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Madam, your husband has been kidnapped. Please don't hurt him. In Venezuela, if we get used to this climate of violence, we lose as a society. There are many police colleagues who are dedicated to kidnapping. I think so. We are criminals in uniform. Yes. We kill them, and we leave their bodies in the street. Venezuela, one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Violence grows every year. To the point that the capital, Caracas, is the city with the highest homicide rate in the whole world.
But another kind of terror is spreading like an epidemic throughout the country. Kidnappings. There are no official data. But over 5,000 people are thought to be kidnapped every year. I'm going to be blunt with you. Don't interrupt me and listen to me. You give me the money, otherwise I'll kill your brother. If Antonio dies, it will be your fault.
I swear I'll send you his head in a box. And it will be your fault, you c******. That's all I'm telling you. Antonio is going to die because of you. And I swear I'm going to kill your brother in a house. This responsibility is going to be on you. Is the kidnapper talking to the family? The kidnapper is talking to one of the victim's brothers. In this crime wave, consultant Mario Marmon has become one of the most renowned experts on kidnappings in Venezuela. Over the last few years, he's helped dozens of families to rescue their relatives alive. Today.
How much cash do you have? I managed to gather 721. - How much? - $721 today. Adding yesterday's money, that will make $2574. I'm warning you, don't take me for a fool. You're the c******! Don't talk to me about 2000 or 5000. Otherwise, we stop here and your brother is dead. I swear I'll send you his head in a box, c******. And you will never find the body. All you'll have left is your head for the vigil. and you can shove it up your ass.
I'm doing everything I can. I'm doing my best, okay? I swear I'm going to send your brother's head to a house. And I'm going to bury the body of the guy. You have to see the head of the guy just to get him in my. I'm doing everything you're telling me. Do you understand? The strategy is to make the criminals understand that they have the pan tied around their neck, as the saying goes. The criminal can never know that they have some family advisors to re-judge the physical integrity of the victim. In this case, Mario Marmo's experience managed to sort out the kidnapping without incurring any casualties.
But this case is just one of many taking place every day in Venezuela. Mario, let me ask you something. Do you get used to living this? I think that if we get used to it, we lose as a society, as citizens. If we get used to this climate of violence in the country, I think we are lost. We have to keep fighting. We know that the Venezuelan is a good citizen and that we see this as a slug, as an effervescent that at some point will go down and we will be able to change and have a better country.
Come on, you guys The fear of being kidnapped leads some people to prepare themselves to face this threat. More and more Venezuelans are taking courses where they're taught how to prevent, deal with and survive if you're kidnapped. In this way, and release.
It's loaded. Ana was kidnapped along with two friends in one of the richest neighbourhoods in Caracas. We were arriving home when we were intercepted. Two cars, a guy with a fal, he takes me out of the car and he rides me in the car in front. With a rifle? With a rifle. The head of the kidnapping, the one who was driving, tells me, well, we are your men. I told them, I just want you to know that if they are going to rape me, I'd rather be killed before they rape me. And he said, I'm not going to touch you, I just need something from you.
I want you to tell me who of you has money. Under pressure, Ana must make one of the most difficult decisions of her life. Fear eats you. Fear paralyzes you. So, at that moment, I had to say that I was interested in the money of Elia's family. Ana, when you shared that information, how did you feel? I felt very bad. I still feel bad. The kidnappers call Elia's father, but they find something they were not expecting.
But you're going to kill my son. But if you kill my son, I'm going to look for not only you, but your families. The head of the kidnapping completely disengaged. And the one who was with me behind says, well, then we're going to kill them. At that moment, I said, no, no. There's nothing to do here. They're going to kill us here. Danger Against all odds, the strategy of Aliyah's father works. For fear of retaliation, the kidnappers decide to release the three hostages, ending the worst couple of hours in Anna's life.
I think I handled the situation very well. I handled it in a very conscious, very calm way. But when I saw my parents, it was the moment when I broke down. I cried and cried until I calmed down. While a part of the population braces itself to survive the epidemic of kidnappings, criminals continue spreading terror elsewhere in the city.
Our first contact with the kidnappers devastating the country takes us to one of the cerros or hills in Caracas, the Venezuelan version of favelas. Here we're received by the gang that controls the area, a gang that used to deal drugs and then now carries out kidnappings. But before talking to us they want to make something clear. Here they are the law.
