The violence of Mexican drug cartels dominates the headlines these days, after the bodies of 12 federal officers were found following tortured and murdered in Michoacan State on Monday. But as kidnappings and murders persist, the question marks remain around the fate of Felix Batista, the anti-kidnapping expert kidnapped late last year. Despite having nary a clue about his abductors or whereabouts, the Mexican authorities have not declared Batista dead yet. The results of DNA tests on the remains of bodies found in Arteaga – which may include those of Batista’s – are slated to be released early next week.
Earlier this month, another anti-kidnapping activist was tortured and murdered along with his brother-in-law. Benjamin Le Baron was an American who had been vocal against Mexican crime in Chihuahua after the abduction of his younger brother. Authorities say he was seized from his home by men in Mexican military uniforms and his body found some 50km away.
The first female to be taken hostage by Somali pirates was seized aboard a Turkish ship. The 24-year-old Aysun Akbay was a 4th officer, and allegedly on her first voyage abroad, when her ship the Horizon 1 was captured last week en route to Jordan.
Two French security advisers are the latest kidnap victims in Somalia, after being taken by gunmen from their hotel. The two entered the country registered as journalists but in actuality had been training Somali forces.
Werner Greiner, a Swiss national abducted in Niger six months ago, was freed over the weekend and has returned home. The Malian president, where Greiner was taken by his Al Qaeda kidnappers, has denied paying a ransom for his release.
Eugenio Vagni, the last of three Red Cross aid workers to be held hostage in the southern Philippines since January, has been freed following mediation by local politicians. Vagni was taken to a military base and later flown to Manila; his current state of health is said to be weak. Authorities claim neither they nor the Italian government paid the Abu Sayyaf Group a ransom, but there was an agreement to release two relatives of an Abu Sayyaf leader in exchange for his freedom. Red Cross officials thanked local authorities who worked tirelessly to secure the release of Vagni and earlier, his fellow hostages Mary Jean Lacaba and Andreas Notter.
The Colombian President has finally given authorisation for Senator Piedad Córdoba to help mediate the release of FARC hostages, but only if 24 kidnapped soldiers and police are freed at the same time, and the bodies of three hostages who died in captivity are released as well. FARC had stated earlier this year that it would free Pablo Moncayo – who has spent more than 11 years in their hands – if Córdoba played a role in the handover, which the government rejected. The relatives of hostages greeted the decision as a positive move, or “a ray of hope” as Moncayo’s father put it. But other members of the opposition parties see Uribe’s decision as a smokescreen to cover up for various failings of the government on other issues.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has struck again, seizing another oil vessel off the coast of Nigeria. Among the captured crew are two Russians, a Ukrainian, an Indian and two Filipinos. The Nigerian military moved swiftly to recover the vessel today but the six crew continue to be held hostage by the militants. MEND (pictured) has stepped up attacks recently, claiming to have sabotaged Shell and Agip oil pipelines in the region, as it seeks control over the energy revenues.
Also in Nigeria gunmen abducted an elderly grandmother from her home – a surprise move given the federal government’s offer of amnesty to militants in the Niger Delta in an appeal for peace.
An Irish aid worker and her Ugandan colleague were abducted over the weekend in Darfur, the third group of foreigners to be kidnapped in the region this year. Officials and diplomats representing the governments of Ireland and Uganda have stated that they do not have any indication yet which group has seized the two women, who were named as Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki. Both women work for the Irish aid agency GOAL. A Sudanese guard abducted with them was later freed. A delegation of hostage negotiators are said to be in the Sudanese capital trying to secure their release. GOAL has as many as 1,600 workers in the Sudan, though it has removed many from the Darfur region pending the outcome of this crisis.
–American forces are searching for a Marine thought to have been kidnapped by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan. The soldier’s name has not been released, but it is the first such incident since American troops began operations in the country in late 2001.
Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who marked his third anniversary in Hamas captivity this past week, was made an honorary citizen of Rome today by Mayor Gianni Alemanno. Shalit’s parents were in the Italian capital to receive the award.
While recent news reports allege that there has been significant progress made toward securing Shalit’s release, a Hamas official told reporters today that the Israeli authorities were stalling as they reviewed, once again, the names of Palestinian prisoners who they’d already agreed to release in exchange for the Israeli soldier.
In Rome, meanwhile, Shalit’s father acknowledged pain on both sides when he stated that “the Palestinian people are also hostages to the Israeli state’s embargo since my son was kidnapped. We are asking for Gilad’s liberation as well as for the liberation of Palestinians.”
China has had the dubious distinction of doing business with actors and countries not known to be very nice to their people – think Sudan, Robert Mugabe, etc. Now a former FARC hostage is claiming that a Chinese multinational firm bribed FARC to allow its geophysicists to search for oil deposits in FARC-controlled territory. Oscar Lizcano, who was freed with the aide of a FARC deserter late last year after eight years in captivity, made the allegations in his new memoir Years in Silence.
There’s been a lot of back-and-forth this week about the role of publicity in helping or hurting the case of a kidnap victim. When David Rohde (pictured above interviewing the Taliban, photo: Reuters) escaped from the Taliban and waltzed into the spotlight last weekend, many supported the prevailing media blackout that his employer, the New York Times, has requested regarding the case. There has been quite a bit of speculation that the Times may have even kept mum because it was attempting to blackmail or bribe the Taliban kidnappers.
The press had some interesting comments about the matter this week. The Christian Science Monitor has highlighted the fact that there are no fast and steady rules about such strategies on the part of the press. At Canada’s National Post, one columnist suggests there are double standards in place about media blackouts on current hostage crises. And over at National Public Radio, a journalism ethics professor expressed worry about how much else the press was withholding. Finally, former hostage Colin Freeman weighs in with the thought that information blackouts may be necessary to protect hostages from becoming even hotter commodities.
Posted by radiocaptivity 
Posted by radiocaptivity 
Posted by radiocaptivity 
