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RE: [United National Congress ] Kidnapped for life - unite or suffer


The Torture of a Kidnap Victim
By Anand Ramlogan

Last weeks column hit a raw nerve in society. I received hundreds of e-mails
and telephone calls from all over the world. Ms. X's ordeals showed the
human suffering, torture and abuse a kidnap victim was forced to endure
during captivity. The unvarnished, raw reality made an impact on every
functioning conscience.

Everyone wanted to know why Ms X told her story to the world. What motivated
her to emerge from the darkness of her suicidal depression and tell us about
her ordeal, I asked? "Every one just shrugs it (kidnapping) off' she
explained. Until it happened to her, she too simply shrugged it off after
the usual 'O Gosh! Anedder one?' That brief, almost mandatory, momentary
pause is the space that defines the extent of our human reaction to this
crime. In that single moment of detached reflection we summarize and surmise
another wealthy man's loved one who has been snatched but eventually he will
pay up and the victim will be freed. We thus carry on our daily life as
though it were a news item from the Middle East.

Our society is no longer shocked by this relatively new crime of kidnapping.
There has been little or no public manifestation of outrage and protest. And
bold faced, brazen kidnappings continue in a country where this crime is
less than five years old.

We have compartmentalized each horrible kidnapping, rationalizing away the
pangs of our conscience on the ground that there is more in the mortar than
the pestle, (drug related?) or on the basis of the perceived and presumed
wealth of the affected family.


The indifference to kidnapping has assumed class, ethnic and political
dimensions. The large masses of people have little or no fear of being
kidnapped because they have no wealth to pay a ransom and would not be
targeted by kidnappers. The Afro-Trinidadian community feels relatively
secure because kidnappers have primarily targeted Indians and a few Chinese
and Whites. Politically, Manning must downplay kidnappings (they are
'bogus', a plot by the UNC to make the government look bad, or it must be
viewed in the context that crime is on the rise regionally and
globally) lest he concede failure

Many victims have been encouraged by Ms. X's story. It gave emotional colour
to what had become a colourless crime. Last week I was able to speak to ten
victims. Only one agreed to be interviewed. Here is his story.

"I sleep with my lights on and I no longer eat nuts," he said quietly.
Such was the extent of the damage and everlasting fear. 'Not hatred' he was
quick to add, but 'fear'.

Mr X, the son of a prominent businessman was snatched by four gun-toting men
late in the afternoon. X was in the middle of the backseat, sandwiched
between two men with guns. They drove off but stopped a short distance away
to tie his hands and put him in the trunk. His hands were tied with cutlass
wire.

X struggled and two of the men started to beat and kick him into the trunk.
One of them rammed his boot into his back so hard that he thought he
fractured or broke something. He buckled and fell inside. He was in
excruciating and intense pain. To this day, X still suffers from severe back
pains. His abductors took him to an apartment where he spent the night in a
daze, worried about his family.

__________________
"A generation of people who refuse to be themselves.
The philosophy of 50 cent has them hook, line and sinker.
The young black men become like a sacrifice.
They love it; they living in a fool's paradise."
-Brother Valentino

The next morning X was fed bread and cheese and allowed to use the washroom.
('I took that for granted' he mused.) His hands were still tied and one of
the men assisted by pulling down his pants and briefs for him.
Two of the men wore masks but he could see the faces of the other two
plainly. X asked if his hands could be freed so that he could wipe himself
but there was no response. The man simply pulled up his brief and jeans and
escorted him back to his room.

Cell phones started ringing and he could hear one of the men taking
directions. X heard him curse and raise his voice, asking the caller if he
was certain that this plan would work. One hour later, his room door was
opened and he was greeted by an unforgettable sight: his four abductors were
all dressed as soldiers, in full army camouflage uniforms. X was bundled
into the trunk but 45 minutes later they switched vehicles.

X was blindfolded and placed inside 'a sort of barrel' in the back of what
seemed like a truck. There were holes at the top to allow air in so he could
breathe but it was a bumpy ride and his hands were cramping. About three
hours later X was taken out of his container and led along a track up some
hills into the bush. One of the men called someone to tell them that they
had arrived. X heard him say that the plan had worked well as 'police eh
stop we'. He concluded that army uniforms were used to avoid police searches
at roadblocks and recognized that his kidnappers were no fools.

They walked for about an hour until someone said 'this is the spot'. X's
hands untied and he was allowed to pee. Still blindfolded, he was led into
what seemed like a cave or some dark hole. His hands were tied behind his
back around what seemed like a tree trunk or a rough, broad wooden post.
His blindfold was removed and a crocus bag placed over his head with strings
at the base that were pulled around his neck and tied. The bag smelled but
he could breathe.

The men left X in this 'cave' in total darkness. X stayed awake all night.
He could hear the noises of animals and was worried that if he fell asleep a
snake might crawl up and bite him. He was afraid of snakes. He eventually
fell asleep thinking about how worried his mother must be. X woke up and
assumed that it was daytime. The place was still dark and the crocus bag was
still on his head.

X could feel his bowels churning and wanted to go through his morning
routine which started with a visit to the washroom. He assumed that someone
will come to facilitate this and waited. His patience paid off as he
eventually heard voices. The crocus bag was loosened and lifted just above
his nose but no higher. He was fed some bread with butter and given some
water. He tried to engage the men in conversation to see if he could talk
his way out of captivity. He told them his father suffered a heart attack
after he was snatched and would die soon and begged them to release him. The
reply was 'well he better pay de (expletive) money before he dead or else
you goh meet him up dey'.

