...Kidnapping for ransom is a common occurrence in various parts of the world today, and certain cities and countries are often described as the "Kidnapping Capital of the World." As of 2007, that title belongs to Iraq with possibly 1,500 foreigners kidnapped.[22][23] In 2004, it was Mexico,[24] and in 2001, it was Colombia.[25] Statistics are harder to come by. Reports suggest a world total of 12,500-25,500/year with 3,600/year in Colombia and 3,000/year in Mexico around the year 2000.[26] However by 2006, the number of kidnappings in Colombia had declined to 687 and it continues to decline.[27] Mexican numbers are hard to confirm because of fears of police involvement in kidnapping.[28] "Kidnapping seems to flourish particularly in fragile states and conflict countries, as politically motivated militias, organized crime and the drugs mafia fill the vacuum left by government."[21] In 2009, the Los Angeles Times named Phoenix, Arizona[29] as America's kidnapping capital, reporting that every year hundreds of ransom kidnappings occur there, virtually all within the underworld associated with human and drug smuggling from Mexico, and often done as a way of collecting unpaid debts. Other major U.S. cities that are hotbeds for kidnappings are Detroit, Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston, and Chicago.[29] Many of them are done by major street gangs near tourist attractions. During the year 1999 in the United States, 203,900 children were reported as the victims of family abductions and 58...
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...A02-01-0021 American Mining Company (AMC) in Colombia AMC Moves to Colombia By the end of 2000, the American Mining Company (AMC) had finished moving nearly all of its coal operations from the southern United States to its premier mine in Northeast Colombia. Despite telling its workers that the company would not transfer its operations abroad, AMC closed nine mines over a five-year period, firing over 5,000 United Mine Workers. Only one surface mine and one underground mine were left operational in the US, with plans to close both by 2003. AMC was one of the leading coal mining companies in the United States for the previous half century, with coal holdings of over 1.3 billion short tons and revenues of nearly US $1 billion. Worldwide, AMC enjoyed a reputation of providing high quality coal, reliable delivery, and excellent service. Before the shift to Colombia, AMC was one of the top 300 largest private companies in the United States. The company had also begun diversifying into real estate developments on both the US east and west coasts. Colombia provided numerous advantages for AMC. First, the country’s low wages provided a much cheaper labor force in comparison to the high hourly salaries of the US mine workers. Wages for Colombian mine workers, for example, ranged from $500 to $1,000 a month, while US mine workers received over $3,000 monthly plus benefits. Moreover, the company would also not have to contend with the burdensome labor restrictions of the US mine union...
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...Communist Party in response to the establishment of a military government in Colombia that outlawed the Communist Party and marginalized the liberal left. During the Second Conference of the Guerilla Bloc of Southern Colombia, peasants officially founded the FARC in 1966. They believed they could defeat the Colombian government and increase the distribution of wealth. (Lee, 2012, p. 30) In 1984, the FARC participated in peace negotiations with the government (Leech, 2011, p. 42). They agreed to a cease fire if Colombia would give FARC fighters amnesty and work towards reducing poverty. Allegations of violence and assassinations lead them to step away from negotiations and form a new political party called the Patriotic Union (UP). In 1986, during the national congressional elections, the UP won many votes but political assassinations killed 2,000-4,000 UP members, including 3 presidential candidates. After this, the FARC escalated their use of military force, committing to armed conflict. (Lee, 2012, p. 31) Objectives and Goals According to the United States Department of State (2015), the FARC started with a Marxist philosophy intent on overthrowing the Colombian government (Wanted, para. 1). They initially wanted the Colombian government...
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...Introduction Ah, Colombia a sprawling city of beaches,clubs, and their beautiful nature features. Colombia founded in July 20, in the year of 1810 is a country on the tip of South America known for its restaurants and shops. Colombia boosts a lot from it’s beautiful river the cano cristales, the amazon river, and its food. Colombian history is a bit interesting from the Spanish arriving in 1510 to Pablo Escobar often called the King Of Coke known for his drug trafficking, murders, also kidnappings. Land To the North of Colombia we have the breathtaking Northern Andes, which are a chain of mountains if you're ever planning to climb the Andes mountains be prepared to climb heights as high as 22,838 feet tall! If you manage to climb one of the mountains you’d be breathing some fresh cool air. Also the mountains are pretty steep so watch out. You would also hear the wind rushing through the air and you could touch some of those cool rocks. Colombia is also near the Amazon rain forest so you could taste some of their tasty fruit, but you should watch out for some could be poisonous. You...
