staff who meet the requirements to relocate to Caracas. This will help in ensuring that none of them leaves for Caracas illegally. I would further work in collaboration with the ministry of immigration and foreign affairs to ensure that none of the staff leaves for Caracas without my consent.
In addition, we shall make an agreement with the company that the travel of the staff to Caracas should take place after my recommendations and on my approval of their travel. Further, on political risks while in Venezuela, the staff should be vigilant to demonstration sites to secure themselves from the risks associated with violent demonstration. They should pay attention to every happening especially in areas that are crowded.
To ensure that they adhere to this recommendation, the staff should choose a leader who will act as their director in times of demonstrations. The leader will direct the staff; give appropriate directives and commands that relate to their well-being. However, every staff should take the responsibility of directing the others to a place away from the risks.
In addition, they should ensure that they are informed of any political demonstrations that can take place in the country by watching the news and reading the newspapers. To ensure that recommendation is implemented the company should liaise with the hotel or the owner of the premises that the staff will be using to ensure that they have enough media sources to keep them informed of the activities happening in Venezuela.
On terrorism, my recommendations are that the staff should be vigilant from terrorist targets places, check on travel advices from the local authorities as well as checking the British travel advice email alerts regularly. They should also report suspicious incidences to the police and watch news as well as reading the newspapers about the happenings in Venezuela.
To ensure that these recommendations are adhered to and implemented, in collaboration with the company management, we shall be communicating with the staff in Venezuela to carry out random staff interviews on the things happening in Venezuela. Lack of enough information as per the security issues is our concern and depending on my security research, it will have repercussion on the staff as the company agreement will stipulate.
This will help to raise the level of the staff alertness to issues on terrorism threats. In addition, the security team will ensure that the staffs have access to various sources of media as indicated earlier in the paper. Further, I would recommend that the staff should be altering the times and routes of travel regularly to avoid the ease of their target by the terrorists. In attempt of the terrorists to commit any terror, they usually target people using the information on their time and route of travel.
To ensure that this recommendation is implemented, there will be no planned times and routes of staffs travel so as to ensure that the people involved in their means of travels and the terrorists may not collaborate in their attempts to target our staff. In addition, the staff will be alternating the means used to travel from one route to the next from time to time depending on the required security measures. This will ensure that their target by the terrorists is almost impossible.
Prevention of several crimes: Among the recommendations on the crimes is that the staff should avoid travelling to remote areas where they get exposed to crimes. In case the staffs have to travel to the remote areas they should seek professional security advice and arrange for their security during their visit.
The staff should travel to remote areas by air rather than using the road. The staff should enter or leave different places through the main entrances. When walking in the urban areas they should avoid display of wealth, avoid being in possession of valuable goods, and use only pre-booked means of transport. They should avoid buying foods or drinks from the streets, accepting offers of food, drinks or anything consumable from a stranger no matter how well presentable they look and finally avoid travelling or walking alone at any particular time.
The implementation of these recommendations will help in reducing the risks associated with the crimes. To ensure that these recommendations are adhered to, the company needs to hire professional and reputable touring company for the staff. The tour company and Caspian Construction should have an agreement on the places where the staff will tour during their time of stay in Venezuela.
The tour company having been exposed to the Venezuelan crime nature will offer advice to the staff as well as Caspian construction about places that are save for tour as the tour company too cannot expose its employees and vehicles to areas of high crime. Caspian Construction should also make sure they issue rules to the staff of not using any other means of transport apart from the tour company’s recommended means.
Similarly, the two companies should agree upon the air companies recommended for use by the staff. Caspian construction should delegate the mandates of arrangements on air travels within Venezuela to the tour company. This will help in ensuring that the company involved in transportation of the staff meets all the security requirements stipulated by transportation laws as it has a good knowledge of the companies involved in the industry.
In addition, Caspian Construction should ensure that it has several hotels where the staff can take their food and drinks to avoid buying them from insecure places. This will help in preventing the staff from risks associated with administering of drugs through food and drinks so that the criminals can rob the victims. Finally, the tour company should ensure that the staffs do not travel individually but rather they should go to different places as a group to avoid carjacking and kidnapping.
On the general risks, the recommendations are adherence to local authority advices on the issues pertaining to volcano activities, heavy down pours and earthquakes, and use of media source to gain the knowledge.
To ensure that the recommendations are implemented every employee should be in possession of a copy of the required measures in case of an earthquake, floods and/or volcano eruption. This will help in ensuring that apart from the advice to be issued by the local authorities in time of emergencies, the staffs have prior knowledge of the required measures in case of emergency.
Conclusion
Observations to the assessment and recommendation discussed in this paper will help Caspian Construction in preventing and eliminating risks associated with their employee due to various factors in Venezuela. However, the observation is not sufficient without the implementation of the recommendations. The company should ensure that it implements the recommendations in order to enhance security of its staff.