In Mexico, Kidnapping A Persistent Threat

CBS Evening News: Long Feared By The Wealthy, Rampant Kidnappings A Threat To Middle-Class As Well

(CBS)  One outgrowth of Mexico's drug wars is a disturbing rise in kidnappings. According to official estimates, 60 to 70 people are kidnapped there each month, though the actual number is probably much higher.

Mexican authorities insist they're making progress. But anyone with cash is in danger, as CBS News correspondent Seth Doane reports from Mexico City.

CBS News talked to "Gabriel," a Mexico City lawyer who did not want his face shown because he worries his money makes him a target for kidnappers.

Outside, his armed guards keep watch, while security camera video is displayed on his desk

Everyone dreams of being wealthy, but in Mexico it is becoming a liability.

"It's a terrible life," Gabriel says. "It's not life. It's not life."

Gabriel lives nearly 1,000 miles from the troubled border region, where violence between government forces and drug cartels has claimed more than 7,000 lives in 15 months.

But even here in Mexico City, if people are not touched by crime itself, they are moved by fear.

Gabriel says that many of his neighbors, business partners and clients have bodyguards too.

"It's common," he says. "If the authority don't protect us, we are going to protect [ourselves]."

Gabriel employs five bodyguards. Each one costs about $700 a month. He fears robbery and kidnapping most. Guns drawn, they trail his armored car.

"The idea of an armored car is to leave the place alive," says Jose Macouzet, sales director for Ballistic Protection, a company that armors ordinary cars.

For $30,000 to $60,000 each, the company expects to reinforce more than 200 vehicles this year. Business, Macouzet says, is booming.

"It's OK for us," he says, "but it's sad for the country."

Business is also up at the bullet-proof clothing store "Miguel Caballero," where custom-made leather and suede jackets are lined with armored plates. The store sells hundreds a year at $2,000 to $6,000 each - security for the super-rich.

No one really knows exactly how many kidnappings there are in Mexico. In many cases they're not even reported to police, But the saying here is that kidnappings are definitely "more democratic" - that it's no longer just the super-rich that are targeted.

Jose describes himself as an average, middle-class business owner who could not afford body-guards.

Six months ago kidnappers abducted him at his office and blindfolded him. They held him for 15 days.

"They knew where I live. They know that I have two kids. They know where was my office. They know the cars that I drove. They know my whole life," Jose says.

His wife negotiated his release - and recorded the chilling phone calls.

In one, a kidnapper tells her, "If you don't have a good answer for me, I'm going to beat him and start sending you his fingers."

They sold their valuables, but would not say how much ransom they paid.

Negotiating often does not work. in one recent case near Mexico City, a brazen firefight took place after police stormed a house when kidnappers refused to give up.

Still, despite the deadly headlines, authorities say they're making progress.

"The news reports focus mostly on the crime," says Mexico City prosecutor Miguel Angel Mancera. "The captures do not get the same attention."

Jose's kidnappers are still on the loose. He lives in fear - and in hiding.

"I'm kidnapped right now," he says. "I'm free, but I'm also kidnapped."

As a drug war over turf and trafficking continues to escalate, so do the jitters and an anxious nation asks: How much worse will it get?

[oftencensord]

CBS, so are kidnappings on the rise in the USA, probably in greater numbers than are in Mexico. Why has the media set out to trash Mexico's tourist industry?

Do you remember what you did to the tomato industry last year spreading sensational fear about salmonella that was not true?

The 10,000 deaths you are reporting were mostly gangs fighting over " turf" ! Were any of those people normal everyday citizens or tourists? What is there to gained by all of this mis-reporting of the facts?

Open up the Obama play book and let me in on the secret motive behind these stories.

[globalcoolin]

Mexico could ..ah huhm... relax some of it's firearms restrictions imposed on the law-abiding, and make sure organized criminals are not skimming from the industry of armoured cars, body armour and profesional body guards!
Bet they are already!
Wherever money changes hands for anything,theres a nother hand in there that must be payed to.It might buy you another day. In the payments there is poverty and in the poverty is powerlessness. The cartels punish, as the Government holds the victims still.

