Don't be stupid

Did you know that a Consular Officer's primary role is to provide assistance to Americans in need? Most of the time I'm working on immigration and visa related issues, but if an American requires assistance, everything else stops. We may help a sick American receive medical treatment. Or a destitute traveler get an emergency loan to return to the U.S. Or, in the worst situations, return bodies to their families. (Fortunately, we haven't had to do that since I've been in Nepal.) And we also respond to cases involving Americans arrested overseas. I mention this because the other day I went on my first prison visit. If you've seen the reality television program Locked Up Abroad, you may have some idea of what these people face, especially in poor countries. I can't, of course, give any details about the specific case I responded to. But our basic role is simply to make sure the AmCit (American Citizen) is being treated properly and provided the basics (i.e. food, water). Americans often think the U.S. government can get them out. They're wrong. They are at the mercies of the local judicial system. About all we can do is tell them how the legal system in the country works and offer a list of lawyers. Of course if they are being mistreated in any way, we'll intervene through the appropriate channels. But mistreatment doesn't include sleeping on the floor, under some blankets, and without heat. Or living in a cell with a dozen other people. The moral of the story is, don't do anything dumb while traveling abroad...at least until you are out of my consular district.