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...Introduction Colombia is a country with a vast history that is most associated with drugs and violence. This started with the influx of drug trafficking in the 1970s. This has allowed drug cartels and guerilla militias to flourish since then to the present time. In the sections below, I will show how current events and threats have occurred and will conclude with my short and long term assessment of what the state of Colombia will be in the future. Current Events Even though President Juan Manuel Santos, the President of Colombia, has been undergoing peace talks with the FARC in Cuba, there has still been ongoing attacks by the FARC that continue to make negotiations difficult. This was the fourth attempt at peace talks between the FARC and...
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...The Drug Business Tawni Masters CJA 384 January 30, 2012 Sherryl Roten-West The Drug Business The illegal drug business in the United States is not a new business. This business has been around for quite some time. In this paper I will discuss the history of illegal drug business in the United States including the types of drugs that involved in the illegal drug business. I will also be discussing illegal drug syndicates and cartels a long with their structures and operational methods. Also I will be talking about some of the modern trends of organized drug trafficking. Finally I will answer, explain, and provide recommendations to the question, is there is a better solution to the ways in which we combat the drug business in the United States. The illegal drug business in the United States consists of all different types of activities from drug use to drug sales to producing and manufacturing to trafficking. Until the 1940’s most Italian Mafia leaders were strict with their rules telling their outfits that they were to avoid dealing drugs. A few leaders, notably Charles “Lucky” Luciano, broke that rule and used their organizations to push other gangs out of the drug trade and developed sophisticated networks for importing and selling illegal drugs in the United States (Mazzeno, 2011). During World War II illegal drugs were becoming less available in the U.S. because traffickers had a difficult time importing the drugs from overseas areas that were already in a conflict...
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...Born Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, he was born in Rionegro Colombia,Pablo Escobar net worth was once set at 25 billion dollars making him the richest drug trafficker in history.Growing up he was a son to a teacher and farmer.He began his crime rate at an early age stealing gravestones and sanding them down for resale to smugglers.He did other crimes such as kidnapping selling contraband cigarettes,stealing cars selling fake lottery tickets,stuff like that making him millions by the age of 22.Around The 1970’s the empire of Pablo Escobar was starting up,Pablo flew his main source of income cocaine from Colombia and panama,as his empire of tracking grew he bought more planes that can carry more of his supply.After years of selling he soon...
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...Over the last 60 years across the world through both violent and non-violent regime changes long lasting insurgencies can be found tearing at the fabric of civilized society. From Boko Haram in Africa, ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and the FARC in Colombia, insurgencies are wide spread and consistently causing harm to civilian populaces and undermining the sovereignty of legitimate governments. A prime example of a long lasting insurgency and the topic of discussion is the National Liberation Army of Colombia or the ELN (Ejercito Liberation National). Established formally on July 4 1964 in Colombia, the ELN arose after the La Violencia period whereby an alliance formed between radical Catholic clergy and liberal college students. The two groups found a common ground stemming from the radical revolution movement in Cuba that went on throughout...
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...Introduction: Drug trafficking is one of the most serious issues the world faces, drug trafficking is so popular because it can be very profitable for violent and illegal organizations called cartels. There has been a serious war in Mexico against drug trafficking organizations for more than a decade with little success. Over the last ten years, the US government has helped with more than $2 billion dollars in financing intelligence resources to help Mexico's anti-drug traffick efforts, and even with the war against drugs, problems seem to continue arising. Many cartels in search for better-distributing options tend to use methods such as murders, kidnappings, and other crimes to expand their territory, which makes entire states live in terror....
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...Origins and Timeline. FARC, is known as Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia. FARC is Colombia's biggest and foremost equipped group. It has about eighteen thousand people in the group. The FARC manages about half the country. They are also responsible for most kidnappings in Colombia. FARC is known to aim at wealthy landowners, domestic officials and foreign tourists. They are also known for airline hijackings, assassinations and extortions. The State Department added FARC to the list of foreign terrorist organization, it is also the largest rebel group. In 1964, Manuel Marulanda Velez and Jacobo Arenas to formed FARC known the Revolutionary Armed Forces. They were land workers and farmers who were working as a...
