Margarita Island

Margarita Island, off the coast of Venezuela
, is relatively new to tourism and I am asked to fill in a questionnaire.

What is the first thing you think of when you think of Venezuela?

"Sequestro Express ( the film) and kidnapping."

But those are not the answers that the local tourist board with its embryonic tourist industry want to hear.

Spectacular mountains, boat rides through mangrove lagoons and palm fringed beaches is how they wish visitors to remember their country.

And they have got that by the bucketload.

But it is difficult to ignore the shanty towns alongside the burgeoning gated communities.

One understands now the background to the award winning film Sequestro Express made in Caracas which used local people to portray a new crime: kidnapping wealthy middle class people for modest ransom money - several thousand dollars-for a quick turnover of hostages.