Crime in Colombia - Kidnappings in Colombia, Alvarez Case (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Kidnappings in Colombia refers to the practice of kidnapping in the Republic of Colombia. This criminal practice was first introduced in modern Colombian history during the early 1970s by the guerrilla movements and, later, also by criminal groups. With the release of Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt on July 2, 2008 this practice gained worldwide notoriety. Guerrilla groups like the M-19, the FARC, ELN among others widely exploited this practice. To counter these paramilitary groups also adopted this method to intimidate adversaries. Drug cartels like the Medelln Cartel also used this practice to intimidate politicians who were trying to approve in congress an extradition treaty with the United States, and also used in drug cartel wars. Regular criminal organizations also kidnap and sell persons of interest to guerrilla groups. By July 2005, the FARC alone had an estimated 2500 kidnapped civilians, without including the number of military servicemen or government officials. The paramilitary groups were estimated to have kidnapped 500 people between 1996 and 2004. Paramilitary groups unusually asked victims for a ransom while the guerrillas use this practice to profit. Since the 1970s kidnappings in Colombia gradually increased until 2001. In the year 2000 alone the number of kidnapped people in Colombia rose to 3572. This number declined steadily in the following years, reaching 687 kidnappings in 2006.. Latest stats for 2009 (Jan.-Oct.) show the count has now fallen to 172. Despite this sizable reduction in the number of kidnappings after 2001, the number of victims continue to be one of the highest in the world. Following the guerrilla's example, criminal organizations mostly based in large cities began to practice Expr... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=12103964