Gangs hold Venezuela to ransom

CARACAS - A wave of kidnappings across Venezuela is spreading fear and anger among communities who say that criminal gangs are out of control.

Hundreds of men, women and children have been swept off the streets in broad daylight and held for ransom, forcing their families to sell homes and other assets to buy their freedom.

The national assembly debated a bill last week that would make sentences of up to 30 years mandatory for kidnapping, as part of a long-promised government crackdown.

Official figures released last week recorded 166 abductions so far this year, more than one a day. Most of the kidnappings go unreported and the real figure is estimated to be up to four times higher.

"It's horrific. We have had four students abducted from the campus," said Briceida Morales, a lecturer at Santa Maria University in Barinas, the worst hit state. "People are snatched from shopping [centres]. Women, children, pensioners, it doesn't matter if you're wealthy or not."

In one incident, three men seized a 3-year-old girl from her mother at a bus stop. The mother gave up the family's most valuable possession, a refrigerator, to pay the ransom.

The plague afflicts much of Latin America, where criminal gangs have easy access to guns and little to fear from corrupt or ineffective police and courts.

Honduras came under the spotlight last week after police uncovered the body of what is thought to be the brother of the Tottenham Hotspur footballer Wilson Palacios.

Edwin Palacios, then aged 16, was abducted in October 2007. Despite a reported £125,000 ($322,500) ransom payment, he remained a captive and appears to have been murdered.

Colombia is notorious for abductions by guerrillas and paramilitary groups. Political hostages such as Ingrid Betancourt have dominated media attention, but such high-profile victims are in a minority. Most are abducted for money.

The virus hit neighbouring Venezuela about a decade ago when armed groups started seizing victims - especially farmers - in remote border areas.

- OBSERVER