{"product_id":"2940157112059","title":"Colombia's Kidnapping Industry","description":"Colombia has been plagued by communist subver-sive movements for more than four decades. This problem was compounded by the growth of powerful drug cartels two decades ago. \u003cbr\u003eThe Colombian drug cartels came to dominate the cocaine markets worldwide and have lately branched out to the production of opium based products. \u003cbr\u003eThe cartels reacted vigorously, unconstrained by legal niceties. They are still in conflict in areas of the country where the drug barons invest in prime cattle raising land. But they have entered into an uneasy alliance in coca growing areas. \u003cbr\u003eInitially in these remote areas, the guerrillas were content to \"tax\" growth and processing but they eventually became involved in the business directly. \u003cbr\u003eThis involvement greatly increased the guerrilla groups' income. Their kidnapping activity did not diminish. As a matter of fact, kidnap victims can be held with impunity in these areas of coca growing activity.\u003cbr\u003eThe Colombian conflict is not well understood in the United States or Europe. Scholars, politicians and the general public in the developed world are subjected to the propaganda of the left which portrays the Colombian subversive movements, including their armed components, as well meaning idealists fighting for the poor.\u003cbr\u003e Although idealism and in some cases legitimate grievances gave rise to the subversive movements decades ago, today their main motivation has become simple greed. A negotiated peace settlement is thus very difficult.\u003cbr\u003e No amount of political concessions, short of handing over the government are likely to satisfy a leadership used to a huge inflow of money from drugs, kidnapping and extortion.\u003cbr\u003eThe author has based the story on extensive inter\u003cbr\u003eviews and research touching most of the actors involved in \u003cbr\u003etypical kidnapping cases. We at the Center believe that she has managed to portray the human drama as well as the weaknesses of the Colombian state that allow the \"kidnapping industry\" to prosper.\u003cbr\u003eThe success of kidnapping by the guerrillas in Colombia has inevitably produced an awareness by other criminal groups of the potential profits involved. Not only have common criminal gangs in Colombia followed suit, but kidnapping is also a growing problem in Colombia's neighbors, Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela, as well as in México. \u003cbr\u003eThe world paid much attention to kidnapping in the Middle East, but ¡s largely unaware of the extent of the problem in Latin America. Statistics, however, are cold.\u003cbr\u003eThe story of one family is a better way to have us \"feel\" the pain and disruption kidnapping produces in a community. When the subversive groups and their leftist supporters abroad talk about \"retention of people for the financing of their noble cause\", we can now know what involved is really.\u003cbr\u003eThe effect of kidnapping ¡s difficult to measure in economic terms, but undoubtedly the investment climate, both domestic and foreign is severely affected. Important executives and the very wealthy hire large squads of bodyguards for protection. \u003cbr\u003eA high cost for the economy. Small entrepreneurs, like the Mazueras, the family in the main story, cannot afford this. A kidnapping severely weakens their capital base and hardly stimulates them to continue the development \u003cbr\u003eof their businesses. This effect has acted as a brake to Colombian development.\u003cbr\u003eWhy should an internal conflict such as Colombia's worry Americans or Europeans in the post-cold war era? Is not violent communism dead? The answer to the first question ¡s: YES, there is reason to worry. The answer to the second ¡s: NO, violent communism, however debased and obsolete, is not dead. \u003cbr\u003eThe methods of Colombia's subversive movements are spreading. Subversive organizations are emerging in México, for example. Kidnapping is on the rise in that country, now part of the North American Free Trade Area, and a country that shares a long border with the US. The involvement of armed guerrillas bands with drugs make the drug trade much more difficult to suppress.","brand":"Centro de Análisis Sociopolíticos","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47158394487024,"sku":"2940157112059","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940157112059_p0.jpg?v=1764090914","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940157112059","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}