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By Mario Gonzalez-Roman, a retired Foreign Service National Security Advisor to the United States Embassy, currently a private Security Consultant.

The bad news is that kidnappings in Mexico are on the rise. Both Mexicans and foreigners are victims, because in Mexico there are 3 common types of kidnappings. Unfortunately, children are the most targeted group. Second, tourists and middle- or upper-class Mexicans are at risk for "Kidnapping Express," and lastly wealthy Mexican businessmen are also snatched and held for large ransoms.

Kidnapping Children 

Children of middle-class or upper-class Mexicans, yet the problem does span all socio-economic levels, are too often stolen away from their families and homes. Kidnappers can work in sophisticated groups, following family members to learn routines or working with the help of hired domestic employees. This is why it is important to carefully screen all residential employees and to avoid flashy displays of wealth in public places.

The Kidnap Express 

Kidnapping express is a rapidly growing crime. People are at most risk for this trap when hailing a taxi cab from the street. Once you are inside one of these unauthorized or "pirate" taxi cabs, anything can happen, because no one knows where you are or is held accountable for your whereabouts.

The most likely outcome of the kidnapping express is your credit card or banking account will be emptied. What criminals are most after are your credit cards, cash, jewelry, cellular phones and valuables, in that order. Once they empty your accounts and physically remove your possessions, they will normally release you. One increasingly disturbing spin is that the criminals may contact your family and not release you until a hefty ransom is paid.

 Avoid this situation all together by using the authorized taxis lined up at taxi stands throughout the city. Best yet, request a secure taxi over the phone. This way your whereabouts are known by the taxi company. Also, if taking a taxi at night, call a friend to inform them of your whereabouts; also report to your friend the number of the taxi painted on the doors. 

Kidnapping for Ransom

Kidnapping for ransom of people believed to be financially affluent (not that many foreigners are targeted) is on the rise. For the most part in Mexico City these gangs are professional and very well-organized. Lately, however, common criminals are also getting into this activity on a large scale.

Kidnapping of the rich and wealthy is a fast-growing crime. It is becoming much more common now in the states of Guerrero and Veracruz, and remains a problem in Mexico City as well. Behind these kidnappings are well-organized criminal gangs. In some cases the culprits are Mexican or international radical groups that obtain obscene amounts of money, in dollars or euros, from this activity.

The wealthy Mexican worried about his protection is normally escorted by private security guards and plans his moves carefully. However, the kidnapping problem is perpetuated because drivers, guards and security personnel are very poorly paid in Mexico. The lack of a living wage for these employees only makes the temptation to be lured in as an accomplish all the more irresistible.

In case of a kidnapping, these are useful numbers:

 Mexico City Police (PGJDF): 5346-8669, 5345-5505 
Federal Preventative Police (PFP): 5481-4300, 01800-440-3690

 All calls are traced. It is against the law to report false alarms. 

A Tragic History

Due to a lack of quality police investigations or a trusted police presence, the number of kidnappings taking place in Mexico is showing no sign of decreasing. On the contrary, kidnappings are more frequently ending in tragic circumstances. In one instance a kidnapped girl was murdered, even after her father paid the negotiated ransom. The father alone engaged in a private investigation that led to the arrest of the criminals, as police officials only demonstrated ineptness in this specific case. In another case two kidnapped brothers were also murdered after ransom demands had been met. Private security negotiators collected their fees, despite the horrific circumstances. This case has outraged many people in Mexico.

Drugs and the Increase in Violence

Drugs destined for the United States are no longer making it across the border as successfully as in the past, especially after 9/11. Now, the drugs are remaining in border cities (i.e. Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, Matamoros) on a scale never previously seen. As a result narcomenudeo (street drug pushing) is now common in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Monterrey, and other large cities. The use of drugs by kidnappers is believed to be behind the increasingly violent kidnappings.

