Colombian kidnappers put squeeze on middle class
Colombian kidnappers put squeeze on middle class.
BOGOTÁ, Colombia -- In the Hollywood thriller Proof of Life, actor Russell Crowe plays a swashbuckling ransom negotiator who hopscotches the globe from one hostage crisis to the next.
Crowe's character ends up in a fictional nation based on Colombia, where he tries to win the freedom of a kidnapped engineer, mounts a daring rescue operation and falls in love with Meg Ryan.
In the real Colombia, however, ransom negotiators are more likely to be nervous neophytes rather than smooth-talking envoys with bedroom eyes....