STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The U.S. State Department has elevated a travel advisory to Chile to a Level 2 “Exercise Increased Caution” due to crime and civil unrest in the country.

In the advisory, the State Department warns that street crimes, including muggings, pickpocketing and theft, are common in Chile, and rates of violent crime, such as assaults, homicide, carjacking and residential break-ins are increasing.

Large-scale demonstrations also periodically occur in Santiago and other cities. Such demonstrations can take place with little or no notice, and often result in disruptions to transportation, including public bus and Santiago metro services.

Staten Island lost one of its own to crime in Chile in early 2023.

Eric Garvin, 38, of Stapleton, went missing while on a vacation in Santiago, Chile, and was later found shot to death.

Garvin, an attorney and avid traveler who had visited more than 40 countries, was innocently taking a photo of a building in a crime-infested area of Santiago when he was set upon by three unknown men who shot and killed him, according to his father.

Garvin traveled to the country with his friend as a multi-day layover before plans to travel to Argentina.

The father, who met with prosecutors, described seeing video footage of the moment that three men grabbed his son by the left arm, taking the young man’s iPhone and shooting him three times.

He said law-enforcement officials told him that “three men from across the street” approached his son after he took the photo, likely mistaking him to be working with police.

Two suspects were arrested in connection with Garvin’s murder several months later.

Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks (D-North Shore) sponsored the renaming of the intersection at Front Street and Navy Pier Court in Stapleton to Eric Garvin Way, while the University of Maryland Law School, and the Garvin family went on to create an endowed scholarship fund in Garvin’s honor at the university where he had obtained his a degree.