Every week, four people are kidnapped in Venezuela

Uncertainty makes endless the days of a hostage. Being somewhere, but not knowing where exactly, with unknown people that day after day and for no reason promised to kill her if she made any mistake, looked like an entire life for her. She still suffers the aftereffects. 'Karla,' 34, was kidnapped on a Thursday, on arriving at her place, located in southeast Caracas. Two cars blocked her and forced her to stop. Four men surrounded her. They accent was 'like Colombian; they were not Venezuelans, I am positive,' she said. Karla's kidnapping is not in the official statistics, like many others in the country. However, regardless of the underestimates, experts think that there are quite a few. No matter the deficit, the numbers are not very encouraging. Off the record, from January to May 2008, 151 kidnappings have been perpetrated in Venezuela, compared with the numbers provided by the Ministry of the Interior and Justice of 130, or 16 percent lower, for the same period in 2007. During the ten-year term under the government of President Hugo Chávez, a total of 2,097 kidnappings have been reported to the Scientific, Penal and Criminology Investigation Agency (Cicpc), that is, four kidnappings on average every week or three every five days.