Seven kidnapped diplomats in one year in Venezuela

An armed group of five subjects approached Mexican Ambassador to Venezuela Carlos Pujalte Piñeiro and his wife, Paloma Ojeda, and forced them to get in a car at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday morning.

According to police sources, they intercepted the 58-year-old diplomat and his wife in leaving a private party at Caracas Country Club.

It was learned that the couple was freed after paying a dear sum of US dollars, on Monday, at 4:45 a.m.

According to a bulletin from the press office of Libertador Municipality Police, its police agents drove the couple to the Mexican Embassy in Caracas.

Some minutes later, their car was found in Chapellín, a low-income barrio located in eastern Caracas.

At 7:25 a.m., officers of the Scientific, Criminal and Forensic Investigation Agency (Cicpc) took the vehicle to their police station in western Caracas. The city collapsed; all vehicles on the freeways of Caracas-La Guaira, Petare-Guarenas, Valle-Coche and Regional del Centro would be inspected.

Experts complained about poor coordination among State security agencies, because the diplomats had been released at 4:30 a.m.

The Mexican official communiqué

On Monday, at 2:00 p.m., Gabriela Olivo de Alba, the Mexican Cultural Attaché, read over a communiqué on the event, at the entrance of the Mexican Embassy.

"The Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SFA) reports that the Ambassador of Mexico to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Carlos Pujalte Piñeiro and his wife, were kidnapped on yesterday (Sunday) night, in the city of Caracas.

Fortunately, today in the early morning, they were released and are in good health. The Foreign Office is pleased with it.

In dealing with this delicate situation, the timely advice of the Secretariat of Public Security was particularly important.

Likewise, the SFA appreciates the endeavors of Venezuelan authorities to help find and release Ambassador Pujalte and his wife, and informs that it has requested the Government of Venezuela to carry out a thorough investigation in order to clarify these facts; at the same time, it is willing to cooperate with this task."

The Mexican ambassador is the seventh foreign officer who has been held hostage in less than one-year term.

Translated by Conchita Delgado