<p>Wherever you travel, you need to have common sense. Avoid bad areas, etc.</p>
<p>That said, certain places are likely to be bad. I was in Mexico this week, working with a firm that has a fair bit of knowledge about security. They said, say away from border cities and port cities. We’ve been to numerous other places in Mexico that seem safe. However, they were commenting on a lovely town an hour from Mexico City, saying that it was impressive how lively things were at night – the folks weren’t afraid of the narcos and told us that the narcos just fight each other but don’t bother the rest of the population.</p>
<p>I travel a lot and am not an expert on any one area, but I will give you a few impressions. I haven’t been to Spain in a few years (although I’m going to Barcelona in a couple of months), but unless the dramatic economic collapse has really changed things, Spain would be safe (caveat: all cities have bad areas, etc.). Again, haven’t been there in a few years, but Panama seems pretty safe – I think you have to stay away from the Colombian border as FARC narcos/guerillas live there to escape occasional forays of the Colombian military. I think much of Nicaragua outside of Managua would be safe (Granada is particularly nice and seemed quite safe). I took my kids for a vacation. But, it is a poor country and I think there may be crime against rich-looking tourists (we never saw anything, but there are reports of crime in the beach area of San Juan del Sur). I would be wary of Guatemala and El Salvador (lots of drug related violence in the capitol, I believe), but people’s kids have gone for things in the countryside in Guatemala with no ill effects. I’d stay away from Venezuela. Unstable. Run by thugs. The government is generally anti-US. I have lots of Venezuelan friends, so it is not the people. Buenos Aires and Montevideo are big cities that seem a bit like my imagined image of Southern Europe in the 50’s. I’d guess Chile and Uruguay are generally the safest. Ecuador, according to the site hanaviolet provided, has a fair degree of security risk, which surprises me. In Peru, there are some rural areas, according to the site hanaviolet provided, that are dangerous because of remnants of the Shining Path. I’ve been to Peru three times, including Lima (not a great city with bad neighborhoods), the Andean Highlands (places like Arequipa), the ocean (Ica), … . Great country to visit. I personally really like Colombia. Really nice people who are really great at getting stuff done. (It also seems to have an extraordinary number of beautiful women, which might make it of interest to your son). I think the security issues have really diminished there – the previous government did a lot to defang the FARC-- but I assume the risk is not over. You should check.</p>
<p>hanaviolet’s suggestions about vetting the program are good. I’d suggest getting the names of kids who attended in the last couple of years. I’d ask girls rather than guys about safety, as teenage boys seem to feel invulnerable and if nothing bad happened, they might detect no risk, whereas girls are more likely to be observant of risk factors.</p>