It must be about a year ago. We had nothing to eat. It was difficult to find money. We had to find a way out of this. We contacted people who were knowledgeable about kidnappings. And they taught us how to do it. We have a contact in prison. I have a friend who knows the boss of a favela, and we got in touch with him. Yes, we work together. When you want to kidnap someone, You should always follow it first. There, he would first drop off his daughter at school, Then he would see his wife and after that, he would go to work. That's where they took him away, and called his family.
$8000. One and a half days. At that time, we didn't do express kidnappings. Yes. The express removal only lasts a few hours, no more. You have to get the money as quickly as possible; it's less risky. Long time kidnapping and express kidnapping. Two kinds of the same crime that in the case of this gang of kidnappers differ not just with regard to the length of time they keep hostages in captivity. When we keep them on longer, we are masked.
They mustn't be able to recognize us. if we happen to meet them in the street. But for express pickups, we just go like that, without anything. Given the risks involved, we are asking for ten thousand dollars. When things go wrong, as they say. So we kill them and leave them there. And for express kidnappings, it's better to kill them. Since we're not wearing masks, they can recognize us.
They must be killed. Obliged. Violence in Venezuela went so far that many bodies end up being buried in mass graves. Journalist Jorge Benetra shows us the largest mass grave in Venezuela. A place called The Plague. The site is more reminiscent of the times of major epidemics than of a 21st century city.
Here, traditionally, they bring all those dead who are not identified. That is, they can probably get to the morgue because of violent deaths, and the authorities come at a moment that they collapse and bring them here. So many people, they don't complain? A lot, a lot. And as you go deeper into there, you can feel the strongest smell and you can realize that many of them are recent deaths. That's the reality. And just as they bring these dead here and no one complains about them, they kill them, kidnap them, bring them here and it goes unnoticed. Who's going to rescue them?
And next to this makeshift cemetery, a real cemetery, the oldest of Caracas, a historical site that has turned into a nightmare for the living. Here, recently, the degradation went so far that kidnappers bring their victims here to hide them, while they negotiate a ransom. In order to move around this lawless territory, we have to get permission from those who know it better. The caretakers of the burial place of the gangster Ismail.
He is the leader of a Santero cult that venerates criminals who died violently. Accompanied by Santero O'Brien, we walk along this cemetery with defiled graves until we reach one of the biggest symbols of the decline of this country. For its magnitude and historical value, here are the remains of Joaquin Crespo, Venezuelan president, and his entire family.
Maybe few people think that here they can cool, as they say in the language of the street, to the people when they kidnap them. And we have had information from someone who was here for three or four days while they negotiated a kidnapping. In this tomb? In this tomb. The vault of a former president of Venezuela turned into what kidnappers call a refrigerator. Why? Possibly, they had a gold denture, they took the gold out and threw the head out of the cemetery.
The living being locked up in the same place as the dead. A real nightmare that terrifies the Venezuelan population. In a country where kidnapping has become the most profitable crime, any place can become a refrigerator. Hundreds of hiding places scattered around Caracas. Hundreds of places to spread panic.
We make contact with a gang of kidnappers who are prepared to show us the place where they hide their victims. The directions from the kidnappers lead us to one of the most dangerous places in the whole of Venezuela. Their hiding place is located in a deserted site that is difficult to reach. Here, no one will hear an SOS.
Here's our fridge. Yes, this is where we put the pigs. Yes. We have a double bed. They rarely sleep. They're under pressure, they're too nervous. That calms them down. We mainly handle long-term removals. People we spot beforehand. We follow them beforehand, to learn their habits.
That's it. Often, they are family members. Even brothers and sisters sometimes. That's it, they're taking a commission. They take a percentage of the ransom. They have a fee. In the payment. I'm going to ask you a question. Does the person arrive here? Or does he arrive here or to any of the fridges that you have? How is the process? What do you say to the negotiation? We're playing fair with them. We work, what we want is money. If they let us work, we won't hurt them. And what does that person have to do to be collaborative? That is, he has to talk to his family?
Yes, but we don't let them talk too much. They must stick to the bare minimum. They just give their name, so that the family recognizes them. Then we pick up the phone again, and we're the ones talking. They are told that so-and-so has been kidnapped. that they want a certain amount of ransom and that they want it at a certain time. Let's think that the family resists to pay the ransom. What can be done? Take his ear off. They cut off one of his ears.
Yes. With a machete like that? Yes. With pliers, use whatever you have on hand. A knife, whatever. And what do you do with that? No, we send them a video or we call them. So that they can hear the cries. "If you don't pay, this is what we'll do to him."
