CRIME : Colombia Aims to Ransom Nation From Kidnapers’ Grip

The recording on the newscast shocked even Colombians who thought they were inured to violence after decades of civil war and drug-related murders.

“We want $8,000 to deliver [his] head,” said the voice of a guerrilla negotiating with a woman for the body of her slain son. “If you want to come up with the money, we’ll give you the instructions. If not, we dump him in a hole.”

Abduction has become the national terror in Colombia, where guerrilla armies and organized crime syndicates seize a victim nearly every six hours, on average.

Business executives here work hard to avoid kidnapers, living in virtual quarantine. They bulletproof their cars, surround themselves with bodyguards and take courses in karate, marksmanship and high-speed driving.

Potential kidnap victims race their cars through the streets of Bogota, surrounded by jeeps bristling with gunmen. Fear stokes a booming security business: Sixteen firms bulletproof cars for prices ranging from $30,000 to $70,000. Bulletproof leather jackets are the latest fad.

But that has not stopped kidnapers. Last year, 1,400 abductions, yielding ransoms of $100,000 to $5 million, made kidnaping a $150-million industry in Colombia. Thirty-five foreigners, including four Americans, are currently being held.

Now, under pressure from a besieged population, the government has declared war on kidnapers.

“Colombians cannot stand by with their arms crossed while guerrillas and common criminals kidnap our best citizens, our friends and our families,” Interior Minister Horacio Serpa said last month in a ceremony announcing new measures against abductions.

The $15-million package, currently before Congress, would include the formation of special intelligence units, rewards for informants and dramatic reductions in penalties for participants who repent and help liberate hostages.

To enforce the measures, the government has chosen a uniquely qualified anti-kidnaping czar: Alberto Villamizar, whose wife was abducted by Medellin cartel boss Pablo Escobar in 1991. She was released after Escobar negotiated his surrender to the government.

“I completely understand the suffering that the relatives of a hostage endure,” he said. “For me, the most important thing is the life of the hostage and helping the family.”

However, many Colombians say the government’s actions do not live up to its rhetoric. An estimated 96% of kidnapings go unpunished. Further, even the new measures seem weak, compared with the incentives for the kidnapings to continue.

Besides the tens of millions of dollars that organized crime receives from ransoms, two guerrilla armies with an estimated 12,000 rebels depend on abductions for half their income.

Thus, kidnaping has put a new focus on the issue of how to end Colombia’s civil war.

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Some Colombians believe that peace talks would end the war and decrease abductions. But the guerrillas’ cold-blooded ransom demands have convinced many Colombians that their government must take a harder line with the rebels.

“As long as the government does not show determination to confront kidnaping and extortion by guerrillas, this problem will not diminish,” said Jorge Visbal Martelo, the president of the Colombian Ranchers Assn. This year, guerrillas have abducted 400 ranchers, killing 42 of them.

But the scandal-plagued administration of President Ernesto Samper may not be in a position to take decisive action. He is defending himself against accusations that he knew his 1994 campaign accepted $6 million from the Cali drug cartel.

“There is not enough money to pay for the training of security forces, intelligence work and rewards for informants,” said Francisco Santos, who founded the anti-kidnaping foundation Free Country after his release by abductors, who chained him to a bed for eight months.

“I don’t see the government making as much effort as the kidnapers.”