Personal Survival: Reasons to Stay Home

Venezuela Jail - Utah Man Pleads for USA help

This is repeated too often and on that basis some advice is in order.  Just because you believe that you are a good person, that you have a cause of good on your side, and you are used to being treated humanely don't expect that if you go to an unknown culture you will find the same outcomes.  Even here in the USA you can run out of luck depending on the circumstance, but at least you have an idea of the ground rules.

Missionaries are fodder in the eyes of most foreign criminals and dictatorial governments.  I won't even go through the list of recent ones but just consider how much good you can do right in your home country before you decide to do good in some S___hole where life is cheap and your life means nothing to others.  Why put yourself through it when there are many places right at home or in your home country that can use the help.  In this case the man in jail went to meet a wife so I'll give him some understanding but in general when you go to a place where the rule of law is out the window you can expect to go out the window as well, literally.

As for anyone in the US government that can help this guy in the above article.  Instead of worrying about illegals and refugees how about lifting a finger for an American for once and get this guy out of there.