Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 18
Hostage Survival
A GREAT DEAL HAS BEEN WRITTEN on the subject of how to survive
being held as a hostage. Former victims, some of whom were held
by their captors for many years, have penned scores of topics. As you read
this topic, many people, including American citizens, are being held
against their will in countries all over the world by individuals seeking
money for ransom or by those using human beings as bargaining chips to
try to further their political agenda.
The first thing to accept regarding this subject is that while your odds
of being kidnapped are very low, anyone can be taken hostage. If you are
a high-profile individual, you can safely assume that your odds are some-
what higher than others. However, sometimes you can just be in the wrong
place at the wrong time and wind up a victim of this terrible crime. In
many countries kidnapping has become an industry. Foreign business per-
sonnel are likely to be snatched as the kidnappers realize that a corpora-
tion will pay a hefty ransom for their release.
COOPERATE OR RESIST?
Here again, this is a subject where traditional techniques of hostage sur-
vival are being rethought as a result of the change in the abductors' goals.
Hijackings used to turn quickly into hostage-taking events, often for long
periods of time. Kidnappings often were perpetrated for the same reason:
Gain a valuable hostage and trade him or her for something of value to
the hostage taker. This was thought to be a constant motive, and therefore
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