(Updates with report by Mexican human rights officials) MONTERREY, Mexico, Dec 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. security consultant who negotiated the release of dozens of kidnap victims in Latin America has himself been kidnapped by masked gunmen in northern Mexico. The gunmen abducted Felix Batista outside a restaurant last Wednesday in the relatively safe industrial city of Saltillo in Coahuila state, Mexican authorities and his employer, security consultancy ASI Global, said on Monday. Batista, a Miami-based Cuban-American credited with negotiating the release of victims abducted by Colombian rebels, was snatched after he stepped outside the restaurant while answering a call on his cell phone, Mexican media said. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said it was investigating and declined to comment further. "He may have been targeted by organized crime in an attempt to show their power. Saltillo is not a kidnapping hot spot," said a source at Coahuila state attorney general's office. Batista's Houston-based employer denied Mexican media reports he was a former FBI agent and said he was on a private trip in Coahuila state near Texas, giving seminars on security. FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said Batista was never an FBI agent. "We have requested help from the FBI and the Mexican authorities," said ASI Global President Charlie LeBlanc. Hundreds of people are kidnapped in Mexico every year and the number of victims has increased sharply as drug gangs, under pressure from President Felipe Calderon's army-backed crackdown, seek new revenues to fund their operations. 99 PERCENT OF CRIMES UNSOLVED Between 2001 and 2008, there were 5,140 reported kidnappings in Mexico, the country's human rights ombudsman's office said in a report released on Monday. Since only one of every four kidnappings is reported to the police, who are often perceived as corrupt or in league with criminals, that number could be as high as 20,000. Close to 99 percent of all crimes in Mexico are left unsolved, said the ombudsman, as an inefficient justice system clogs ups with cases bogged down by shoddy investigations. More than 5,300 people have been killed in drug violence across Mexico this year, double the number killed last year, as cartels fight each other over smuggling routes to the United States and clash with Mexican army and police. "Organized crime has infiltrated the security forces and the police are poorly trained, so confidence in them is very low," said the report. Coahuila lawmakers last week sent a bill to Mexico's Congress to change the constitution to allow the death penalty for kidnappers who kill their captives. (Reporting by Robin Emmott in Monterrey and Anahi Rama in Mexico City; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Depositors with financial agency DMG burn documents during a protest against the government's closure of the company, in Bogota November 20, 2008. Panama captured and extradited David Murcia, boss of DMG, ...
