Mexican fury grows at kidnappings
| By Duncan Kennedy BBC News, Mexico City |
The kidnapping and murder of a 14-year-old boy has caused national outrage in Mexico.
 Federal officers take part in a practice rescue mission |
Fernando Marti was abducted in June. His decomposed body was found in the boot of a car in Mexico City this month, even though his family had reportedly paid a ransom.
The murder of the teenager, who belonged to a wealthy family that co-owns Mexico's largest chain of sports stores, was shocking enough in itself.
But the impact of his death was compounded by the news that a number of police officers, including a police commander, have been arrested in connection with the case.
Television, radio, newspapers and the internet have been filled with people's reactions to Fernando's killing. The emotions expressed recall four years ago when Mexico saw huge marches amid a similar sense of insecurity provoked by rising crime.
A new demonstration is already planned for later this month, with tens of thousands expected to attend.
'Repugnant excuses'
Jose Antonio Ortega, president of the Ya Basta (Enough is Enough) organisation, spoke for many when he said: "Yet again, [we see] police officers implicated in abductions and other atrocious crimes, repugnant excuses and lies from ministry officials and prosecutors, and the fake consternation and empty promises of governors and politicians."
His comments have resonance because they enforce two widely-held views here. First, that crime is endemic. And second, that the country's various police forces are deeply corrupt.
Fernando Marti's death is not just a personal tragedy for his family. It has become a political issue as well.
 |  Either I could risk a few scratches by jumping out of the car, or I would go with them. I chose to jump  'Adriana' Kidnap victim |
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has been forced to get involved, having come to office two years ago with a promise of putting law and order at the top of his policy agenda.
He and the Mayor of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard (himself a possible contender for the presidency next time round) have both denied that failings in the various police forces and a lack of co-ordination between them were to blame for the outcome of Fernando Marti's kidnapping.
But that does not impress many people here, especially so soon after another police debacle in June, when 12 people were crushed to death in a botched police raid on a Mexico City night club.
The two men have come to verbal blows over which forces of law and order are better organised and more effective against the kidnappers.
In truth, neither can boast much success.
According to Mexico's National Public Security office, there have been at least 8,416 kidnappings between 1994 and March of this year. Many go unreported, the families involved hiring their own negotiators to deal with the gangs in private.
 President Calderon has proposed tougher sentences for kidnappers |
Some reports suggest as many as 435 people were abducted last year, a 35% increase on 2006, although official figures suggest the number is closer to 134.
More chilling, 59 people, including Fernando Marti, have been murdered by kidnappers in the two years since President Calderon came to power.
Most of those abducted are aged between 16 and 30 and the average ransom demand has been for $1.4m (£730,000).
'Express kidnappings'
Kidnapping has become as organised as the country's other insidious crime activity, drug smuggling.
And now many people believe the two are linked.
As President Calderon has increased pressure on the drug cartels by deploying thousands of troops against them, it appears some of those gangs are turning to kidnapping to supplement their illicit incomes.
| MEXICO'S WAR ON DRUGS   |
As Miguel Angel Granados Chapa, a commentator for the Mexican daily Reforma, put it: "The growth of the number of kidnappings comes from the success of the government's battle against drug dealers. It's because of this that they are forced to diversify their illegal activities."
Whereas the 2,000 or so drug-related murders this year do not generally raise much concern among the public, kidnappings do.
And not just high-profile ones either.
Many people here can relate their own experiences of something that has been called "express" kidnappings.
These are the opportunistic random abductions from the street, where people are driven or frogmarched to cash machines and forced to empty their accounts.
It is impossible to know exact numbers.
One victim who is too frightened to use her real name - let's call her Adriana - arrived home one night and was putting her house key in the lock when the barrel of a gun appeared over her shoulder.
Her abductor forced her back into her own car and drove off.
"I was petrified. There was nothing I could do but climb in," says Adriana.
She was driven around for a while, time enough for Adriana to come to a decision.
"Either I could risk a few scratches by jumping out of the car, or I would go with them. I chose to jump."
So Adriana opened the door and leapt out, suffering cuts but getting to safety.
"I still cannot believe the experience," she says. "It was simply a nightmare."
Her abductor crashed the car in the confusion and was arrested by police.
Punishment
With the rise in kidnappings have come calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty for offenders.
Others say people should have the right to carry guns.
Mr Calderon last week proposed life sentences for police or former officers convicted of kidnapping, for those who abduct children or when the victim is tortured or killed.
The public prosecutor has ruled out reinstating capital punishment, not least because Mexico has often resisted extraditing criminals to the US on the grounds that they might face the death penalty. Politically, that makes it hard for the government to back-track on that for home-grown criminals.
But such demands help convey the sense of anger and frustration among the people of Mexico, especially those in the bigger cities, about this subject.
One full-page newspaper advert appeared in the wake of the Fernando Marti case and captured the mood here.
It was paid for by the former head of Mexico's biggest bank Banamex, Alfredo Harp Helu, who was himself kidnapped for six months.
"A change is needed urgently," it read. "Impotence is invading civil society. Let's unite to ask our authorities to fight crime, and for personal security."
He spoke for many who feel at risk and who believe the authorities are failing in their primary duty of protecting their citizens.
Georgia and Russia agree on truce
 Russian troops have pulled back through Abkhazia |
Russia and Georgia have agreed a truce brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and have approved the principles of a full peace plan.
The exact details of the proposals appeared to be still under discussion.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili suggested some details agreed by Russia were unacceptable and said the document needed fleshing out.
Earlier, Russia announced its military activity in the area was completed and witnesses saw troops pulling out.
But despite the diplomacy and apparent withdrawal, rhetoric on both sides remained fiery and analysts were predicting a long road to peace.
