Colombia: Kidnaping for More than Money

Murderous banditry bloodied Colombia's countryside for two decades until an all-out effort by the Colombian army last year finally brought a semblance of order to the backlands. Now la violencia has broken out in a more subtle form in Colombia's cities. Last week in Medellin, a city of 700,000 northwest of Bogotá, Carlos Mejia, 9, son of one of the country's richest industrialists, was kidnaped as he walked to school; the kidnapers demanded $180,000 for his safe return. That same day in Bogotá, the wife of a prominent doctor was dragged from...

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