It Is Not the Same Business
Posted by tscotti on January 5, 2009
I have been in the business of protecting people from vehicle violence for over 35 years. The tactics used in the act of kidnapping or assassinating as written by Carlos Marighella’s in his book; The Mini-manual of the Urban Guerrilla (a must read for anyone in the security business) has not changed all that much. His book written over 40 years ago is the blueprint used by most modern day terrorist including Al Qaida. But the business of kidnapping has changed.
As the CEO of VDI, Joe Autera, has pointed out “the Batista kidnapping along with the Fernando Marti incident earlier this summer and the just announced recovery of Silvia Vargas’ body, point to a dramatic shift in the kidnap for ransom paradigm that has endured in Latin America over the years…more and more, it is NOT simply a business transaction that follows a predictable path to resolution.” In the past, the norm was that family was off limits. If you paid the ransom you got back the victim. If you were the negotiator you were their pipeline to the cash simply a businessman, and it was nothing personal, just business. They would not mess with you.
What is happening Mexico is frightening, we need to re think how we do what we do.
