The Diplomatic Kidnappings

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-VI

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2. Introduction

   • Carol Edler Baumann

   Pages 1-3

3. Urban Terrorism in Revolutionary Strategy

   • Carol Edler Baumann

   Pages 4-31

4. The Diplomat as Victim: Diplomatic Inviolability

   • Carol Edler Baumann

   Pages 32-42

5. Problems of Protection and Security

   • Carol Edler Baumann

   Pages 43-53

6. Asylum, Extradition, and the Political Offense

   • Carol Edler Baumann

   Pages 54-68

7. Kidnapping Attempts and Ransom Trades

   • Carol Edler Baumann

   Pages 69-93

8. Latin American Kidnappings: Assassinations and Terrorism

   • Carol Edler Baumann

   Pages 94-110

9. North American Counterparts: The Canadian Cases

   • Carol Edler Baumann

   Pages 111-128

10. Conclusions and Some Policy Recommendations

    • Carol Edler Baumann

    Pages 129-163

11. Back Matter

    Pages 164-182

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The recent series of diplomatic kidnappings has produced some serious thinking not only in Washington but in most of the foreign offices and embassies throughout the diplomatic world. The kidnappings-and how to deal with them-have been the subject of Congressional committee hearings, State Department deliberations, and international debate and action by the Organization of American States. It is the purpose of this study to analyze them within the context of urban guerilla terrorism, international legal norms, and world diplomatic practice. Selected examples of diplomatic kidnappings, particularly those in Latin America and Canada, strikingly illustrate the new revolutionary strategy of utilizing terrorism as a political tactic to achieve long-range political· goals. As with its kindred phenomenon-the airplane hijack­ ings-the kidnappings of foreign diplomats seize upon and exploit innocent victims as hostage pawns; a bargaining situation is thus created in which the revolutionary minority can achieve a diplomatic leverage which is far greater than in proportion to its numbers, military strength, or popular appeal. Through terrorism the urban guerillas hope to achieve tactical advances within the general strategy of political revolu­ tion; even temporary governmental repression if it occurs in reprisal becomes part of that strategy. Chapter I in particular and the entire manuscript in general examine the kidnappings within the parameters of revolutionary terrorism. The kidnappings have also had serious legal and political ramifications in the realm of world diplomacy.

• Diplomat
• prevention
• punishment
• revolution
• strategy
• terrorism

• Department of Political Science, The Universtiy of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA

  Carol Edler Baumann

Policies and ethics