Kidnapping: Missing In Mexico

Foreign Policy: Missing In Mexico : NPR: "Recently, a research institute here announced that Mexico suffers from the second-highest kidnapping rate of any country in the world — three times higher than Colombia's during its darkest period of drug violence and second only to Venezuela. ... beyond the stark headline of the country's ranking, the study provides some insight into the skyrocketing rates of violence that have accompanied President Felipe Calderon's war on drugs, and the security forces' impotence — or worse, complicity — which has allowed the violence to escalate.

The study, published by the Citizens' Institute for the Study of Insecurity and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, shows that Luis Angel and his six companions are just a tiny percentage of those missing. The report estimates that 50,000 people were kidnapped in 2008, and numbers are up since then (though no more recent statistics are available). The more startling findings, however, may be the numbers on the Mexican government's ability to investigate and solve kidnapping cases. Between 2007 and 2010, according to the report, the Mexican government initiated 1,880 investigations into kidnapping. However, it actively pursued only 23 percent of those."