KIDNAPPING ON THE RISE IN LATIN AMERICA

   
In the last eight years, the number of kidnappings around the world has increased by 70%, reports the British insurance company Hiscox. According to Stephane Dana, former director of the French affiliate of Pinkerton, "the most realistic estimate is between 20,000 and 30,000 kidnappings every year." And, the experts note, Latin America accounts for a higher proportion of this figure than any other region of the world.

Hiscox lists Colombia, Brazil and Mexico among the countries where the risk of being abducted is greatest. In Colombia alone, 1,500 people are currently victims. (This is the official figure-the actual number is probably much higher, since many cases go unreported). These numbers become even more terrifying if one takes into account figures supplied by Fundación País Libre, a Colombian organization that works to combat kidnapping, indicating that 141 of those abducted are children.

By the end of this year, the number of kidnapping victims in Colombia is expected to reach 3,000, exceeding the record already set by the country in previous years. The number of cases rose more than 50% during the first half of 2000 compared to the same period in 1999. In the 1960s, Colombia recorded an annual average of 83 kidnapping cases. In the next decade, the average dropped to 55, but it rose to 296 in the 1980s and has since skyrocketed to more than 1000 victims per year.

The Venezuelan newspaper El Universal divides the Colombian perpetrators into different categories, including members of guerrilla groups, drug cartels, common criminals and corrupt police officers. Guerrillas of the Movimiento 19 de Abril (M-19)-which has since disbanded-were responsible for the first wave of kidnappings. Today, other guerrilla groups carry out up to 80% of all kidnappings in the country, reports the Colombian daily El Tiempo.

Widespread condemnation by human rights groups has done little to stem the tide of kidnappings. Human Rights Watch has declared that depriving civilians of their freedom in exchange for ransom "constitutes a flagrant violation of international human rights law." The group condemns the guerrillas' preference for the word "detention" instead of kidnapping as "a cynical euphemism for the arbitrary deprivation of the freedom and well-being of noncombatants."

In Colombia, kidnappers target both rich and poor. The victims have included taxi drivers, students, housewives and workers who earn less than double the minimum wage (the equivalent of $200 a month). Ransom payments have been made in the form of shipments of cement, medicine, and even watches and gold chains. In other cases involving upper-class victims, the kidnappers have held their captives for months in remote mountain or jungle regions as they negotiate a hefty price for their release.

In other countries, too, including Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela, the abduction of middle-class victims is on the rise. Such victims are usually held for a brief period and freed in exchange for ransoms as low as $2,500. In 1995, Mexico reported between 1,500 and 2,000 kidnappings of businessmen, whose ransoms ranged from $1,000 to several million dollars.

Alarming as the current figures are, all signs point to the rise of kidnapping as a lucrative form of doing business. In Colombia, kidnapping is an "industry" worth more than $500 million. The US Congress's Foreign Relations Committee estimates that 40% of the budget of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) derives from kidnapping.

As many different voices have joined in protest of this practice, some Latin American countries have taken steps to create special squads to combat kidnapping. However, more measures must be taken to protect the security of citizens in the region. A crime of this caliber requires the cooperation of the international community. The prevailing rhetoric puts human beings first in all international dealings, and what is at stake here is nothing less than human freedom and security. Continued indifference to the problem will only guarantee an increase in the number of victims.