Summary: If you are hostage not be too condescending but nn make them angry remembering that what you do at that moment I will remember for good or bad for life

Whatever you talk about people who find themselves chained in a cellar for a long time immediately attracts the attention of the public, to the point that films like Taken - I'll find you have had multiple sequels, each of which grossed hundreds of millions of euro despite starting inevitably from the same premise: a seizure.
It is a world that we know a lot thanks to film and television, but little in real life.
What happens away from the scripts full of punch lines and death threats?
How to deal with the kidnappers?
In this interview, Athena Intelligence expert with years of training and passed an army-one that helped draft the British protocol on hostage-told us how to be a professional negotiator.
For the occasion, he asked to remain anonymous.
VICE: What do you do exactly?
Negotiator: I teach people-diplomats, businessmen etc-how to avoid being taken hostage, what to do if they are taken hostage and how to survive.
The other side is that I put into motion when everything goes to hell, where people are not prepared or trained or because they wanted to save, and things do not go as they thought.
That's when they call someone who does my work.
What are the most common reasons for taking hostage or kidnap a person?
Oh, there are plenty, from the ideological to the religious ones, from economic reasons to those purely criminal, extortion to mental illness, episodic or permanent.
The reasons behind a seizure vary.
The cases of which you usually hear about in the news have political or religious reasons, because they are the ones that affect the public.
And then there is often talk of lunatics: perhaps a failed marriage that turns into a seizure, or an employee unhappy-there are a lot.
The newspapers prefer those with a religious background, but you notice, the more you realize that religion has nothing to do.
Maybe it got to do a superficial level, but the kidnappings earn money to organizations, so we are behind propaganda or money.
And you, when you come into play?
It depends on what has happened.
Let's say if, in some countries, the police are not as capable or trustworthy as in others, you have to act alone.
It also depends on the demands of the kidnappers, and I do not mean that one should do everything to please them, but not blindly oppose any request, if the situation becomes tricky.
Sometimes the kidnappers explicitly asking that the police are not called into question, and in that case the families or organizations are turning to me.
I do not work for the insurance companies, but there are people who work exclusively for them.
There is the situation of the seizure type?
It looks like the ones you see on the screen, with the victims tied to chairs in abandoned buildings and videos ransom demand?
You will be surprised to know that to some extent it is.
Again, it depends on the reasons for the kidnapping.
If you are religious and political reasons, yes, the hostages are not treated well, and that is why it is important for me training-instead many organizations ignore.
And you do not know what wrong.
But yes, you can find them chained to chairs.
Surely in unpleasant conditions.
In some cases they are not alone, they are being held with other hostages.
Not necessarily in dark rooms with security doors, there have also been cases of people brought in a remote location and to whom it was said, "There are places to get away, stay here because if you try to run away will die on the way."
Being imprisoned in this sense, does not depend on how close the walls in which you are locked-is only one restriction on your ability to move.
So if you kidnap and make you a hostage, what should you do?
If the worst happens, be complacent.
Be passive, submissive but not show-there's a big difference.
Imagine a school bully: if you find someone who submits to his will, it will behave worse than can.
Similarly, if someone shows extremely aggressive with him take him to pieces.
Do not be a contrarian, but did not stay cry in a corner because they lend the side to any abuse.
And then, you have to remember that whatever you do in that situation, you will continue to think in the future, for life-you will have to live with the way you behaved with what you said.
Right or wrong, you will accompany you for a lifetime.
This is why many have to be followed in re-integrate into society because they find it difficult.
They need adequate psychiatric counseling to overcome the trauma.
You must be able to live with yourself and everything you have done, why we provide people the tools necessary to address the situation: how to pass the time, how to create a relationship with the hijackers.
You need to remind yourself that you're a human being.
How do you pass this information to the victims, if they were abducted and did not know how to behave?
At that point it is too late.
This is why you need to be ready.
But as a negotiator, always ask to speak to the hostage-because it is the best way to have evidence that both in life and it's really him or her who kidnapped.
Because that's another problem: we say that John Smith is kidnapped, a lot of people can tell you that John Smith is with them, and who knows if they tell the truth?
You need evidence, and the first test is to hear her voice.
There are people who pretend to have a hostage?
Oh yes.
You have to understand what the organization is, what is the link between individuals and the organization, through.
Otherwise it could be that you are wasting time with the wrong people.
There is a certain amount of time after which, if the hostage was not released, you think the worst?
I always set out to resolve the situation as soon as possible, but be precise-you can not just give money calculations of money, why do not you encourage kidnappings.
I try to maintain a dialogue; if I do not respond, well, 'it is a bad sign.
You always have to make sure, before the end of a conversation, to know when will be the next.
Always leave an open door.
I guess not always kidnapped persons are "clean" -you have to denounce them then, in these cases?
But, at the same time, before I load side of a case I need to inform and understand more about the situation, the person involved and the reasons for the kidnapping-and sometimes they do not tell me everything just as it is.
But I work alone, and I do not like to work with things that are not comfortable, I do not like.
I like to think that working on the good, not bad.
Of course, even the villains are abducted.
However, we say that if the victim is a child who can not be found guilty for the crimes of his father, then there is such a clear line-you have to consider the individual.
Negotiations are almost always successful, or sometimes the tragedy is inevitable?
The statistics depend on geography.
If we talk in terms of red, yellow and green, then South and Central America are decidedly red, along with some parts of the Middle East-but most of the world is green or yellow.
In almost all cases the negotiations are close higher, although sometimes not as fast as you would like.
But if you consider the South or Central America, where she was born a veritable industry of kidnapping-even in parts of West Africa-there are also inexperienced kidnappers who think of organizing a kidnapping to make money.
This kind of kidnappers are then panicking and do not know what to do.
Sometimes they take the money, but they kill the hostage.
Have you ever been in danger?
It's a risk, but I always say that I am one who runs the risks, does not run them.
I consider a situation and try to determine what resources are needed to make it as safe as possible for the good of all.
But yes, I have also been in situations where I was not comfortable and I was happy to get out of it whole.
You're armed, in those moments?
In some cases, however, I have armed personnel with me or the neighborhood, but if you have to start shooting means that things are going really bad.
You said before that you do not want to fund the industry of kidnappings, but the other side of your work is based on it-there is a happy medium?
What should we do to ensure that the situation does not get out of hand?
I think that governments should start from the assumption of "We will not negotiate, do not make concessions, do not pay."
They must show themselves decided, but then the reality is different.
The preventive training is essential, often do not realize it, and also the training provided in some cases it is ridiculous.
It angers me when I go to teach and feel what they did or said the instructors before me.
I teach how to avoid being kidnapped and how to survive; what I do is really kidnap and fill barrels for half a day.
They are crap and do nothing but create a psychological condition of powerlessness in the person.
We need more information, to ensure that help reduce seizures.
In the end, I'd be happier if people were not kidnapped, because I could make money in other ways.
Gain enough anyway with security and intelligence, I would be happy if there were no more seizures.
And finally, there are organizations-l'ISIS or Mexicans-with which you would treat no signs?
I think you have to consider each case individually: who is the person kidnapped?
What they want?
And try to see if you can help in some way, and if not It can, then your duty is not to accept the case.
My job is to free people, and if I can do it no matter who were kidnapped in the Middle East or Central America-is irrelevant; the important thing is to make sure that I can help.
In some parts of the world, if there is already the police involved, I let it go because it would not make me feel welcome, would not help me, and in fact I would obstruct.
Each case is different.

From Vice