"No, no, I'll pay!" "Listen to me carefully, If something happens to so-and-so, it will be your fault. "Hand over the money or we'll send you his ear in a bag." How long has it been, the longest time of captivity that a person has been in a place like this? In our case, For us, it's three days. No. We prefer not to. Then, you pay more when you go to court. We need to eliminate the hostage.
I understand. I have heard that there are bands that have very strong relationships with prisons. In your case, do you have connections with the prisons? Yes. Sometimes, they're even the ones who call the family. Yes. That way, if they trace the phone, It is limited to prison. Prisoners, what more can they do?
Refrigerators in cemeteries. Refrigerators in the outskirts of shanty towns. Ransom negotiations conducted from jail. In this context, sometimes not even jails can stop crimes from being committed. Our next objective is to enter a Venezuelan jail in order to try to talk to some of the inmates who were involved in kidnappings. The first thing we have to achieve is to be accepted by inmates. For this, we talk to a contact who doesn't want to reveal his identity.
He will inform someone they call a pram about what we want. A hopeless convict, a natural-born murderer. In other words, the leader of the inmates. The Pran has accepted to talk to us, but we have to be discreet. Your contacts have asked us one thing, that when we go to jail, we dress like evangelical pastors. The cameras will be put by trusted men of the prisoners. We can't record any part of the access. If we manage to pass, if we manage to get the cameras to pass, the first thing we'll be able to record will be inside the prison, being with the prisoners,
and what they let us record. We managed to get into the jail. The inmates take us on a tour around the premises. After their demonstration of power, the inmates take us to see the Pram, the jail boss. I don't think there are many places in the world where in prison there are prisoners who are armed, who control the prison, who control access, if the police enter or not.
How has this system been established here in Venezuela? Thanks to them, with their complicity. Yes. Here, everything is bought and sold. So we were able to bring in weapons. and take control of the prison. For people to understand. What does the police control here in this prison? And from what point do you control? We control it internally. Inside, we control everything. From the front door onwards, they have nothing more to say. That's it. From the front door, you can do whatever you want. In truth, if the police wanted to regain control, She could do it. We're in the minority. compared to them.
They outnumber us. But we have an advantage. It's because if we have to fight, we're not afraid to die. Let's talk a little about the conditions. This is a room that you almost have to explain that this is a prison, right? It has its figurines, its television, its weapons. Do you live this here alone? or is it common for people who are at least within your group? Yes, She is for me and my inner circle.
We all have our private space. We each have a room and a toilet. We organize parties with DJs, We bring in women and prostitutes. We also do things for Mother's Day, For Father's Day, for Children's Day. Yes. With what we are told our illicit activities. Businesses inside the jail. A criminal economy based on three mainstays. Arms traffic, drug dealing and kidnappings. The crime of kidnapping, and everyone refers to prison. If you want to see where it is organized, who is being held accountable,
or who ends up negotiating, prison. It's better that everything comes from the prison, because the guards or the police don't come here. When they trace the calls, they end up here. And they find themselves stuck. They can't trace it back to the kidnappers. Of course, if they can't get through, they're more protected than the police. Yes, outside you risk being killed by the police. In the face of such a serious crime as kidnapping, do you think about the suffering of the people who are kidnapped, the victims? Of course we put ourselves in their shoes.
If people are kidnapped, it's for the money. It's not to hurt or kill them. For us, it's just a means of exerting pressure. The sole purpose of these kidnappings is to make money. You, as foreigners, come here, It's the same for you. You risk being kidnapped. like any Venezuelan. The risk is greater for you as foreigners. You can get paid in foreign currency. It's absolutely worth it to remove people like you.
In Venezuela anyone can be kidnapped. At any moment someone can be watching you. At any moment, someone can force you into a car. At any moment, you can receive a call saying a relative of yours has been kidnapped. The number of kidnappings grows every day, to reach levels that are difficult to calculate. The figures given by the government and NGOs do not coincide. Some NGOs suggest there are more than 5,000 kidnappings per year. For the president of PATH Activa, Luis Sidenio, this phenomenon is compounded by the sense of impunity the kidnappers allegedly have when it comes to committing the crime.
and no one is arrested, no one is prosecuted, no one is convicted. What are the numbers of impunity? Let's talk about kidnapping. If we are talking about impunity in homicide, which is the most serious crime, it's close to 90%. 25-96%. The impunity of kidnapping is higher. But why isn't anything done? Why isn't anything done in terms of insecurity? And why isn't anything done in terms of kidnapping? Or is there? In Venezuela, there is really no investment. Here less than 1% is invested in public security. Here the police and the state security forces are the worst paid of the entire state structure, which of course generates a great corruption.
