Theft and corruption in Puerto Rico

Omg! This sounds awful! We've been thinking about moving to pr. Please tell us, What happened to you?

One story is not the whole truth, just part of the truth. Like everywhere in the world, Puerto Rico does have crime. But….

We moved to Palmas Del Mar, a gated community, and have had zero experience with crime. I lived on the upper west side NYC for many years, I never had an issue with crime, but there were areas of the city that were dangerous.

Same here in PR, if you move to a rural farm area, you will have a different experience than if you move  to a gated community, than if you move to a well off area of San Juan, versus an poorer area of San Juan. Just do your homework.

Our experience has been wonderful, the people could not be nicer or more welcoming. We love it here.

To FrogFace, I lost my wife to cancer. It is a very difficult thing to deal with. There is a saying, time heals all wounds, it was true for me. I hope it will be for you, 🙏🙏🙏

We have lived in PR for 4 yrs now. First year was in Loiza, in a gated community. Ppl were very friendly and helpful. Never had a problem w crime. 3 yrs ago we moved to Juncos. We have left our back door open, accidentally. Garage doors been left open. We live in a rural area and have never had a problem.

Five  years on the island. So many things. I just want to keep new expats from making my mistakes.
The folks here that have had no trouble are mostly townies. They live in gated places, or in town with close neighbors or a gringo bubble like Rincon. If you want to live there, you should be fine. Just be careful when you go out.
▪︎Dont leave anything valuable in your car. Windows break
▪︎watch your tires. I had my spare taken from under my truck. Cable cut.
▪︎Never let go of your cell. It is a top prize. You will never get it back. I lost two to thieves
▪︎my wife had her iphone taken from her wheelchair while she was getting chemotherapy infusion clinic in Mayaguez.
▪︎Just example. I dropped my sunglasses in Sam's, I went to customer service. I asked if someone had turned them in to lost and found?
She said "what's a lost and found?" Get my drift?
▪︎the most irritating stupid and dangerous thing is, they will stop and park their car in the middle of the mountain highway. We were nearly killed by a truck parked on a blind hill. If my wife hadn't screamed..... Time and time again they do this. Why? I dont know. Only thing I can figure is the WANT to see someone killed. ▪Be sure to pay your car annual car fees. Everyone pays $300 a year insurance sticker.. Friend of mine waited too long. Got fined $3300.00
▪︎ lines, lines, be ready to stand in line, but be advised puerto ricans actually talk to each other.  In line, in store in doc's office everywhere. Not like gringos who stay quiet. So the lines move quicker if you know spanish.
▪︎appointments. Forget it. You will get an appointment at 0830. When you get there you will find a hundred people. Yes they all had a 0830. So you may be waiting all day, and I'm not kidding. The DMV does this too. If like me,  you will get turned away after waiting all day for some chickens** reason.  Me? First my soc sec card had middle initial,  my passport middle name. Went back to soc sec off. Two weeks later took my new card to DMV. Different clerk didn't care. This kind of thing. I tried for the 5 years I was on the island to get a PR license and finally just gave up. I did get an ID though,  but had to go to th VA to get a letter saying I lived on the island. Got stopped once. Rolling stop. Cop accepted my PR ID card, or didnt care.
The only place I found appointments to be good was at the VA clinic,  and my wife's Radiation and Chemotherapy clinics.
▪︎They wanted to mail my ID to my home address. Now in the country we had roadside mailboxes, like in the US, but it would be absurd to use that mailbox around there.  We had a PO box instead which the DMV did not want. The US mail service is GOOD.

