It’s a fact that the best way to fight terrorism is with terrorism but governments have their hands tied by human rights legislation etc. In this example of a kidnap for ransom incident you will see how Pablo Escobar and friends dealt with the kidnapping of one of their family members.
Martha Ochoa was kidnapped on March 13, 1981, by members of the M-19 revolutionary group in Colombia. Martha Ochoa was the sister of the Ochoa Brothers, who were close associates of Pablo Escobar and founding members of the Medellín Drug Cartel. At that time, many communist guerrillas in Colombia were kidnapping for ransom family members of wealthy Colombians, including the family members of drug traffickers.
The kidnapping of Martha Ochoa was the catalyst that led to the formation of a group named Muerte a Secuestradores (MAS), translating to “Death to Kidnappers.”, which in time turned out to be a death squad for their financiers.
In the late 1981 and early 1982 period, a coalition comprising of members of the Medellín Cartel, the Colombian military, Texas Petroleum, the Colombian legislature, small industrialists, and wealthy cattle ranchers convened in Puerto Boyacá. Their objective was to establish a paramilitary group with the aim to safeguard their economic interests, combat guerrilla forces, and shield local elites from abduction and extortion threats. By 1983, MAS death squads orchestrated approximately 240 politically motivated killings as documented by Colombian internal affairs.
Martha Ochoa was kidnapped off the street in Medellin while walking with a friend. Ochoa was bundled into a car by Iván Marino Ospina and Alejandro Ayala, while her friend was left on the street. Iván Marino Ospina “Ivan the Terrible” was the leader of the M-19 group. After she was taken M-19 demanded a ransom payment from the Ochoa brothers, who refused to pay the ransom. It is also rumored that other members of the Medellin Cartel were approached by M-19 for the ransom including Pablo Escobar and Gustavo Gaviria.
Escobar called for a meeting of the leading Medellin Cartel members at the Las Margaritas hotel in Medellin. After this meeting Escobar tasked his men to find the M-19 members who were responsible for the kidnapping, which they did. Escobar then tasked MAS to attack M-19s jungle hideout.
When Iván Ospina got to his groups hideout after the attack, he found all the guerrillas who were at the camp had been killed. Several corpses had been hung from a tree with a message written in their blood stating that unless Martha Ochoa was released then the family members of all the M-19 guerrillas would be killed. Ivan Ospina promptly released Martha Ochoa unharmed. To further dissuade potential kidnappers Escobar sent the photographs of the executed M-19 guerrillas hanging in the trees to the newspapers.
After Martha Ochoa was released, Iván Ospina approached Escobar offering himself for execution in the place of the remaining members of his group. As he was a romantic revolutionary, Ospina reportedly took with him the Sword of Simon Bolivar which his group had previously stolen in 1974 from the Quinta de Bolívar Museum in Bogotá and asked to be executed with it. However, Escobar chose to spare him, opting instead to join forces in the mission to free Colombia! The former Mayor of Bogota and Colombian senator Gustavo Petro is a former M-19 guerrilla and has denied any links between M-19 and the drug cartels.
For successful hostage negotiations there needs to be some form of leverage on the kidnappers. I am sure Escobar knew how the kidnapping business worked and also knew that if you pay a ransom once, then chances are the kidnappers will be targeting you in the future for another pay day!
Books on Amazon
Kidnap & Ransom: The Essentials of Kidnapping Prevention
This book will show you some of the realities of the kidnap and ransom business and give some basic information on what you can do to make yourself a harder target!
Audio Book @ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FF37XDKM
Kindle @ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BVPQTS7
Paper Back @ https://www.amazon.com/dp/1719057311
Hard Cover @ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FKSP91JK
Truth Only Has Few Friends 