Mexico - differing trends in kidnapping

For nearly a decade, kidnapping has been an endemic issue in the Mexican territory.  Though kidnapping, as a criminal activity in the region has existed for a long time, in recent times, it has undertaken specific developments influenced by the trajectory of the drug-trafficking business.  Reflecting upon the country’s previous presidency - that of Felipe Calderón - and its transition to the current (Peña Nieto) one, for instance, easily reveals a decisive shift in kidnapping activity in Mexico.

RPS invites you to read the full article http://interpointglobalblog.com/ and see the changes in the world of kidnapping in Mexico. The threat of kidnapping is still very real to its citizens.

In the 2006-2012 period, killings and kidnapping principally took place as a by-product of the outright civil war between competing drug cartels and the Mexican army.  Alongside public shootouts, executions, and mutilated bodies literally thrown on the streets, kidnappings took place at alarming rates between enemy cartels and their corresponding allies, whether they were politicians, professionals, business owners, or family members. Read the introduction below as it makes interesting reading.

Though the infamous War on drugs or the Anti-narco war emphasized by the U.S. and the Mexican government initially intensified the bloody turmoil, the Mexican military succeeded, to a certain extent, at appeasing rival cartels and calming the situation.  It did not, however, eradicate the drug-related violence.  In fact, it contributed to the intensification of a previously existing trend: profit-specific kidnapping.  The notable difference is that kidnap perpetrators were now better equipped not only with high-calibre weapons but also with armoured vehicles and explosive weaponry.

So, even though large drug cartels, after pressure from the Mexican military, broke up into smaller factions and certain territorial boundaries were, to an extent, re-drawn, opposing groups remained at odds with each other.  What took place, then, was only inevitable: an oscillating, re-shifting drug market lead to new market ventures for newly formed players. 

Drug traffickers, unable to securely rely on the drug business for profit, began to innovate their criminal practices, looking for different, faster methods of acquiring large amounts of cash in the least amount of time, via the most effective - and violent means.  After the trend of bank and ATM robberies wore down, kidnapping proved to be the crime of choice for fragmented as well as emerging drug-trafficking factions.  

Different types of kidnappings developed over time.  Drug traffickers began to kidnap not only high-ranking businessmen and their family members, visiting foreign businessmen and unaware traveling tourists, but shop owners, small-business owners, bank employees, etc.  They also began the practice of express kidnapping, which was aimed at acquiring low-amount ransoms and minimizing the risk of being caught by law enforcement. 

Simulated or virtual kidnappings are also worth mentioning.  They are false kidnappings that follow a relatively simple method of intimidation or extortion yet often prove to effective and lucrative.  As of 2013, the extortion trend has sky-rocketed precisely because the actual kidnapping threat is so apparent that victims are easily convinced that a close family member or somebody they know has been kidnapped.  Currently, virtual kidnapping is no longer exclusively practiced by drug traffickers but has moved into other kinds of criminals, who are often only dedicated to kidnapping and who have no previous drug-trafficking history. 

Kidnapping in its various forms, then, has become a widely practiced crime not only by different kinds of criminals but in different areas of the country. Though the northern part of the territory ranks highest in the kidnapping rates, central and western Mexico also significantly suffer from kidnapping.

If you are plannint to visit Mexico, please contact us on [email protected] as one of our consultants is an expert in the region.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org