Yes, new expats. Do your homework. I see most of the expats here who have had no trouble are townies. Gated communities, close neighbors. Gringo bubbles like Rincon. Chose the place like this and you should be fine.
        But I am a farmer. We never had any trouble in Indiana, very rural, neighbors distant. Never had any trouble. Kids sneaking a swim in the ponds, picking berries. So what.
  So, we wanted to buy a retirement farm in Puerto Rio, in the mountains, rural, private same as back home.
We found the perfect place. 8 clicks up the hill from Mayaguez. 18 acres. Big house 4br 3 bath. Huge detached garage.  Farm of coffee, Avocados, mangoes, breadfruit, oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, plantains, bananas, pineapples, chicken house, drip irrigation,Goodness. Perfect!
But when we were shown by the realtor, the yard workers were there. During the two weeks we stayed below to close, the entire house and garage was stripped of windows, doors, pipes wire, appliances everything. The crops were taken too, well all the avocados and plantains. (The cash crops)
We used most of our savings on the down payment and the rest rebuilding the house. Then Erika and Maria hit and used up all our savings repairing. All we had then was our soc sec and very small retirement, so we furnished the house a month at a time. Drapes for the bedroom one month, a table the next. For 5 years.
Things got stolen by the workers. We were organic and the workers disliked cutting weeds when they could spray poison instead. small things stolen things chain saw, machetes, fruit pickers. Paint. We had cameras, alarm, German shepherd .357 magnum and 12 ga shotgun. That won't help. We called cops. No help either. They were more concerned about my beehives. Bees are a controlled insect, most killed off by spraying. Supposed to have paperwork. That's ridiculous. Ran the cops off.

  When my wife got terminal cancer, I stayed two whole weeks 24/7 with her in the hospital. Her family visited her there, but left before she went home to die.
During this hospital time the house was stripped again, all our belongings,  but they  left the windows and doors.  Just took things they could carry. including all my tools in the garage. New Power washer,  new electric generator, compound miter saw, two televisions, gas bbq and propane, 150' fencing. All mechanic and carpentry tools.
  When my wife was allowed to go home, after her iPhone was stolen, it was raining and the truck overheated. Stuck, cop tried to ticket me. Wife crying. Finally made it home. Wife beside herself. Cried for two weeks in the empty house while I tried to help her pain, until she couldn't take it anymore and died in my arms.
Learn from my stupidity. You are being watched. Beware.

For the incoming expats who have never lived on the Island, helpful info and hints: Is only my opinion from my experience and consciousness I only know the west coast and the nearby mountains. I lived there in the mountains for nearly five years and never went East beyond San Sebastian. . We had a farm 8 km up from Mayaguez. We never lived in town, but had friends in Anasco, Rincon, Caba Roho as well as Mayaguez. We did all our business chores in Mayaguez.

>   Rincon is a Gringo bubble. Retired yuppies and well-off Hippies. Surfers in season, (world class surfing up on the NW horn where the Caribbean meets the Atlantic.) Good restaurants,  shops, bars. Its mostly nice place. Uppity for western PR. We took our organic fruits, eggs and veggies to the Rincon farmers market a few times for fun.
>      There is also an old abandoned Nuclear Reactor in Rincon, also close by that, is The decommissioned Ramey Air Force Base, of the Strategic Air Command which had B-52 Bombers, Nuclear ready.

> A word about the restaurants, beware the deep fryer! It seems a lot of foods are deep fried.  Several times I ordered tostones and empanadillas,  which obviously had been put in the deep fryer several times, hard as a rock and greasy.  Once our friends treated is to a very upscale place that specialized in fish. They ordered for me, as I eyed the red snapper and It came back french fried! Overcooked, dry as a bone and tasted like everything had been cooked in the oil.  Now most of the Puerto Rican food is very yummy, just watch out of the french fryer!!
   
Hints for daily life:
>Unfortunately It is an island of theft and corruption, mostly out of desperation. 60% of the Island is on welfare and food stamps. Unemployment is the highest in The US, and cant be accurately counted, Not only are there few jobs, but there is not even a line to get in to. All this creates a culture of dishonesty.  . Yes. From the Governor on down to the beggar. You may have read the news. Personally I see this as a huge problem, one that will keep the Island in poverty forever unless things change. Almost every kind of goods has to be imported in. The island in not self-sufficient. I joked with my wife that perhaps China should buy the island. They would build factories and put everybody to work.
     In Mayaguez alone, there are are empty factories all along the coast. It has several unused harbors. The abandoned Sunkist tuna canneries alone could be retooled and hire 7,000 people.

