U.S. anti-kidnap expert's vanishing spins Mexico mystery

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

U.S. anti-kidnap expert's vanishing spins Mexico mystery
1 hr 27 mins ago

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) – The abduction of a U.S. anti-kidnap expert in northern Mexico last month remains a mystery with no clues to the man's whereabouts and no ransom demanded by his captors, police said on Monday.

Gunmen abducted Felix Batista, a Cuban-American credited with negotiating the release of hostages held by Colombian rebels in past years, in the relatively safe industrial city of Saltillo, Coahuila state, on Dec 10.

"We have not had contact with Batista or those who took him," an official at the Coahuila attorney general's office said.

Another official said last month the attorney general suspected drug gangs who wanted to show their power were behind the abduction. The powerful Gulf cartel and its feared "Zeta" hitmen run drugs through the area into Texas.

Security analysts have speculated Batista may have been taken in retaliation for helping procure the release of captives in Mexico.

Batista, based in Miami, was invited to Coahuila by state police to give seminars on security as the death toll in Mexico's gruesome drug war soared to 5,650 people last year. Kidnappings are on the rise across Mexico.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090105/us_nm/us_mexico_kid...

---

From an earlier article:

The Web profile of Batista — later removed from ASI's site — described him as "the primary case officer for all cases throughout the Latin American region."

The site said Batista was a former U.S. Army major who is "known for conducting in-depth threat assessments, the successful resolution of nearly 100 kidnap and ransom cases (many on behalf of major insurance carriers) and investigations."

The company denied local news reports that Batista was a former FBI agent, and warned those reports could put his life at risk.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ilkJw...