Is TT on global kidnapping map?

IS Trinidad and Tobago on the global kidnapping map? A daily newspaper article last week placed TT as second to Colombia in terms of kidnapping per 1,000 persons for 2002. That story was based upon information reportedly supplied by a spokesperson from New York-based risk consultancy firm, Kroll Inc, and also claimed that for 2002, there were a total of 941 kidnappings for ransom in Latin America but only 19 such abductions for North America and the Caribbean.

Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday immediately declared this was further proof of Government’s inability to deal with crime in TT.  However, following a meeting between Attorney-General Glenda Morean and Kroll executive managing director Thomas V Cash on Tuesday, Cash said his company had none of the information which that article alleged and denied knowledge of the article.  Further checks with Kroll Inc revealed the company has no proven track record in analysing worldwide kidnapping trends and National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee told  Newsday the information in the article was “bogus” because no single standard exists whereby one can accurately analyse or predict such nefarious trends. Chin Lee’s views are supported by the American State Department’s report on “Patterns of Global Terrorism 2002.” The report said while “terrorists have long used kidnapping as a tactic to extort money and to advance their political aims, there is no clear trend.” “Over the past ten years, there have been as many as 76 and as few as seven incidents of international kidnappings annually,” the report said.

The ENN Daily Intelligence Report of April 30,1997 said: “Colombia is considered to be the undisputed world champion in kidnapping” and there were at least 4,000 abductions in Colombia in 1995. Experts say kidnapping for ransom in Colombia is well organised and about 50 percent of the abductions are carried out either by the National Liberation Army (ELN) or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). ELN and FARC target “foreign employees of large corporations, especially in the petroleum industry.” However these groups have also been blamed unjustly because while many kidnappings are attributed to them, “many kidnappings are committed by common criminals who claim to belong to a guerilla group in order to provoke fear among the families of victims.” In neighbouring Brazil, there are an average of 800 kidnappings annually, particularly in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.  The former is reported to have “more kidnappings but lower ransom demands” while the reverse applies for the latter, with the main culprits appearing to be “drug traffickers and corrupt policemen.” TT’s immediate Latin American neighbour Venezuela is estimated to have 200 kidnappings per year while Guatemala has half that number of abductions with the victims reportedly being  “children of wealthy local or foreign businessmen.”

According to ENN, statistics rank Latin America “as the most dangerous area in the world in terms of kidnapping” due to factors such as “increased opportunity, weak law enforcement and the continued disparity between the poor and the wealthy.” However, does TT’s proximity to Latin America imply that kidnapping in TT is reaching epidemic proportions and the country is unsafe? The latest ratings from Air Security International (ASI), a firm which provides corporate international travellers with country security data, do not have TT appearing anywhere in the “very low, low, medium, high or very high” security threat categories. The world’s most dangerous places (in order of priority), are: Afghanistan; Algeria; Colombia; Congo; Haiti, Iraq, Nigeria, Palestinian Authority; Papua New Guinea and Tajikistan.  The world’s safest places are: Bermuda; Finland; Greenland; Iceland and Monaco.

The case of South Africa casts further doubt on the theory of a single, global kidnapping benchmark, with approximately 32 kidnapping/ransoms there from 1998 to 2002. Some kidnappings are categorised as “petty” while others appear linked to the influx of drugs and weapons trafficking in the post-apartheid era. Authorities have also expressed concern that the Access to Information Act, which obliges companies to disclose financial and other information on request, “could exacerbate the situation by highlighting targets” and make senior company executives “more vulnerable” to kidnappers. As of July 2003, South Africa was rated second to Somalia in terms of reported kidnappings for ransom on the African continent. According to Clayton Consultants vice-president (business operations) Stanton Neilsen: “Ten years ago, you could probably count on one hand the places you would avoid as a buisness or leisure traveller. Now you could count on one hand the places you would find relatively safe.” Neilsen added that while the 2000 film Proof of Life was “dramatised for Hollywood”, it was based on the real life experience of Thomas Hargrove, kidnapped in 1994 by Colombian guerillas and eventually freed by professional negotiatiors which included personnel from Clayton Consultants. The company states: “ The most common victims of kidnapping for ransom are local citizens of known substantial means or foreign business representatives who are also believed to have access to wealth.”

While there is arguably a connection between terrorism and kidnapping, the US State Department said compared to other parts of the world, the Western Hemisphere is not regarded as a “hot zone” in the war on terror, even after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The State Department said Latin American countries “have struggled with domestic sources of terrorism for decades and many still do” and the majority of countries in the Americas and the Caribbean (including TT) have adopted the Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism to combat this scourge in all its forms (including kidnapping). Chin Lee said Government is not denying there is a kidnapping problem in TT but the data needs to be properly checked out before any pronouncements could be made.  He said kidnappings in TT included “bad-on-bad” (drug-related kidnappings) and false kidnappings and if these abductions were included in the overall figures of kidnapping for ransom, the final information would be flawed. Chin Lee added that “some of the conclusions drawn are difficult to comprehend,” given the actual numbers regarding bonafide kidnappings in TT, Guyana and elsewhere in North America and the Caribbean for 2002. The Minister said Government’s plans to deal with kidnapping have been well articulated and included the Special Crime Unit which will become operational in two months. Chin Lee also stressed it was important to guard against persons “who are bent on misleading the population with “irresponsible information,” particularly with respect to crime. The latest Overseas Security Report for TT states “the overall level of kidnappings in TT is no where near that of other countries in the region” and believes moves by Government to improve the crime-fighting abilities of the law enforcement agencies and initiatives such as the TT Chamber of Commerce’s Crime Stoppers programme can take the bite out of kidnapping and crime.