> Keep tight hold of your things the minute you get off the plane. If you lay something down, I guarantee you will lose it.
> Cell phones are a top prize.
>Don't leave valuables in your car seat. My sister in law left her laptop and they simply broke the window glass.
>They stole my spare tire from under the truck. Simply cut the cable.
> Do not trust anyone. That sounds cynical, but its true. Grifters will charm you and pick you clean
> To show how bad it is, My wife's Iphone was stolen from her wheelchair while she was getting chemotherapy infusion in the clinic.
>Get your PR drivers license right away. Its easy to convert your state license over, but be prepared. You will need to set aside an entire day. You will be given a dmv appointment and find 300 people  had the same appointment. Have your passport, social security card and state. There are three DMV on the west coast, Mayaguez, Aguadilla and Ponce. Mayaguez is a holy Hades. You cant park, and a zillion in line. Aguadilla is also crowded, but not so much, and they are used to gringos. I never went to Ponce, so I don't know.  I let my state license expire, and I went through so much bull for months, that I finally just gave up.
>Be sure you get your car all registered  and pay the yearly $300 fee. This is mandatory. Its your insurance. You'll get a sticker. Friend of mine was late and was fined $3300.00, towed, and his plate confiscated.
> Even many of the doctors are corrupt. My wife fell and hurt her arm. She had a friend who recommended a doctor in Anasco. We went to his office. He immediately asked for our Medicare cards. Even though I have the VA, I asked why, He said "it doesn't matter".  He took down all our info, glanced at my wife's arm and said he had a "friend" who can x-ray it. OK a referral.  He then weighed ME. What? I'm not here to see you.  Then he took a quick EKG check with an antiquated machine with a paper printout.  EKG check? And then told us both to pay $20 each co-pay. By this time I had caught the drift. He had just put himself down as our primary doctor on our medicare cards, charging to medicare, my wife and ME $186.00 each, and $50 for my unneeded EKG as a "lab test".  By now I caught the drift. He was playing me for a sap. He was accustomed to patients coming in, and him padding the Medicare.  Since the folks don't have to pay anything, they don't care. Why should they?  Yes Medicare fraud is rampant. Finally, when this doctor tried to charge us $20 each co-payment I told him to kiss off.  His small office was just plain dirty.  In all fairness, all the docs offices in Mayaguez I visited esp my wife's Oncology doctors were sparkling clean, with some exceptions.
>Same corruption with food stamps.  60% of the population is on relief. Cash welfare,  EBT (food stamps), Medicaid, and Chip (Childrens health insurance program). With my own eyes, some folks using EBT dont really care how much something costs, as its not real money. I seen a lady in the market charging $2 for a banana, and folks paying it (in EBT). Also many times EBT can be used to buy everything, not just food.
>Workmen s comp is also corrupt. We hired a few farm hands. One kid had a car wreck and broke his arm. His Mom told him to go tell "that old lady" my wife,  he broke it while working on our farm, to get her to fill out a workman's comp. She wisely refused to get caught up in it. He had medicare for his arm. He didn't even work for us.  Just so happened my chain saw and fruit picking tool vanished from my shed that same day
> There was a mom and pop gas station near us. Also had groceries, beer etc. I stopped, got gas, and went to buy a few items. I noticed there were no prices. He just looked at the things and said $10. I went again and the total miraculously came out even money again. This time I asked for a recipient. He said "receipt? OK" and wrote it out on a scrap paper! I told my wife Ill wager he has the pumps rigged. He had a car wash too, .50 for five minutes. I tried it. no soap. just cold water. Ill say a good thing about him, though, he was open a few hours daily after Maria, and rationed his gas out. People lined up with gas cans for their generators, until finally his tanks were dry too.
>After Erika and 2 weeks later Maria, my wife and I were without Electricity, water, food, cell service, internet and blocked in by road landslides for six months. Fortunately on our we a had a spring water, and plenty of root crops. (all the above ground crops and fruits were blown away). But this is a chapter unto itself.  I do remember hearing on the short wave, The governor told Trump we had 15 dead on the island, when just down the hill from us 23 people were buried alive in a landslide.
Maria hit at night, so I cant imagine their terror. More on Maria later.
>I recommend the island insurance as a supplement to whatever you have.  I cant mention the name, but you can sign up in the Mayaguez mall. I can say their logo is green!
> It covered all my poor late wife's cancer expenses. Doctors, tests, medicine,hospital, radiation, chemo. everything.

Stay tuned, I have more to come!

Why don't you leave the island, if it's so bad. In the 30 -40 years I visited and now having a home there I have never heard so much negativity or experienced it.  Glad I'm on the east coast.

I don't think it's an East or West coast issue.

I was being sarcastic with the east coast. I have family  in Aguadilla  and friends and family in many of the western towns. Some who close up for months at a time and I never heard so much negativity. Yes it's not perfect but than neither are the states.

