Latin America's hostage industry

By SCOTT INGLIS

They came for the foreigners in the dark hours before dawn.

Four dozen heavily armed masked kidnappers arrived at the six oil camps in northern Ecuador by car, canoe and on foot, and crept up on their targets - foreign workers worth their weight in US gold.

Among the victims was a New Zealand helicopter pilot, Dennis Allen Corrin. He was among 10 foreign workers forced on to a stolen helicopter, possibly bound for a hideaway on the Colombian border.

The organised kidnapping in the El Coca region, the heart of Ecuador's oil area, on October 12, is the latest in a series of international abductions of foreigners.

Latin America is the worst region for kidnappings. Colombia, Ecuador's neighbour, rates as by far the most dangerous country in this respect, with some 3000 abductions last year. Hiscox Group, the UK insurance giant, reports 972 were kidnappings for ransom. Mexico was second, with 402 ransom kidnappings, but these were carried out mainly by criminals, rather than political rebels.

The two countries accounted for more than 80 per cent of the 7773 kidnappings of foreign workers around the world since 1992.

The last major abduction in central America was a year ago, when 12 foreigners, eight of them oil workers, were seized in the oil-rich region 100km west of the Colombian border. They were released 80 days later after a ransom of nearly $9 million was paid.

With foreigners increasingly targeted in the world's hot-spots, many companies are insuring their executives and staff against kidnapping, spawning an industry reportedly worth more than $200 million a year.

Annual premiums can cost anywhere from $5000 for a low-risk employee to $500,000 or more for $50 million-worth of cover for an executive of a high-profile firm.

A spokeswoman for Hiscox Group, Alex Gordon Shute, told the Herald that any company with staff in a dangerous region, such as Central and South America, the Philippines, parts of Africa and India, should consider cover.

These insurance policies also provide security advice and a hostage response team, which can help negotiate the release of captives.

These security experts do not negotiate directly with the kidnappers, and their role in any talks is secret.

One group, Control Risks, has worked on about 1000 kidnap cases in the past 20 years and successfully arranged the return of captives.

Hiscox refuses to discuss details, saying the whole process and clients' identities must be kept secret.

Alex Gordon Shute: "If it becomes known someone has an insurance policy behind them, they are more likely to be targets."

Erickson Air Crane, the US-based company Mr Corrin and the other men were working for, refused to say whether it would pay a ransom.

Another industry to make money from the Central American kidnappings is Hollywood.

In December, the movie Proof Of Life will be released in the US, starring Meg Ryan and New Zealander Russell Crowe. It is the story of a woman living in South America with her construction supervisor husband who is kidnapped for ransom and a hostage negotiator is brought in.

No one can say for certain who kidnapped Mr Corrin, a helicopter pilot for about 20 years, whose job with Erickson Air Crane included lifting in heavy parts of oil rigs. An adventurous man, he is described by friends as professional and level-headed.

The other victims were from the US, Chile, Argentina, France and Ecuador.

Five days after the kidnapping, the two Frenchmen managed to escape by flying the kidnappers' stolen helicopter, landing near the Andean nation's northern border with Colombia. They are being debriefed by Ecuadorean security staff.

Immediately after the kidnapping, Ecuador's Vice-President, Pedro Pinto, and the armed forces, blamed Colombia's largest left-wing guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. But FARC has denied responsibility.

Leftist rebels regularly kidnap for ransom to help finance their war against the Government and the US-backed $3.3 billion anti-drugs operation Plan Colombia.

Yesterday, Ecuador's presidential spokesman, Afredo Negrete, blamed the kidnapping on a band of criminals, probably from Ecuador, Colombia and elsewhere.

"Most likely the hostages are in Ecuador, although we cannot discard other possibilities."

So far, there has been no word or demands from the kidnappers.

Paul Buchanan, an Auckland University senior lecturer and expert in Latin American politics and government, says the region has such a bad record for kidnappings because of its political instability.

Ecuador produces 295,000 barrels of crude oil each day and a number of foreign oil companies operate inside its borders.

So do Colombian rebels and bandits. Colombia's two big anti-US, anti-Government terrorist groups, FARC and the National Liberation Army, were formed in the mid-1960s, and have long histories of kidnapping, hijacking and extortion. Between them, they are thought to have up to 20,000 members.

For them, ransom kidnapping is simply a form of income.

In this latest case - like the one last September - the kidnappers have targeted victims of many nationalities from one company.

"They may have been smart ... by taking people from several nationalities, because then you get Governments arguing about what to do - and that can lead to a ... compromise."

So far, the 3000 or so Ecuadorean troops hunting Mr Corrin's captors have had no success and it is unclear how safe he and the other hostages are. Mr Corrin's family, who have endured the agony of waiting by their phones hoping to hear that he is unharmed or has been released, have wondered if the escape of the two Frenchmen had aggravated their captors.

Dr Buchanan, who lived in Latin America for 20 years, predicts nothing will change in Colombia, or any of the other high-risk countries, so long as there is political instability - and corruption.

"The thing is, there is no effective law enforcement. The cops are as corrupt as the narcotic mobs, but less reliable."

Herald Online feature: Kidnapped in Ecuador