Argentina Economic Collapse Leads to "Express Kidnaps"

by Marcela Valente

The new form of kidnapping takes little planning, and the victims are held for just a few hours by thieves seeking relatively small sums. Police say the "express kidnaps," as they are known here, have become the most popular form of extortion this year.

A common thread is the violence employed by the kidnappers.

Between 120 and 200 express kidnaps have been carried out since January, according to various sources, although experts say many more cases are never reported.

But according to another estimate, an average of seven to 10 such abductions are committed daily in this country of 36 million, which is in the midst of its worst economic and political crisis ever, with a quarter of the population unemployed and over half living in poverty.

Many Argentines now prefer to keep their savings at home, instead of depositing them in a banking system that they no longer trust due to the restrictions on cash withdrawals put in place in December to curb a run on banks.

Companies that install safes or strongboxes in homes and offices report that demand for their services has climbed 45 percent so far this year, with respect to 2001.

The number of "classic" kidnappings, in which the victims are held while the kidnappers demand hefty ransom payments, has also increased.

"Now that people are not carrying cash around, and are unable to extract large sums of money from the banks with credit or cash cards (due to the restrictions on withdrawals), thieves have turned to other techniques, including ransom and express kidnappings," said the head of the Federal Police division of complex crimes, Carlos Sablich.

Muggers, drawn by the possibility of greater amounts of money, are now seizing victims and demanding that their families hand over whatever they have stashed away at home, said the police superintendent of the province of Buenos Aires, Alberto Sobrado.

The phenomenon has not yet reached the levels seen in Brazil, Colombia or Mexico, the countries that lead the region -- and the world -- in kidnappings. But police in Argentina warn that the situation is getting worse.

This year 10 kidnappings for large ransoms were reported, compared to four in 2000 and five in 2001. However, express kidnaps should not be lumped together with the traditional kind, said Sablich.

Although the number of ransom kidnappings rose 50 percent, the number is still a far cry from the 3,000 a year registered in Colombia, or the 500 reported in Brazil last year.

Last month, armed robbers accosted a 23-year-old man in his car, and forced him to drive them to his house, where they demanded that his father give them all of the family's cash.

After the father handed over the equivalent of $300, the kidnappers left, promising to release the young man. But just a few blocks away, they shot him in the back and killed him.

The case outraged the public and led authorities to set up a Professional Anti-Kidnap task force this month, made up of agents specially trained in combatting kidnapping, as well as doctors, psychologists, engineers and computer experts.

The task force has air transport at the ready and uses special technology for tracing phone calls. The day after it was created, at least six kidnaps were carried out, that lasted from a few hours to overnight.

Reports of kidnappings have kept people on the alert for months. But the news of a victim who was killed even after the ransom was paid unleashed a wave of terror among Argentines, who do not know how to defend themselves from this new threat that targets people from all walks of life.

Demand is on the rise for services like the reinforcement of vehicles, shooting classes, and workshops in schools and companies that give advice on avoiding kidnaps or on how to escape in one's car when a trap has been set up.

Since January, demand for the armoring of cars has soared 50 percent.

Although the kidnappings are concentrated in the greater Buenos Aires area, cases have begun to crop up in rural areas. The governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Felipe Sol‡, confirmed that there have been several violent robberies on country estates and ranches.

"An employee of a real estate office or a neighbor might by chance comment on a sale of land or grains by a rural landholding family, and since everyone knows people are afraid to deposit their money in the banks, robberies are beginning to occur on the country estates," said Sol‡.

In June, in the Buenos Aires suburb of Pergamino, a veterinarian who resisted was killed by a shot to the neck, and the thieves made away with $25,000 in U.S. currency, 50,000 pesos (equivalent to $14,300) and jewelry -- assets that would normally have been held in a bank were it not for the freeze on accounts and resultant loss of confidence in the financial system.

Experts say the kidnappings are more violent due to the inexperience of the perpetrators.

In the past few months, police have arrested several gang members who carried out well-planned classic ransom kidnappings after carefully gathering information on the victims.

The groups had the resources, experience and infrastructure to hold their victims and demand large ransoms, unlike the petty thieves who stage express kidnaps.

"They are very young," said Sobrado. "They have no experience, and are often in an altered state of mind from drugs. They react with disproportionate violence for no reason, and they sometimes break the basic rule of kidnapping, which is to release the victim once the ransom is paid."

The victims are taken by surprise at gunpoint, generally as they are sitting in their cars at a stoplight or outside their homes. They are told to call their families and ask them to pay ransom.

The preferred victims are young women on their way out of shopping centers, or men who have stopped at a gas station, are sitting at a stoplight or have just arrived home, as in the case of military officer Jorge Morena.

Morena was held by his kidnappers for several hours. Despite the fact that they received the money they demanded, they fired several shots into his foot, leaving it severely damaged.

Police recommend that people avoid ostentatious clothing and flashy cars, and that they vary their routines, driving different routes, and leaving and arriving home at different times.

However, the express kidnappers do not target the wealthy, who tend to live under heavy security. Instead, they go after employees, professionals and even laborers.