Why don't I leave the island? No where to go. 75 years old. It is our final home. All we had. Nothing in the states.  We put every cent into it.  No money to start over.  I am just sitting in the empty house with wife's ashes, staying drunk waiting for bank to foreclose.

I am only trying to get information to folks coming to live in Puerto Rico. The dark side of the island.  We never lived in town, so I don't know how it is, but I assume it is secure in the gated places, neighbors next door, or in the Gringo bubbles like Rincon and Aguadilla. I only know I went into Mayaguez after dark to a shortwave class, came out and my spare tire had been cut from under my truck, and later in Mayaguez, my wife had her Iphone taken from her wheelchair while she was getting Chemotherapy in the clinic. If you put something down in the stores, like sunglasses etc. just write them off, There is no such thing as a lost and found.

     We are not townies. Never have been. We bought a farm among the people, not a Gringo for miles.  Our farm is far from town, in the mountains, way back in, not visible from the road.  This unto itself turns into an invitation to thieves. The folks in the mountains have a network of communications. Cricket phones are cheap, and the island does have excellent cell service, provided a storm doesn't hit.  They know what the Gringo is doing. ex. we hired men to work on the farm.  Obviously they inventoried everything we had because soon we had strangers coming in, asking if they could have the coil of old copper wiring in the garage back in the corner under the workbench.  Then a stranger asked for some of our avocado seedlings. We had nurtured about 100.  We gave them a couple.  Then, sure enough, we went to town and they all disappeared. Same with our plantains. Cash crop. .50 ea to the marketers. They also would disappear right off the trees, but not until ripe.
 
  I actually caught a man stealing our plantains. I held him at gunpoint, while he told me he needed money for chicken feed (comida de gallo)  for his fighting rooster. Well I guess that's logical here. I just ran him off.
   
     We hired a man once to do some work. We paid him $20 to plant some garden veggies. He started out ok, then left. Later he came back and said he needed the money for food. He never did plant the seeds either. We felt sorry for him, and asked him to do some weed whacking up by the road. Later we went to check. He was sitting in the shade, with the weedwhacker, but the five gallon gas can was gone. "Isidrio, wheres the gas"? he explained a friend stopped in his car and needed it
" Isidrio, that's stealing!". He honestly didn't get it.  The concept of "stealing" wasn't there. He was helping a friend, the end. This is when I began to realize the culture of Grifting and stealing is a means of survival among the island poor.  We don't see these people in Rincon or Aguadilla.  Isidrio got by with welfare, EBT, medicare, and the Pentecostal church. He lived alone in an abandoned house (lots of them), but he had a Cricket and could tell us what everybody was doing for miles around!  He had an enlarged abdomen,  which I suspect was liver problems, so we asked him if he had a doctor.  He said Yes, Dr. so and so, and he said he was corrupt, do anything for a price!
     
Our farm is 18 beautiful acres, with the crops mostly hidden from view from the house. We had a Pit Bull, and still didn't help. I gave him away because he was psychotic., but that's another story. Once a Neighbor gave me a German Shepherd. Told me she was 6 years old. This dog had teeth missing, arthritis and was deaf.  Must have at least 15 years old. I took her back, no deal, so it was up to me to put her to "sleep".  far way from my wife's tears.

    I don't know why all this stealing was going on. If it was because I am a gringo or because I am old, naive, knew little Spanish or what.  On the good side, I never heard of any violent crime in our mountain area, just this darn rampant theft and grifting. .  I heard that same guy did get shot in the leg  for stealing bananas, and they try to kill people by parking their cars right in the middle of the highway, but all the violent crime seems to be in town, albeit  away from the gringo bubbles.

    I'm told one must "know his environment". So that's what i'm trying to teach here. We did not need to do this on our farm in Indiana. Well Puerto Rico ain't Indiana.  I wish someone had taught me to live here in the isolated mountains, never let your guard down, trust no one, keep tight hold of your possessions, and never, never leave your farm unguarded. If you don't you could end up like me, staying at the hospital for two weeks 24/7 with a very sick wife, to go back up to the farm where she could die, only to find the farm is gone.

