The Global Advisor Kidnap & extortive crime | January 2026
Americas
The total number of kidnaps in Mexico in the last quarter of 2025 decreased slightly compared to the same period in 2024, as the internal conflict between factions of the Sinaloa Cartel stabilised and incidents fell in Sinaloa, Chiapas and Tamaulipas states. However, evolving disputes between other major OCGs continued to raise incident levels in several states – a trend that was particularly clear in Guanajuato, which registered a 300% increase. Numerous major groups, including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, rely on kidnapping and extortion to generate revenue and consolidate territorial control. Jalisco state also recorded a 33% rise in cases, driven largely by its emergence as a national hotspot for virtual kidnapping. Such incidents rose 29% across Mexico and 33% in Jalisco state. Colombia registered a 4% increase in incidents in the same period. Although the overall rise was modest, cases involving Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) dissidents and the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla rose sharply, prompting a 267% increase in kidnapped commercial employees. These incidents were concentrated in rural areas of the Catatumbo region of Norte de Santander department – an ELN stronghold – and of Cauca and Valle del Cauca departments on the Pacific Coast, where FARC dissidents maintain significant influence. Sectors most affected included agriculture, energy and mining. Multinational companies with foreign and local personnel were also impacted. Honduras registered a sharp rise in virtual kidnapping in the last quarter of 2025, a phenomenon that had not featured prominently in previous years. Virtual kidnappers systematically targeted personnel from businesses offering call-out services – such as energy, utilities and
engineering firms. Scammers posing as potential clients lured employees to rural areas of Francisco Morazán, Atlántida and Cortés departments, where they kept victims on the phone through intimidation while demanding ransom payments from employers or relatives. Criminals involved in traditional kidnapping-for-ransom adopted similar lure tactics, guiding commercial personnel to rural areas of Francisco Morazán and neighbouring Comayagua department, which offered quick escape routes into forested terrain. Kidnapping persisted as a threat to commercial personnel in Venezuela in the last quarter of 2025, particularly in major cities and rural zones bordering Colombia – where Colombian OAGs and local criminal groups exploit the porous border and the authorities’ limited capacity. However, Maduro’s capture by US forces in January 2026 is likely to embolden criminal groups engaged in kidnapping and extortion, including organised criminal groups and heavily armed militias (known as colectivos). This will likely drive an uptick in kidnapping,
especially of individuals perceived as traitors or allies of the opposition. Medium and large businesses face heightened extortion risks, particularly those operating in rural areas where insurgent groups rely on such revenue streams. 70 % of abductions happened in transit/outdoors 90 % of abductions resolved in less than 8 days 20 sectors affected
Key developments October to December 2025
Despite a slight decrease in reported cases in Mexico in the last quarter of 2025 compared to 2024, the high prevalence of virtual kidnaps and frequent conflict among organised criminal groups (OCGs) drove upticks in several states. Heightened activity of organised armed groups (OAGs) in rural areas in the last quarter of 2025 drove a 267% rise in kidnapped commercial personnel across Colombia compared to the same period last year. Shifting perpetrator tactics and the growing prevalence of virtual kidnapping prompted a sharp 450% increase in Honduras compared to Q4 2024, particularly in rural areas. The capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro (2013–26) by US forces in January 2026 is likely to prompt violent reactions from multiple armed and criminal groups, leading to an uptick in politically and financially motivated kidnapping in Venezuela .
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