Jimcs50
07-21-2005, 08:56 AM
Mexico City has another high-profile kidnapping
Soccer coach seized Tuesday joins a lengthy list of victims
By DUDLEY ALTHAUS
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
MEXICO CITY - Authorities asked citizens Wednesday to come forward with any possible leads after gunmen kidnapped the coach of a leading soccer team as he was driving a luxury car on a city street.
Ruben Omar Romano, 47, coach of the Cruz Azul team, was abducted in southern Mexico City Tuesday afternoon.
Witnesses said several vehicles forced Romano's gray BMW to a halt outside the soccer club's training facilities. Five armed men, they said, forced him into a waiting vehicle and disappeared.
Romano's father issued an impassioned plea for the kidnappers to return his son "as he is ... Don't hurt him!"
News reports said a ransom note demanding $500,000 was found Wednesday morning under a church bench.
Romano has coached Cruz Azul, one of Mexico's premier professional soccer teams, since last year, sparking the team's resurgence. The father of two is a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and has been coaching various soccer teams in Mexico since 1998.
Mexico City Attorney General Bernardo Batiz said Romano's family members have not yet reported the crime, although the abduction was widely reported by Mexico City's media. As a result, Batiz said, the police would stay "on the margins" of the case for now.
Many kidnappings in Mexico are handled by private agencies that negotiate the return of victims.
Two weeks ago, a Mexico City physician was found dead on a street not far from where Romano was grabbed. The mother of two young children was apparently killed even though her family had paid a ransom. Another kidnap victim was slain here last week as well.
Mexico ranks only behind Colombia for the number of kidnappings that occur each year. Mexico City, along with nearby states such as Guerrero and Michoacán, leads the country in the incidence of the crime.
Nearly 3,000 kidnappings, including 469 last year, have been reported across Mexico since 1999, according to the Federal Investigations Agency, Mexico's equivalent of the FBI.
So far this year, 67 kidnappings have been reported in Mexico City.
Authorities and private analysts agree that the actual number is greater. Many abductions go unreported by victims and relatives often afraid police are involved.
High-profile abductions, like that of Romano, have been declining recently, said Rene Jimenez, a criminologist at Mexico City's National Autonomous University, who studies kidnappings.
Jimenez said the public nature of Romano's kidnapping and the potential impact on the presidential bid of Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador raise questions about the abductors' motives.
"There is something more here beyond money," Jimenez said. "We have to stay calm and look deeper into this."
Lopez Obrador recently accused the citizens group Mexico United Against Delinquency, which has broadcast television commercials calling for a crackdown on kidnappings and other crimes, of plotting against his candidacy. Officials of the group deny those charges.
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Given this kidnapping crap in Mexico City and Nuevo Laredo shootings, I would never step foot in that God forsaken country anymore. That is too bad because it used to be a great place to go visit. The world is getting more and more dangerous. :(
Soccer coach seized Tuesday joins a lengthy list of victims
By DUDLEY ALTHAUS
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
MEXICO CITY - Authorities asked citizens Wednesday to come forward with any possible leads after gunmen kidnapped the coach of a leading soccer team as he was driving a luxury car on a city street.
Ruben Omar Romano, 47, coach of the Cruz Azul team, was abducted in southern Mexico City Tuesday afternoon.
Witnesses said several vehicles forced Romano's gray BMW to a halt outside the soccer club's training facilities. Five armed men, they said, forced him into a waiting vehicle and disappeared.
Romano's father issued an impassioned plea for the kidnappers to return his son "as he is ... Don't hurt him!"
News reports said a ransom note demanding $500,000 was found Wednesday morning under a church bench.
Romano has coached Cruz Azul, one of Mexico's premier professional soccer teams, since last year, sparking the team's resurgence. The father of two is a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and has been coaching various soccer teams in Mexico since 1998.
Mexico City Attorney General Bernardo Batiz said Romano's family members have not yet reported the crime, although the abduction was widely reported by Mexico City's media. As a result, Batiz said, the police would stay "on the margins" of the case for now.
Many kidnappings in Mexico are handled by private agencies that negotiate the return of victims.
Two weeks ago, a Mexico City physician was found dead on a street not far from where Romano was grabbed. The mother of two young children was apparently killed even though her family had paid a ransom. Another kidnap victim was slain here last week as well.
Mexico ranks only behind Colombia for the number of kidnappings that occur each year. Mexico City, along with nearby states such as Guerrero and Michoacán, leads the country in the incidence of the crime.
Nearly 3,000 kidnappings, including 469 last year, have been reported across Mexico since 1999, according to the Federal Investigations Agency, Mexico's equivalent of the FBI.
So far this year, 67 kidnappings have been reported in Mexico City.
Authorities and private analysts agree that the actual number is greater. Many abductions go unreported by victims and relatives often afraid police are involved.
High-profile abductions, like that of Romano, have been declining recently, said Rene Jimenez, a criminologist at Mexico City's National Autonomous University, who studies kidnappings.
Jimenez said the public nature of Romano's kidnapping and the potential impact on the presidential bid of Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador raise questions about the abductors' motives.
"There is something more here beyond money," Jimenez said. "We have to stay calm and look deeper into this."
Lopez Obrador recently accused the citizens group Mexico United Against Delinquency, which has broadcast television commercials calling for a crackdown on kidnappings and other crimes, of plotting against his candidacy. Officials of the group deny those charges.
[email protected]
Given this kidnapping crap in Mexico City and Nuevo Laredo shootings, I would never step foot in that God forsaken country anymore. That is too bad because it used to be a great place to go visit. The world is getting more and more dangerous. :(