The same government. The court admitted that about 20% of all crimes were committed by a security official. Including kidnappings? Including kidnappings. All kinds of crimes, thefts, burglars, kidnappings, murders, hijackings, everything. Emerson joined the National Police to serve his country. Now, for the last six months, he's been the leader of a group of police officers who carry out kidnappings.
One weekend, we decided to kidnap someone, because one of our colleagues had a relative who was very ill. And we wanted to help him. The needs are enormous in our country. There are no medications, Our children have nothing to eat. That's why we started the kidnappings. What kind of person was she? Where did they find her? How did it happen? We hadn't planned anything. The person was in the process of buying medicine.
She looked like she had money. We approached, we gagged her, They put something on her head and took her away. Were you dressed in uniforms? Were you in a service? We were on duty. We were wearing our uniforms. The regulatory weapon? With our service weapons. How much did they ask for? One thousand dollars. Those $1,000? Solucionaron la situación que tenía su compañero. Yes, it helped him out for a while.
¿Ustedes cuánto ganan siendo policía? Almost nothing. Our balance is 400,490 bolivars. Eso que son dos dólares al mes. Two dollars, one dollar fifty. ¿Al mes? Per month. We're forced to do something else, Otherwise, we have nothing. Do you have the feeling that there are many police colleagues like you? I think so. It's the world turned upside down. When you have been educated as you have been educated to protect, how do you do not. To not doubt, to not break, I mean, when a person in defense is asking for help, when a person says, please, don't hurt me,
how do you make yourself stronger? We are trying to prepare ourselves psychologically. Otherwise, we are easily moved to pity. And we want to release the person. It's hard to bear. People are crying, they start shouting. They are talking about their children. When I hear that, I inevitably think of my own family. And I thought to myself: But what are you doing? But we must remain firm. Because if we do this, it's for our family. And for our family, we are ready to do anything.
We are on Libertador Avenue. There are many people here who have money. Emerson takes us around the streets of Caracas to show us how they choose their victims. A motorbike with two uniformed officers goes with him for the tour. Those in front They are the ones who choose the victims. They look at their clothes, if they have a big car. In your device, how many people participate, more or less? Eight or nine people.
And the normal amount you ask for them, how much is it? Right now we're asking for 1,000 to 1,500 dollars. Now, the asking price is between $1000 and $1500. But if they charge 1,500 dollars, and it's between 8 and 9, in the end they're getting. A little bit, That's not much. 160 dollars each, more or less, 170. It's not much. No, that's for sure. But we have no choice. While we were patrolling, a surprise awaits us. I need to speed things up, I have a phone call to make. I need to call the victim's family.
Do you have a kidnapper now? Yes. Of course. Yes. I'm going to talk to the family. His family doesn't know yet that he's. They don't know it yet. I'm going to call. Tell the guy I'm going to call. Tell him to put pressure on her.
Call another person and tell them to make the call. It depends on what you ask them to do. He's going to hit him. What did you ask him to do? Then I call. I'm going to call his family. And when I call back, they'll want to know if he's okay. They put pressure on him at that moment. They are made to listen to him scream. That way, they hear that he's being hurt and they pay. So now they're going to start hitting him? When I call later, not right away.
I thought it was a cell phone, a mobile phone. No. Is it harder to drag? Yes. When they try to locate the caller, They perform triangulation; they see a local call. They believe the call was made from a landline. Hello, Madam, your husband has been kidnapped. How so? What do you mean you removed it?! What's going on?! Who are you?!
I'll be quick. I don't have time to discuss. You know how it works. I'll tell you straight, We want two thousand dollars by tomorrow morning. at the crack of dawn. But how do you want me to do it? I don't know, madam. Find a solution. He knows what awaits him if you don't give him the money. All right. But please don't hurt him. I beg you. Okay? Please, don't hurt him. Think of us. I'll call you back in 20 minutes. And we'll see what you propose, okay?
Okay, I'll see what I can do. How would you like them? Where should we leave them? Please, don't hurt him. You have no interest in calling the police. Otherwise, things are going to get seriously complicated. We will do what you say. But I beg you, don't hurt him. If you want to see it again. Why are you doing this to us? Goodbye, I'm going to hang up.
