Held to ransom - Kidnapping trends in Latin America

Kidnapping in Latin America is one of the most popular crimes, being carried out both by major criminal organisations and by low-level groups and targeting victims from both poor and wealthy backgrounds. While many kidnappings are carried out solely for financial profit, they can also be used for intimidation, as part of turf warfare between rival criminal groups and to take political hostages.

While this wide variety of motivations and perpetrators makes it difficult to ascertain the true number of kidnappings in Latin America, analysis of the officially reported cases indicates certain key trends. Most strikingly, the rate of kidnappings is falling in Colombia, which previously had the highest prevalence of abductions in the region. This largely reflects the government's ongoing offensive against insurgent group Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), which had been responsible for a major proportion of kidnappings.

This positive trend in Colombia is more than outweighed by an increase in kidnappings in Venezuela and Mexico, which are now vying for the position of kidnap capital of the region. In Venezuela, the combination of spillover from Colombia's civil conflict and growing political instability has contributed to an increasingly criminalised environment. Caracas and the border areas with Colombia are particularly prone to abductions. In contrast, Ecuador appears to be benefiting from the security improvements in Colombia.

In Mexico, the triangular military confrontation of drug cartels against each other and also against the military-led government security initiative has led to surging rates of violent crime. With the drug cartels increasingly moving into kidnapping as a means of retaliation and financial revenue, high levels of violence and kidnapping will continue to reflect Mexico's struggle against entrenched criminal groups.