Fighting flared last Thursday night when Georgia sent its army to regain control of South Ossetia - a region nominally part of Georgia, but with de facto independence and where a majority of people hold Russian passports.
| SIX-POINT PEACE PLAN No more use of force Stop all military actions for good Free access to humanitarian aid Georgian troops return to their places of permanent deployment Russian troops return to pre-conflict positions International talks about future status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia |
Russia moved in forcefully, sending troops into South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway province. Georgian towns away from the two regions were also bombed.
Some 100,000 people are estimated to have been displaced by the conflict.
Mr Sarkozy, in his current role as EU president, held talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow for most of the day before flying to Tbilisi.
He held news conferences with both Mr Medvedev and Mr Saakashvili - with all three leaders saying they had agreed to a six-point plan.
But Mr Saakashvili suggested certain elements of the plan agreed by Russia had been "deleted".
Among them were proposed discussions on the future status of Abkhazia.
Despite this, Mr Sarkozy said the document would now be looked over by EU foreign ministers and members of the UN Security Council.
'Lunatics' gibe
Several countries, including the US, a major ally of Georgia, have been critical of Moscow's actions.
Reacting to Russia's ceasefire declaration, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it was now vital for all sides to stop fighting, adding that Russian military operations "really do now need to stop because calm needs to be restored".
Nicolas Sarkozy says the framework plan aims to bring peace
A senior US defence official said Washington was cancelling a naval exercise with Russia, scheduled to begin on Friday.
Earlier, Mr Medvedev called Georgian troops "lunatics" and accused President Mikhail Saakashvili of lying over a previous ceasefire agreement.
And tens of thousands of Georgians gathered in Tbilisi's main square to hear Mr Saakashvili claim that Russia was continuing its "ruthless, heartless destruction" of Georgian citizens.
Neither side's claims could be verified, but analysts said the inflamed rhetoric suggested they were far away from long-term accord.
And there are other issues likely to hamper peace negotiations.
Separatist rebels are continuing to fight Georgian troops in the Kodori Gorge region of Abkhazia - the only area of Abkhazia still under Georgian military control.
Georgia has meanwhile filed several complaints with international bodies over Russia's actions - including one at the International Court of Justice alleging ethnic cleansing.
Mr Saakashvili told crowds in Tbilisi that Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia would now be regarded as an occupying army - ending an agreement in place since 1994.
And he also said Georgia would leave the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) - a Moscow-dominated group that includes most of the former Soviet republics.
The two statements will compete for the dishonor of the most notoriously misbegotten he uttered as president. Bush's endorsement of Putin was partly a matter of calculation; when he says glowing things about foreign leaders in public, he tells those leaders in private how he expects them to deliver. But with Putin, Bush seemed as if he were playing Ned Flanders to Putin's Tony Soprano.
John McCain's assessment stands up much better: When he looked at Putin, "he saw three letters: a K, a G and a B." Putin's neo-Soviet state has launched a nakedly illegal invasion of neighboring Georgia that is reminiscent of the Winter War against Finland at the outset of World War II. The Russian press is pumping out absurd lies about Georgian acts of genocide, even as the Russian military indiscriminately bombs and shells Georgian cities. Edward Gibbon's description of the Inquisition comes to mind -- nonsense defended by cruelty.
The Bush administration made twin mistakes with Russia. It overpersonalized relations, with Bush hoping to coax out Putin's better side, and tiptoed around Moscow in the hopes that gentle treatment would encourage it to act responsibly. The irony is that Barack Obama -- with his commitment to personal diplomacy and a gentler U.S. footprint around the world -- wants to make those two tendencies centerpieces of his foreign policy.
The Bush and Obama statements in the immediate wake of the crisis could have been issued by a joint campaign. Bush's spokeswoman urged "all parties," both Georgians and Russians, "to de-escalate the tension and avoid conflict." Obama declared that "now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint." In their implied moral equivalence, these reactions were a little like urging the Kuwaitis to de-escalate with Saddam's Iraq in August 1990.
Yes, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili allowed himself to be baited into military action in the breakaway province of South Ossetia. But let's be clear who was doing the baiting and why. Russia had supported South Ossetian forces attacking Georgian villages and troops in order to detach the province slowly from Georgia or provoke a military confrontation that Georgia could never win. Mission accomplished.
The larger strategic goal is to keep the pro-Western independent states on Russia's border in turmoil. As George Kennan said, on its borders Russia can have only vassals or enemies. Russia's neighbors have an incentive to be cleareyed about this, which is why the presidents of the Baltic States and Poland all condemned "meaningless statements equating the victims with the victimizers."
McCain's proposal from a few months ago to boot Russia from the G-8 has gone from seeming needlessly provocative to practically prescient. Together with the surge in Iraq, the Georgian crisis is the second strategic matter on which everyone else has followed the senator's lead. McCain warned of Russian designs on its "near-abroad" when Boris Yeltsin was still in power, and advocated the enlargement of NATO into Eastern Europe -- as a way to cement those countries into the West and check Russian adventurism -- years before the Clinton administration adopted it as policy.
McCain's judgment benefits from years of marinating in national-security issues and traveling and getting to know the key players; from a hatred of tinpot dictators and bloody thugs that guides his moral compass; and from a flinty realism (verging at times on fatalism) that is resistant to illusions about personalities, or the inevitable direction of History, or the nature of the world.
Putin launched his assault on Georgia on the same day the Olympics opened with the theme of "One World, One Dream." Putin put paid to that within hours with steel and blood. All you need to know about his soul is the testimony of the rocket launchers and T-72 tanks still flowing into Georgia.
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