Almost 40, 000 people have been kidnapped in Colombia over the past four decades, a report published on Thursday said.

According to the National Center of Historical Memory report, a total of 39,058 people, mostly Colombians, were kidnapped in the past 40 years. These kidnapped victims spent a total of 9,678 years in captivity of their kidnappers.

Rebel group FARC has been the primary perpetrator of kidnappings since 1970. According to the report, the country’s largest guerrilla organization was confirmed guilty in 37% of the 9,082 cases in which the kidnapper was identified. In 33% of the remaining 29,085 cases of which the perpetrator was not established the FARC was the presumed perpetrator.

The ELN, Colombia’s second largest rebel group, was identified as perpetrator in 30% of cases in which the perpetrator was identified. The guerrillas were the suspected kidnappers in 25% of the cases in which the perpetrator was never legally established.

A variety of criminals and criminal organizations, not linked to any political ideology, were guilty of 20% of the resolved kidnappings and were the suspected kidnapper in 27% of unresolved cases.

Right-wing paramilitary groups, active in Colombia since the 1980s, were the confirmed kidnapper in 4% of resolved cases and the suspected kidnapper in 7% of unresolved cases....

Source: https://colombiareports.com/almost-40000-colombians-kidnapped-over-past-decades/