My mother in law has lived back & forth between NJ & PR 6 months each for years and nothing like this ever happened to her. The house had sat empty since Maria with very sporadic visits of two weeks occasionally until we moved permanently in August last year. You do need to be careful as two blocks over someone bought, renovated & furnished a house only to have a truck backed up & everything taken that could be taken. The suspect was a day worker that was fired who stole a key and got in

It gets better, Mermaid (love your handle)

      Did the neighbors  see this theft taking place? Reason is, we were young and had a place in Texas. Nosy neighbors, right next to us. peeking out the windows. Once we were away a couple of days an the entire house was cleaned out. The nosy neighbor saw or heard nothing, even though we asked them to watch it.

Many years later, Puerto Rico! Retirement! Sold all we had. Cashed in 401, retirement, savings and buying a farm with 18 acres. big house, detached huge garage, and also a smaller cabin and shed on 11 acres below the big one. Wow!
     We went to a law firm in Mayaguez to get some papers. The lawyers ran into the back room and locked the door. They were genuinely frightened. They sent an armed guard out to us. After what I had been seeing, I guess I dont blame them.
     Then we went to the realtor,and we all went up to the mountain house . Some contractor men there said they were blowing leaves off the patio, which I thought was odd because there were no leaves fallen. Puerto Rico?
    Beautiful house. 18 acre farm. Well take it! $30,000 down. We went below to close. $880 a month mortgage. Two weeks passed, we went up with the keys to take possession.

The gate was forced open.
Garage:
All windows had security bars but
All the windows & frames gone
All the doors gone
All the copper wiring pulled out
All the metal plumbing pulled out
All the metal gutters gone

House:
All windows had security bars
All windows and frames gone
All copper wiring pulled out
All the doors gone
All metal plumbing gone, rats entering the holes
All metal gutters gone
All closet bars gone
Refrigerator gone
Cookstove gone
Washer gone
Dryer gone
Propane tanks gone
Freezer gone
Tankless water heater gone.
Kitchen table gone.
The thieves were kind enough to leave us two empty medallion beer cans and scribbled the window sizes on the walls.

Asked the neighbor. He knew nothing. Asked the other neighbors, the said they heard pounding. Well why the hell didnt you check?
Called the police. Ha ha ha.

Got the realtor. Shaved 10k off, not even close.
Since the little cabin was intact, we moved in there temp. Was supposed to be the farm workers hut, but we made do for the six months it took us to board up the big house and save for some basic repairs. The rebuilding would take a month at a time, took another three years to replace the furniture and appliances.

       It was interesting the neighbor had no job, no money. He had the usual food stamps, welfare, Medicare, and rooster fighting losses. His yard was full of trash, Junk, dogs, chickens and rats.  but somehow right after our house was stripped, he was driving a new car. Which he promptly wrecked while drunk. The leaf blowing contractors were never seen again either.. They had the big truck to load the things on.

  Finally we had the big house livable, but a long way to go. Amazing how much damage thieves can in two weeks.  Five Years of rebuilding. We let Isidrio move into the hut out of the weather.  He was a poor illegal illiterate Dominican, and was sick. We gave him what work and help we could. He was dishonest, but we let it go. By and by I hadn't seen him. Went down to check and he was lying dead on the porch.. He was a member of the Penecostal church, so I called them to come get him, and hurry, with the hot weather and all.

    Almost six years now, the house was completely furnished and beautiful. So many crops, flowers, irrigation, garage tools, everything.  Then one night my wife tells me I have to take her to the hospital, she is bleeding.
After a few days of tests, diagnosis Endometrial carcinoma stage 4. Terminal. Six months. Know what she said?  "Mark, I am so sorry I had to get sick now".
   Now here is where it gets worse.  Her brother is a medical doctor in Mayaguez. She has full medical insurance, Medicare, MMM, (great insurance) and the PR insurance (Obamacare). She is in the Mayguaez hospital for two weeks. I stay with her 24/7. Sleep beside her, and I constantly complain to the staff she is in pain. Stage 4 endometrial carcinoma is pain level 10. The most horrible pain a human can imagine, but that damned staff would not respond. One of the night aides came in to change her bloody diaper and threw it on the floor. Leaving me to clean up the bloody sheets and floor. I changed her myself after that. I did complain about that aides appearance and work. . He was wearing a smelly sweatshirt with a hoodie. Did no good to complain of course.
     Now here is the hateful part. Her brother, a practicing physician in Mayaguez, came to see her in the hospital. He goes to the nurse station. Then he comes to see me, out in the hall. He tells me the nurses are complaining his sister is a difficult patient.  "So? are you worried about your sister or your image here?". The he says "the hospital keeps them here, then sends them home to die" what about Hospice, palliative care?  "He said I'll give her some medicine."
    My wife did have family visitors from the mainland. Her daughter and 3 of 4 sisters and 1 of 3 brothers, not counting the doctor brother.  They all left before she was discharged and sent home.  All left, just when I really needed them.  Token visits.
      She was indeed discharged from the hospital and sent home alone with me,  But not before one more chemo infusion, where her iPhone was stolen from her wheelchair then on the way back up the mountain in the rain, a cop pulled me over for a headlight out. He threatened to pull my tag and tow my truck, with my wife's wheelchair in the back, and to hell with her and her cancer pain.  I told the pig, ok fine,  you can just follow me up the mountain lights and pursuit, and put her in bed then you can have me. He just wrote me a ticket and took his time doing it. Mayaguez finest.