Another important factor in this problem is the lack of control of firearms, most of these coming into Mexico illegally from the United States. The combination of drugs and firearms make the kidnapping problem particularly volatile. If we add to this unemployment, economic problems, rivalries among drug cartels and corruption, it becomes apparent that Mexico has a public safety problem growing at an alarming rate.

Kidnappings are out of control in Mexico
2004 but still valid.

 By Barnard R. Thompson

 Mexico’s crime wave continues, with violent kidnappings for ransom, extortion or worse rising to tsunami levels in greater Mexico City.  And while many, in desperate hope for the safe return of kidnapped family members and loved ones meet ransom demands, time and again the victims are found dead, often with clear evidence of torture and abuse before their brutal murders.

 No longer a cottage industry targeting the privileged few, today nearly everyone, rich to middle class to those of lesser means, faces the threat of kidnapping by organized gangs or the unorganized.  Kidnapping for ransom demands are tailored to the victims, and if family or friends lag in paying even small amounts they may be sent crudely amputated body parts as a sign of worse to come.

 There are “express kidnappings,” with victims carjacked or otherwise driven (often in taxis they foolishly hail on the street as some cabdrivers work in concert with other criminals) from one bank or ATM machine to another until a victim’s credit and cash withdrawal card funds are exhausted.

 In recent weeks five more heinous murders of kidnap victims in Mexico City have pushed citizens to unprecedented levels of outrage.  As such, people are protesting the “severe national security problem,” while at the same time demanding not just protection but also for real action to be taken at all levels of government against the steady flood of crime.

 A social mobilization is growing, started to a degree via the Internet and electronic mail.  Anticrime groups and organizations are being formed; federal, state and municipal officials are being called to task; stricter laws are supposedly being drafted; and a major march and demonstration against kidnappings and violence is planned for June 27 in Mexico City.

 On June 2, the Mexico City newspaper Reforma published an interview with Diego Ricardo Canto, identified as a consultant with Kroll Inc., that touts itself as “the world’s foremost independent risk consulting company.”  One division of Kroll’s victim services is The Kidnap for Ransom Practice, that reportedly deploys “case officers” worldwide to assist clients.

 According to Canto, who referred to a Kroll study, in 2003 Mexico ranked number two in Latin America with 3,000 kidnappings, second only to Colombia where 4,000 such crimes were committed.  He added that 50 percent of all kidnappings worldwide are in Latin America.

 A representative of the Citizens Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, José Antonio Ortega Sánchez, said in the same Reforma piece that murders resulting from kidnappings have become commonplace in many areas of Mexico.  On a national basis, Ortega has also said that reported deaths from kidnappings since 1996 total 162, with the annual figures getting progressively larger.

 It should be noted that many kidnappings go unreported in Mexico.  According to studies by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, over 90 percent of kidnappings are not reported to authorities due to faithlessness in police and government officials.

 The Kroll interview, coupled with other media reports and the growing demands of civil groups, business and professional organizations, government employees, labor unions and the e-mail campaign, seem to have finally gotten the governments’ attention.

 President Vicente Fox Quesada has acknowledged the gravity of the crime situation in many areas, saying “we will not wash our hands of this problem.”  Also noting that kidnappings come under the jurisdiction of the states, he has vowed that federal authorities will work with state and local governments to coordinate anti-kidnapping efforts.

 As well, the President is calling for legislators to pass reforms to the Criminal Justice Law that are bogged down in an unproductive Congress, including amendments that will make kidnapping a federal crime.

 Still, there have also been negative — and maybe oversensitive — reactions to the recent news reports on kidnappings and kidnapping statistics.

 José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, Mexico’s Deputy Attorney General for Organized Crime, denounced the Kroll statistics as “deceiving and far from reality.”  Santiago said that 2,165 kidnappings were committed between 2000 and 2003.

 On June 11, Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha announced that a criminal investigation of private security consulting firms, that unlawfully advise families of kidnap victims not to notify police, is underway.

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