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...Blood Bananas – Chiquita in Colombia Introduction: Banana is a serious and a complicated business when it comes to producing and delivering it to the consumers all around the world. As most of the banana production takes a place in the tropics, the largest consumers are the U.S., the European Union and Japan. Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte who are also known as “the big three” control 60 percent of the global banana trade. Dole was founded in Hawai in 1851 and had reported revenues of US $6.9 billion in 2007, being the largest producer and marketer of high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables. Del Monte is one of the largest and well known producers, distributors and marketers of premium quality, branded food and pert products for U.S. generating US $3.4 billion in net sales in 2007. Chiquita which has been the largest employer in Latin America for many years, was founded 1899 and is known for revolutionizing the banana trade by using refrigerated ships for the first time. In 2007, Chiquita was the leading distributor of bananas In the United States with annual revenues of US $4.7 billion. Chiquita and terrorist ties Chiquita has been known as a rapacious multinational corporation for a long time. Company has been blamed for having farmers work for long hours in dangerous conditions, contaminating water with agrochemicals and harming tropical forests for expansion. Its operations in Colombia have been the most controversial topic for a long time due to the instability...
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...illegal drug production and consumption, as well as the war against terrorism has plagued the world for more than a decade. In particular, the United States has faced multiple terrorist attacks and the issues of drugs continues to put a damper on society within the country. The nations of Latin America are greatly affected by the tragic effects that occur within their powerful and influential neighbor. History shows that the nation of Colombia has had relatively friendly and cooperative relations with the United States. In result of the events that have occurred globally and within the U.S., the country of Colombia has vowed itself in alliance to the superpower. The cooperation when it comes to the war on terror and drugs...
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...difficult times transporting drugs from overseas that were already in a conflict. After the war, drug trafficking picked up making the Mafia the lead supplier of illegal drugs. The Mafia’s were smuggling drugs into the country through ports (and later through terminals), where it controlled many of the operations (Mazzeno, 2011). These groups were mainly African American, Asian, and Latino gangs. These countries mainly got their drugs from Latin American countries via Mexico. There are different types of illegal drugs smuggled into the United States each day. Cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and marijuana are the most popular illegal drugs smuggled. “Cocaine is produced in the South American Andean countries of Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia; Colombia is the source of an estimated 90 percent of the cocaine supply in the U.S. market” (Lyman & Potter, 2007). The majority of the methamphetamine that is available in...
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...among the organization to which he belongs. Terrorists resort to various ways to accomplish these goals like planting crude home-made bombs, hand-grenades or other explosives in a shopping centre or a crowded place like a railway-station or a bus stand or even a bus, train or aeroplane, kidnapping, assassination or hijacking. Different terrorist activities all over the world may have different aims, but a few goals, common to all may be underlined. It may be because they want a regime to react or they intend to mobilize a mass support through fear, to eliminate opponents or enemies or to magnify their cause. Terrorist groups are the biggest threat to any civilian of any country. Here is the list of terrorist groups from the ones who are not very well known and whose terror attacks are not much recorded to the ones who terrorize the whole world and cause severe catastrophe. 10. Armed Islamic Group of Algeria (GIA) With an endeavor to overrule the Algerian government, this terrorist group was founded in July 1992 and became notorious in 1994, after hijacking the “Air France Flight 8969″. Since then it has conducted a deadly crusade of killing innocent civilians, bombarding public places, kidnapping and raping in its area of operation. This terrorist group asserts the ideology that “political pluralism is equivalent to sedition”. This creed was generated in 1992, after a controversial decision of Algeria’s...
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...SURVIVAL TRAVELING Although, Costa Rica is one of the safest countries in the world in which to travel, tourists as well as all visitors, should be cautious just like anywhere across the globe. This chapter of Survival Trekking covers the basics of traveling safely and is intended for the adventure traveler. The purpose of this information is to assist the reader in becoming a “hard target” instead of “soft target” and a statistic we end up reading about in the newspapers. Although I use Costa Rica as the example, these techniques can be and should be applied anywhere in the world that you might travel, because crime and terrorism can happen anywhere, at any time. "If a criminal wants to get me, then there is nothing I can do to stop him." This attitude is typical of many travelers in foreign countries, but there are many things that we can do to prepare ourselves becoming less vulnerable to criminal and terrorist acts. The goal is to turn ourselves into “hard targets” instead of “soft targets,” thus making ourselves undesirable targets, which the would-be criminal will pass and go on to the next unfortunate person. Simply put, it’s like auto theft; if a car thief comes to your locked vehicle with the windows rolled up and an alarm system, then he will most likely go to the next vehicle looking for one that is not as secure. The same can be said for many types of criminal acts as criminals and terrorists look for soft targets that involve little risk and offer...
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