I'll call her back in an hour and a half. She should at least give half. Otherwise, the guys know what they have to do. We have to kill him, They will do what they have to do. We'll have to kill him if we don't want to get caught.
I'm going to leave you here, I have to go. We have to keep going, it's going to speed up. Yes, for your safety. I'm going to have to put pressure on the victim. and let him hear his wife's voice. Yes. In this situation of general chaos, There is room for hope in some places. One of these is the municipality of Eletillo, which used to be a playground for kidnappers until recently.
Now it has managed to significantly bring down the criminality figures. Here, the local police are deployed every night to control the areas where kidnappers usually go into action. We are going to proceed with a tour around the area of Los Naranjos in order to dissuade the criminal and to prevent him from committing these crimes in the area of the municipality or in any other municipality in the metropolitan area of Caracas.
The police are on board. El Atillo police are going to carry out a so-called cage operation. They know the suspects are inside their municipality. In case someone has been kidnapped, they must make sure they are not taken away from the zone they control. We are going to check a vehicle at a very high speed. The one coming from this side. Let him come. Where is the vehicle?
After checking that the intercepted vehicle is not the one they are after, the officers decide to walk into the most troubled neighborhood in the municipality. If the suspects have kidnapped someone or are trying to hide, this is the perfect den. Put it there, put it there. There's the phone there. Okay. What are you doing? Who's stopping? I'm talking to my boyfriend. With whom? With my boyfriend. And your girlfriend?
She's at home. Put it there. Moving swiftly, but also cautiously, is key on these lawless streets. officers notice some movement at the end of the street. Let's go, let's go. Come on, let's go. Watch the whole wall. Put your hand on the wall. Put your legs there. Open your legs.
Open your bag. The search only finds evidence of small-time drug dealing. Even if someone has seen armed people, the police won't find cooperation in this neighborhood. The night ends and the suspects have not been located. But the local police have delivered another message in El Atillo.
Kidnappers are not welcomed here. But while in places like El Atillo the campaign against kidnappings yields results. the same thing cannot be said about the rest of Venezuela. No one is safe. Neither men nor women. Neither the working class nor the middle class, nor those who possess the means to protect themselves, the wealthy upper class.
I remember that in the place where they took me there was no electricity. But I realized that I was in a room, there was a bed. They locked me in the room, put the lock on it, and I said, from now on, I can only entrust myself to God. Betty Amadio spent the most distressing 40 days of her life in a refrigerator like this. A kidnapping for which they demanded a ransom of 1.5 million euros, and which started, like so many others, at the wheel of a car.
And he starts crying. The man violently gets out of the car. And when they're getting out, he stretches his hands out so that I could carry him with me. And that voice goes, Mom, Mom. So I couldn't. I turned around to talk to him, but I couldn't hear his voice. I guess at that moment, beyond one's life, What happened to my son? Yes. When I met the head of the band, I was crying and I asked him, what happened to Marco? And he said, don't worry, you know this will be solved. And he said he would let me talk to my husband.
He asked for my phone number and he called me. Hello? Hello, Miguel? Yes? Calm down, if you do what you're told, everything will be fine. - Honey! - Don't worry, The children are doing well. Everything will be fine, okay? We'll sort this out. They are ready to negotiate. I'm fine. But I want to go home! Tell my father to hurry!
Calm down, darling. It's going to be alright. Who should they contact? Calm down. Give them to me, I'll see what they want. Hello? Okay, what do you want? We want one and a half million dollars. Don't touch her, you'll get what you want. Don't worry, we'll stay in touch. Well, tell me what you have, and you'll have what you want. Don't worry, I'll tell you. Betty, you were kidnapped. I suppose there are many news of people around you who have been kidnapped.
How do you see yourself now? The aggravation of this problem. Look, every day the circle is closer, because before you said that a friend of my friend's friend had this happen to him. Every day it's closer, it's the neighbor, it's the friend, it's the relative. And all of us who have been kidnapped suffer in a special way. Inevitably, every time I know they have kidnapped someone, you really feel that they are stabbing you.
A professional or a police officer. Where you can be kidnapped by a relative of yours. A country consumed by terror. Where a kidnapping can last a few hours or three days inside a tomb. Where if you are lucky, you can be released without too much psychological damage. But where if you're unlucky. You could end up in a mass grave. A country where the population get up every morning with a mixture of courage and fear to carry on with their lives. And where all Venezuelans commend themselves to God or good luck so that they are not among the 15 people who, according to statistics,
will be kidnapped today.
