Kidnapping Business Booming In Colombia

by Yadira Ferrer

From January to September 2,462 kidnappings were reported, 9.2 percent more than in the same period last year, according to the Pais Libre (Free Country) foundation and non-governmental organizations that have recommended the creation of an international tribunal to try those accused of human rights violations in Colombia.

Pais Libre, which provides support to kidnapping victims and their families, said ransom was demanded in 1,067 of the cases, while 246 were politically motivated. The motives behind the rest of the cases were unknown.

Colombia is the world's leader in kidnappings.

Insurgent and paramilitary groups are cited by the Pais Libre report as the perpetrators of most of the kidnappings, a practice the groups resort to for financing and to exercise political pressure on the authorities.

According to the report, the latest victims to die in captivity were Carlos Garcia, Alejandro Henao and Dr. Alberto Nasiff, all of whom were kidnapped by the National Liberation Army (ELN), the second-largest rebel organization in Colombia.

Nasiff was abandoned by the guerrillas near Cali and died of an infection in a wounded testicle. Henao died of an infection from a wound in his leg, and Garcia suffered a heart attack.

The captors had subjected the group of 21 hostages, including the three men, to long hikes to avoid detection by the military.

When the remaining 18 victims were released today, the government's high commissioner for peace, Camilo Lopez, declared that "it is possible to say" that conversations towards peace talks with the ELN have begun.

The 21 victims formed part of an original group of around 40 people kidnapped from three restaurants near Cali by the ELN's Jose Maria Becerra commando -- the same commando that kidnapped 60 people in a church in that city in 1999 to press the government to agree to peace talks.

The dialogue with the ELN has not yet begun because the government failed to authorize the withdrawal of security forces from an area in northwestern Colombia to pave the way for a "national convention" in which the rebels and representatives of civil society would hash out an agenda for peace talks.

Meanwhile, the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) is holding legislators Antonio Guerra, Zulema Jattin, Manuel Lopez and An’bal Monterrosa.

The paramilitary umbrella kidnapped the lawmakers to pressure authorities not to approve a law that would permit a swap of imprisoned guerrillas for soldiers and police held captive by the biggest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

FARC and the ELN also use kidnapping as a means of obtaining funds, according to government security agencies.

Pais Libre reported that since January, the ELN kidnapped 666 people, the FARC 625, and the Popular Army of the People and other minor rebel groups a combined total of 246. AUC is accused of kidnapping 167 people and common criminals are blamed for 257 kidnappings. The motive was unknown in the remaining 501 cases.

Eduardo Delgadillo, author of the study "Kidnapping in Colombia," told IPS that the number of kidnappings at the hands of common criminals increased due to the fact that unemployment has climbed to 20 percent, poverty affects 45 percent of the population of 40 million, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the violence from rural areas to the cities, and the prison system is a wreck.

Kidnapping is one of the most worst human rights violations, said Camilo Gonzalez, coordinator of the Mandate for Peace movement which in 1998 led a call by 10 million Colombians for an end to all forms of violence in this civil war-torn country.

The movement has called for the creation of an international tribunal made up of renowned international figures to investigate and morally sanction kidnapping and other abuses committed by the parties involved in the civil war.