   My wife now was home alone with me. but endometrial carcinoma pain level 10 is something you have to see to believe. I'm told it is most extreme pain a human can imagine.  Screaming in pain.  She had kidney drainage tubes in her back that had to be constantly cleaned out.  No control of bowel movement, which was extremely painful.  But the worst was her body, now no longer a human being, but a thing of skin over a skeleton. Her once shapely body was gone. Nothing. No breasts, no hips, no legs, no butt. Her entire front abdomen now resembled raw hamburger from the radiation gone bad. . She laid screaming, screaming in pain. But still said she was scared and needed a hug.

       Just a couple of nights before she died, I
Called her doctor brother about her pain. He drove up with a bottle of oxycodone, which she already had, gave her a vitamin shot and started to leave. Whoa, what about hospice. The AMA says no one should die in pain. He just left.  Seriously. I kept up my wife's care, all her many meds, baths, cooking oatmeal, changing diapers, warming her blankets, lying by her. I still had my cricket phone, but no numbers on it.  We had to wait until someone called. Poor thing. Her brother in Cali did send her an iphone but too late.

    There were two neighbor ladies who came by and gave me a little rest in the morning. And it was then they rushed upstairs to get me. My wife was threshing around a bit, tried to hug me, when he bowels let go. I knew she was dying right then. She went completely loose. I whispered in her ear I loved her, then hissed her cold forehead.
   Well well, NOW her doctor brother shows up. He takes a picture of her dead face!  He calls the ambulance. They come in with a body bag. I cannot watch. I turn around. They leave.
   The first thing Her doctor brother snatches up is her new iphone. He also snatches up all her credit cards and all the house documents. Including her will leaving everything to her  daughter.
  He tries to take pictures of MY credit cards, but I catch it.
  I am in extreme duress. Crying, out of my mind. I need time to get right again. But her brother doctor must have had a crew on standby. In less than an hour, several vehicles and people came and her brother stands up and says "this is my house now" and the crew begins to take every single possession we have and into their trucks. I asked him what's this? He says "putting in storage to sell".  I was too wretched and upset to argue.  He then took me to the bank and demanded $1000 a month mortgage, then put me on a a plane to my daughter, but not before telling me my 75 year old wife was fooling around with the handy man.
       So he ended up taking everything, Possessions, appliances ,furniture, tools and my truck.

I got a lawyer. One here and one on the island. Good luck with that. It's been 16 months now. Nothing.  This brother has a nice little playhouse there on the island, not only is he corrupt and a bogus doctor, but he has all the people of importance in his pocket.

  What would you do?  When we lived in Texas, we heard of an old Texas law that read it was legal to seek vengance on someone provided they needed it.

Where do you live? It sounds like you live in the projects or in hell. I feel terrible for you. You said you bought a farm? Do you live on it? I am from Yabucoa and hope to build a house on a piece of land i will be getting. I know that alone can be hell, but once done, i will have my own piece of paradise.  P.R. has been bad since the hurricane and the pandemic.  Hopefully it will improve for you. Wishing you the best. Ed.

This is the advice I give to my Gringo roommates-As long as you stay away from drugs, guns, and other people's (husband/wife/girlfriend) you don't have much to worry about as far as crime is concerned. Also, It has never happened and I cannot imagine a person born and RAISED in Puerto Rico walking into a church or a school and killing a bunch of people for no reason. Unfortunately, domestic violence is as prevalent as ever.