Young journalism student kidnapped, attempted to alert friends and family via Facebook

Gabriel Andrés Martínez Tenorio (via Facebook)

April 8^th, 2013 (InsideCostaRica.com) Gabriel Andrés Martínez Tenorio, a young journalism student, was allegedly kidnapped around Coronado yesterday morning.  His alleged abductors later dumped him near Palmares.

According to reports, Martinez said he was abducted by two men in a red taxi near Coronado.

Later, he was thrown into the street near Palmares, after being beaten, where residents found him and alerted police.

Apparently, the young man may have attempted to alert family and friends via Facebook that he had been kidnapped.

About an hour after Martinez’s release, the Deputy Minister of Security, Celso Gamboa, told local media that it is preferable that kidnapping victims “keep a low profile” while they are captive, to avoid “putting pressure on the kidnappers.”

Gamboa said that in many cases, the publicity caused by making public that a victim is in the hands of kidnappers can “disrupt the investigation and even endanger the life of the kidnapped person.”

The Deputy Minister stressed that these cases should be handled quietly, as experience in other countries indicate that kidnappers often choose to end the life of the victim when they feel under pressure due to publicity and public knowledge of the kidnapping.

“In a kidnapping case it is important to keep [the facts] quiet, because publicity generates more pressure on the kidnappers and may force them to make the decision to take the life of the person.  We have seen this in other countries.  In Costa Rica [few kidnapping victims] are killed because kidnappings are handled with great caution,” Gamboa said.