CHARLOTTE — Marvin Stanley and his son signed up for a group tour to Ecuador.
“I was very excited, initially,” he told Action 9 attorney Jason Stoogenke.
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Last summer, he started keeping an eye on news coming out of that country and kept watching as they approached their departure date back in March. He was getting nervous.
“I was monitoring the situation in Ecuador in real time and, every day and every week, things just seemed to escalate,” Stanley said.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research called 2025 “Ecuador’s Deadliest Year on Record” and -- at the time -- said the country had “one of the highest homicide rates in the world.”
The U.S. State Department had issued a warning, saying, “Exercise increased caution ... due to risk of crime, terrorism, unrest, and kidnapping,” that “U.S. citizens ... have been victims of kidnapping and extortion.”
“That terrorized me, and that’s why I made the decision not to go,” he said. “It’s traumatizing. It’s traumatizing to me.”
So, Stanley says -- a few weeks before they were supposed to leave -- they decided not to go. He expected a refund but says he didn’t get one. He says he’s out about $6,000.
The company -- EF Educational Tours -- emailed Stoogenke:
The safety of our travelers is always our top priority. After closely monitoring conditions in Ecuador, EF’s Safety and Incident Response Team determined the program could proceed safely as planned. The advisories cited by the traveler were no longer current at the time of cancellation, and the itinerary was not scheduled to visit the areas affected by the incidents referenced in the complaint.
Based on ongoing review, input from local staff and partners on the ground, and EF’s established safety standards, the destination remained appropriate for student travel and the tour ultimately operated without incident.