[calb1978]

What's sad about it is the fact that my children and I are US citizens, and we have to live in Mexico because my husband wasn't able to obtain his residency in the US because there isn't enough evidence that we NEED him with us...according to Homeland security, family unity isn't enough. Since this was ruled our family has been a victim of a kidnap attempt, and we're basically prisoners in our own home.

[mollydtt]

Kidnapping has been a major industry for Mexico for as long as anyone can remember. About 5 years ago, there was a guest article in my local newspaper from someone that had spent time in Mexico documenting many horrific kidnappings in the space of a few short weeks.
Basically, she said that the movie "Man on Fire" was pretty much the way everyone lives in Mexico. If you have a dime, the kidnappers will try to find someone in your family to abduct in order to get a ransom.

"It's just business."

[mrs_entity]

Mexico is as filthy, backwards and corrupt as the illegal criminal who come here each year. There should be massive deportations. Let them go back to their horrid life and convince THEIR government to take care of them, coddle them and fund their lives. We don't want them.
Posted by CnUHerMeNow
=========================
Speak for yourself. I enjoy having my lawn cut and house cleaned cheaply.

[longtree-2009]

mexico has an estimated population of 111,211,789 (July 2009 est.) per the CIA Factbook. wonder how many of those mexican citizens are the wealthy elite, how many are so called middle class? when traveling there, one doesn't see too many mexican citizens, if any, that appear to be wealthy or middle class. the states of CA and TX each have about 33 million population just to put mexico's population into perspective so combined populations of CA and TX is nearly that of Mexico. Mexico gets many american tourists, including american celibreties as well as high school graduating seniors, spring break students of all kinds. mexican drug cartels, as well as those from all over the world, have a great market for their products here including VP Biden's daughter, Ashley, who reportedly does lines of cocaine. american citizens hire illegals not only from mexico but from all over the world. where is the outrage against american citizens hiring illegals? where is the outrage against american citizens keeping the drug cartels in business by using their drugs from the recreational level to heavy usage? all so very interesting, i think.

[CnUHerMeNow]

Mexico is as filthy, backwards and corrupt as the illegal criminal who come here each year. There should be massive deportations. Let them go back to their horrid life and convince THEIR government to take care of them, coddle them and fund their lives. We don't want them.

[ivehadit9]

Get this. The number of tourists visiting Tijuana has dropped very significantly. Just a couple of years ago, Tijuana was the 2nd most visited city for tourism in the world, IN THE WORLD. Just 2 years ago, 39 million people used to go to Tijuana from the US/Mexico border. Now, it's down to 50 people per day. So Tijuana is closed for business, because you drive down Tijuana and you see heads on the street. You can actually see beheaded drug cartel members lying on the street. It's gotten that bad in Mexico.

[mejordelahistoria]

It's coming to us soon. Watch for it at your favority shopping mall. The Mexicanization of America wouldn't be complete without the kidnap gangs becoming part of our culture. Ain't cultural diversity great.
Posted by vancouverboo at 6:54 PM : Apr 16, 2009




yeah and also watch for the americanization of the world, where we are all fat, retarded, ignorant and stupid oh but we will all go to church, listen to a nut promise the end of the world and have guns like in afghanistan.....some future will that be, oh and don't forget, 23 million drug addicts.

[jonesjep]

I hope this story gets some media coverage. 1000 miles from the Evil American border and they still have the same issues. The problems in Mexico are Mexican problems.

[oftencensord]

I have visited Mexico many many times and can testify that the Mexican people are fun loving, hospitable, caring and god loving people. They are hard working people with a lot of dignity and deserve the utmost respect.

[vancouverboo]

It's coming to us soon. Watch for it at your favority shopping mall. The Mexicanization of America wouldn't be complete without the kidnap gangs becoming part of our culture. Ain't cultural diversity great.

[ronmh7]

Why not use napalm on the Mexican kidnappers?
Why is Mexico considered to be a developing country. They only go backwards. Each year they are worse off than the year before.
Why cant Mexicans kill their president and fix their economy, instead of raping the US economy?