Posted on 07/22/2005 4:46:19 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
MEXICO CITY — When kidnappers sliced off businessman Pedro Galindo's first finger, he felt pain; the second, fear.
By the time he lost his fourth, he felt full of strength — enough to now publicly display his wounds and demand the government get busy and deliver this city from fear.
"If their hands are shaking, I can lend them mine," the thick mustached and stern-voiced Galindo, 51, says as he holds up his mutilated hands, three digits snipped off the left and the pinky from the right.
Millions are watching.
Galindo, who survived his kidnapping ordeal in 2001, offers a chilling testimonial now appearing in a television spot airing nationwide, urging Mexicans to grapple with a problem that claims hundreds of victims annually.
The idea was to shock people's senses and motivate them to demand change, said María Elena Morera, president of a group called Mexico United Against Crime, which prepared the 30-second Galindo piece.
The pressure is on for authorities to take a stand against a kidnapping rate that rivals Colombia's.
Some say Mexico City's crime woes even could provide an Achilles' heel for Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who's to leave office soon to campaign in the 2006 presidential race.
There were at least 197 kidnappings reported in Mexico City last year, according to another anti-crime group, citing statistics it secured under Mexico's new open government laws.
They were not the so-called "express kidnappings" in which victims are forced at gunpoint to use bankcards to empty checking accounts.
They weren't drug traffickers imprisoning rivals, as the government suspects occurred when 43 people were discovered held in houses recently in Nuevo Laredo.
They were the for-profit kind, whose victims are held for weeks under brutal conditions as a ransom is demanded.
In another spotlight on the trend, Rubén Omar Romano, head of the prominent Mexico City-based soccer team, Cruz Azul, was snatched off the streets Tuesday afternoon as he drove from practice.
He remained missing Thursday. His team took the field in the state of Hidalgo and rival fans dressed in white — a symbol here for society to say no more to crime — to show their solidarity with the coach. It was unclear if the kidnappers have demanded a ransom.
The inability of the government to stop the practice has frustrated Mexicans, especially upper-class business owners, entertainers and sports figures most prone to being victims.
Among the more famous cases here are the 2002 kidnappings of pop star Thalía's sisters, for whom a multimillion-dollar ransom reportedly was demanded. They were released and appeared to be unharmed.
And then there was singer Vicente Fernández Jr., son of an even more famous entertainer of that name. He was kidnapped in 1998 and released after four months, minus two fingers.
"In some cases, the level of cruelty is horrible," said Guillermo Zepeda, a researcher who wrote a book, "Crime Without Punishment."
He said kidnappers know they're adding pressure on the police when they grab high-profile victims, but believe they still can get away with it.
Victims often are kept blindfolded, their hands and legs bound or chained. Sometimes, they aren't allowed to disrobe to use the bathroom. Periodically, they are stripped and sprayed with a water hose.
Victims also face psychological challenges, Zepeda said. Long after their release, they can be afraid to drive or even leave the house.
Galindo declined to be interviewed for this article, but his family discussed the case.
Held 29 days, he was rescued by Mexican federal agents the same day a ransom was to be paid.
As kidnappers demanded money, they left his fingers — one by one — in small boxes along a highway at specific mileage markers.
His captors, including the doctor who performed the amputations, are in prison, but have yet to be convicted,
Although Galindo has gotten on with life and was even playing golf Thursday, he had avoided the public eye. He decided to join Mexico United Against Crime's campaign to try to make a difference.
The group was among organizers of the famous 2004 march that drew an estimated 1 million people dressed in white to walk silently through the streets here to demand government action against kidnapping.
Morera said the idea isn't to get tougher prison sentences approved for kidnappers, but force authorities to do their jobs.
She said many families don't even report kidnappings because they figure authorities are incompetent or corrupt.
Among the specific changes she would like to see is for victims to be able to type their own statements into justice-system computers so they can be read directly by judges.
Although laws are changing — including widespread reform championed by Mexican President Vicente Fox — most trials are not public and testimony is written.
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express@cablevision.net.mx
Perhaps it might help if the federales backed off and gave the people the RIGHT TO FIGHT BACK! You can't own a gun in Mexico without a government or army permit.
Appeasing the criminals...
Kinda like the disguised amnesties for the illegal mexican border busters.
"So does the government of Mexico enforce ANY laws?"
Oh, yes.
It's illegal for people to own guns. And it's illegal for foreigners to own land. And it's illegal for the government to do jack without a little under-the-table dough.
Even if they are cutting off a family member's fingers, one by one, and sending them to you?!
Your choice is this: reward kidnappers, thereby encouraging them and other people to engage in more kidnappings, or refuse to pay ransoms, ever, and remove the economic incentive for kidnapping.
Add to that the fact that, even if you pay the ransom, you probably are not going to get your family member back anyway.
The kidnap victim is the only witness. Eliminate the victim, and your chances of being caught are that much less.
Only if they are bribed.
This is Mexico, where kidnapping is a business. You'll get them back, so the next customer will pay.
You proved my point.
I assume that these kidnappers are operating in the same way as those in Central America. Making payment is not as simple as appeasing criminals, it is necessary. As I said, I am assuming that these guys are working the same way as those in El Salvador did after the cease fire was called. At the time, you paid immediately or the one kidnapped died immediately. There was zero negotiation and the kidnappers, if you attempted to do anything other than pay on demand, always immediately killed their victim. They had no qualms whatsoever about doing it.
Maybe the Mexicans are softer in this regard though. The Salvadorans, after 12 years of guerilla warfare were a hard bunch.
Don't pay, you don't get them back, and the next customer will pay!
Death to kidnappers. Period. Nothing else.
Unless, of course, you like having your family members kidnapped and want to encourage them to do it again.
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