The U.S. State Department estimates that more than 3,000 people are kidnapped in Colombia each year. The British Medical Journal reports that is more than half of the world's kidnappings. Only a handful are Americans and Europeans. Most are Colombians who are either wealthy or who can scrape together ransoms as low as a few thousand dollars.
Experts say it is impossible to know the exact number because many kidnappings go unreported.
Ackerman said kidnappers often set up road blocks and question motorists to decide if they are worth kidnapping and how much ransom to demand. Scottish oil engineer Alistair Taylor, who has been held hostage for the nearly 20 months by communist guerrillas in Colombia, was kidnapped during a drive to work. CNN correspondent Karl Penhaul met with the rebels and with Taylor recently and discussed his life as a hostage. Many companies operating in Colombia and other high-risk countries take out ransom insurance policies on their employees because the risk of kidnapping is so high. Most companies will not say whether they are insured, because doing so could invalidate their policies and put their employees at greater risk of being grabbed by kidnappers hoping for multimillion dollar paydays.