CARACAS--Mexico's ambassador to Caracas and his wife were kidnapped overnight and then freed on Monday in the latest high profile abduction in Venezuela, where violent crime is routinely listed as citizens' No. 1 worry.
In the typical style of "express" kidnappings that are rife in the South American country, four armed men seized envoy Carlos Pujalte and his wife as they left a reception in the capital's wealthy Country Club neighborhood by car at around midnight, diplomats and officials said. The kidnappers released the couple in a slum before dawn.
"We are so happy he's safe. I've been up following the case all night," said a senior European diplomat, whose own security has been beefed up in recent months.
Details remained sketchy, but Venezuela's government said security forces launched an operation that forced the gunmen to free their captives. It did not elaborate, but said the envoy's car was found in another part of the city.
The incident underlined voters' fears about kidnappings, robberies and murders that are common in the OPEC nation, which has enormous oil wealth alongside deep poverty. The attorney general's office said a full investigation had been launched.
Mexico's Foreign Ministry said Pujalte and his spouse were in good health after the incident, and a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Caracas said they were giving statements to the police. "We regret this situation deeply," spokesman Fernando Godinez told a local radio station.
Senior diplomats from Chile and Belarus were also seized in Caracas in similar incidents last year, according to diplomatic sources. The Chilean consul, Juan Carlos Fernandez, was shot and beaten during his kidnapping in November. Robbery was the assumed motive in those abductions.
"We don't know yet what happened last night, if they robbed the Mexican ambassador or asked for a ransom or what," said one foreign security expert at a embassy in Caracas who was tracking the case closely. "It's a worrying trend though."
