American anti-kidnap expert, kidapped in Mexico

[LastLion]

Oh boy , mexico is getting more dangerous these days!

http://www.reuters.com/article/domes...4BE52Y20081215

U.S. anti-kidnap expert kidnapped in Mexico

Mon Dec 15, 2008 2:47pm EST


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MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican gunmen have kidnapped a U.S. security consultant who negotiated the release of dozens of kidnap victims in Latin America.
Gunmen abducted Felix Batista outside a restaurant last Wednesday in the relatively safe northern industrial city of Saltillo in Coahuila state, Mexican authorities and his employer, security consultancy ASI Global, said on Monday.
Batista, a Miami-based Cuban American credited with negotiating the release of victims abducted by Colombian rebels, was snatched after he stepped outside the restaurant, answering a call on his cellular phone, Mexican media said.
The U.S. embassy in Mexico City said it was investigating and declined to comment further.
"He may have been targeted by organized crime in an attempt to show their power. Saltillo is not a kidnapping hot spot," said a source at Coahuila state attorney general's office.
Batista's employer, Houston-based ASI Global, denied Mexican media reports that he was a former FBI agent and said he was on a private trip in Coahuila state near Texas, giving seminars on security.
"We have requested help from the FBI and the Mexican authorities," said ASI Global's President Charlie LeBlanc.
Hundreds of people are kidnapped in Mexico every year and the number of victims has increased sharply as drug gangs, under pressure from President Felipe Calderon's army-backed crackdown, seek new revenues to fund their operations.
Coahuila lawmakers last week sent a bill to Mexico's Congress to change the constitution to allow the death penalty for kidnappers who kill their captives.
More than 5,300 people have been killed in drug violence across Mexico this year as cartels fight each other over smuggling routes to the United States and clash with Mexican security forces seeking to restore security.

[BIG E]

That is crazy! Saltillo is SO safe! I have a good friend from college that lives there and I have been many times. I just dont get it. That city is so safe.

Then again, small town America has violence that occurs at random times too. I guess you can never be safe 100% of the time anywhere in this world!

[LastLion]

Originally Posted by Big E

That is crazy! Saltillo is SO safe! I have a good friend from college that lives there and I have been many times. I just dont get it. That city is so safe.

Then again, small town America has violence that occurs at random times too. I guess you can never be safe 100% of the time anywhere in this world!

I am thinking they kidnapped him just to send the message, that they can do wat they want.
That is what makes me sick about these mexican and all round with the latin narcotraficers is that they think they are invinsible.

The people of mexico are starting to want the death penalty for those that kidnap and kill their kidnappeess! I would say do it!! Kill them that kill others! Just my 2 cents..... Especially masterminded murders like those!

[BIG E]

Originally Posted by LastLion

The people of mexico are starting to want the death penalty for those that kidnap and kill their kidnappeess! I would say do it!! Kill them that kill others!

I agree with you.

If the victims come from wealthy families, it is still possible for the families to pay for their own justice. Im not saying its right or wrong, but they do it.

[Airto]

This guy must have been watched for some time then abducted to make a statement or they want him to do something for them.

[Sailover]

On a recent trip through Mexico along the Gulf, the security seemed lax at Tampico airport, but increased the further south we got. At Villa Hermosa there were a number of private copters and quite a bit of armed presence. I have heard that the very wealthy Mexicans are like those in Sao Paulo, Brasil. They have a fleet of private aircraft to get themselves and their families around. And their families often live in the US or Panama and papi commutes each week. (that is a caravan you do NOT want to interrupt.)

[LastLion]

A little more info onthe kidnapped , kidnapping negotiator!
]


e A01
SALTILLO, Mexico -- They ordered the goat. That's what the kitchen is famous for at the upscale La Principal restaurant in Saltillo, a prosperous manufacturing city in the high desert of northern Mexico. And so it was only natural that Felix Batista, an American expert in corporate security, and his new friends decided to get it. But Batista never finished his meal.

Instead, after a series of quick cellphone calls and whispered conversations, Batista excused himself from the table. On his way out, he gave the well-heeled businessmen he was meeting with his laptop, shoulder bag and a contact.

"If I'm not back," he told his companions, according to one of them, "call these numbers."

The 55-year-old Miami resident, who has successfully negotiated the release of hundreds of kidnapping victims in Latin America, then willingly got into an SUV that had pulled to the curb, according to investigators who have a security camera image capturing that moment on the evening of Dec. 10.

Batista has not been heard from since.


the rest of the article;

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...=moreheadlines