The men started pulling the crocus bag back down and X asked if he could be
allowed to defecate and piss. He collected a slap and was asked 'yuh tink
dis ah (expletive) hotel O wat?' They then left. The food X ate put pressure
on his bowels. He held out for as long as possible but eventually yielded to
the pangs of nature. He defecated and urinated in his pants on himself.
Indeed, he did so for two or three days.

X's arms felt as if they were collapsing. He wished he had no hands so that
he could not be tied like that. He was thirsty and longed for some more
water as he was accustomed to drinking a lot of water. No one visited until
the following morning when X was awakened by a kick and voice saying 'like
yuh (expletive) shit down de place!'

The bag was removed and X was fed crix biscuits. He gobbled them gratefully
from the hands of his captors. He asked for some water but was told that
they had forgotten it. They left without allowing him to clean up.

X started to feel weak and depressed. He became disoriented, frustrated and
depressed. He was dehydrated and forced to dwell in his own filth. The
crocus bag made him wonder how blind people felt and he resolved to visit
them if he ever escaped. He had lost count of the days and nights and was
fast losing hope. His resistance to prayer (he was never religious) went and
he eventually relied on Psalm 23.

Two days later, two men visited a weak, hungry, insect-bitten and extremely
thirsty X. They beat him badly 'for no reason at all'. The crocus bag was
raised above his nose and he was again fed crix. Whilst feeding him they
talked about how many people they had murdered. He finished eating and as
the bag was being lowered, he begged for something to drink. He was ignored
and it was tied. He started cursing the men, telling them he was dying of
thirst and needed something to drink. They ignored him and left. X thought
he would die.

Later on that day, some men visited X. He was slapped and told that his
father wanted to speak with him and that he'd better tell him to pay the
ransom. A flicker of hope. X said he was not talking to anyone unless he got
something to drink and cleaned up. One of the men said 'look open yuh mouth
and drink this'. X felt a warm burst of liquid on the bag. It tasted funny,
but he couldn't care less. It stopped and one of the men laughed and said
'like he like de (expletive) piss, boy!'

X realized that he had just been made to drink one of the men's urine.
Truth be told, (as he later confessed), he'd realized this sometime before
but he managed to stop his mind from completing the inchoate thought so that
he could drink some liquid before he died of dehydration. Totally
humiliated, he cursed the men, saying he will tell his father not to pay any
(expletive) money.

The men jumped up and removed the crocus bag from X's head. He looked up and
saw three men. They looked like the Bobo Shanti rastas that he would but
nuts from by traffic lights along the highway. He was slapped, kicked and
cuffed all over his head. X drifted away, barely semi-conscious. One of the
men held his mouth in his hands and ordered him to open his mouth.
He refused, not because he didn't want to but because he was delirious and
his brain was taking far too long to process what was said. The man pulled
down his pants, forced his mouth open and pissed into it. X gagged but
swallowed. (X had originally said he spat it out but late confessed that he
drank it).

X was taken to the top of a hill where reception was available and he was
allowed to speak to his father. He tried to be strong and told him he was
fine because he knew that the quiver in his voice would convey the message.
Once he had finished speaking with his father the crocus bag was placed on
his head and he was taken somewhere where his hands were untied and water
was dashed onto him. He was not allowed to take his clothes off but he was
able to wash himself.

Two days later, X was moved to a different location. He was now held captive
in a shack. He was handcuffed but felt a lot better as he had a sort of
makeshift bed and was fed bread and butter. New men guarded him.
There were two of them. They chatted about his father trusting the police
too much and quarreled about the fact that they (the police), were getting
paid even though they took no risks.

The following night X was awakened and beaten for snoring. He butted one of
the men and was stripped and made to lie on the floor. His back was used as
an ashtray as cigarette butts were extinguished on his back and buttocks.
The men were drinking and smoking weed. He was made to lie on the floor all
night with their boots on his back. They spoke openly about their previous
kidnappings and other illegal exploits and mentioned that the police had
told 'de boss' that X's father was trying to raise the ransom money. X fell
asleep on the floor.

These two men stayed with X for the next three days. One would sometimes
leave to fetch food, weed, alcohol and cigarettes. One night, the remaining
man opened the door to X's room and slapped him awake. He put a gun to X's
head and forced him to perform oral sex on him. X thought about biting the
man's penis off but thought he was so high and intoxicated that his finger
might actually pull the trigger. Dehumanized, fearing for his life and
stripped of all dignity, X did as he was told.

X was slowly accepting his fate: there was no escape and he had to
surrender. He subjected himself, co-operated and lived only in his mind for
his thoughts was the one thing they could not control. X was released one
week later after a negotiated ransom was paid. His father told him that he
suspected that the police might have been involved with his kidnappers and
urged him to forget the entire thing and move on as he had arranged to send
him abroad. He has never told his true story to anyone and no one will ever
understand why, even though he is miles away, he still sleeps with the
lights on and refuses to eat nuts.

__________________
"A generation of people who refuse to be themselves.
The philosophy of 50 cent has them hook, line and sinker.
The young black men become like a sacrifice.
They love it; they living in a fool's paradise."
-Brother Valentino