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.
That's crazy! But I agree with you Jim...it's getting scarier. On our annual South Padre summer vacation we usually take a day to go to Mexico to shop in Progresso, but this year my mom absolutely refused to let me go...being all scared that I'd get taken or something.
That's cuz you some fine cracka!
Kidnapping. A factual growing trend in several Latin American nations, including Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela.
that's true....cute little blonde girl like you...drive those people crazy!That's cuz you some fine cracka!
I think its hilarious when the US is called barbaric by Latin American countries but we don't kidnap sports figures or shoot people over soccer games.
^Mikey, be careful, some people may step into the thread blast you for making a valid point.
True!
The sad thing is...its a small minority of nutbags that gives them all a bad name.
Mikey, maybe I'll start a blog war on this topic.
I think that anybody, whether Latin American, North American, European, Asia, Austrialian etc. etc., who grossly generalizes about entire cultures and countries is bitter about something, not to mention extremely insecure. So if you heard a foreign source call the U.S. "barbaric", its probably because they didn't get a work visa to have the opportunity to come to America to clean your toilets for you. Other than that, that's called petty, impassioned, completely ignorant envy. And I'd love to see a US$ value on charitable contributions to the needy made by those who make such comments. Barbaric? The point being that a few loudmouths obviously do not understand the tremendous generosity of the United States of America.
But I strayed off topic. I hope that this coach is found safely. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. And may the s sucking rotten lowlife bas s who did this be caught and incarcerated for more than the probably 6 months they'll do in a Mexican prison.
That's cuz you some fine cracka!
I agree. I think that certain things that the US does are questionable, but they're usually done by the government, not America in general. I think the same holds true for other countries.
I remember watching the 2004 Olympics during the opening ceremonies. There were questions about what kind of reception the American athletes would get because so many disagreed with the Iraq war. But when the US came out, the applause was huge and the commentators theorized that those at the games realized that what was happening politically had nothing to do with the athletes/citizens.
^Good point, Spurschick. I also remember a warm reception for the U.S. athletes. Very nice.
Colombia??
Edit: On second thought, Colombia doesn't count 'cause kidnapping has already become like the national sport over there.
No thats right, in the US sports figures aren't kidnapped, just the regular people. Not to mention people going on shooting rampages, serial killers, mass suicides, etc Now I'm not calling the US barbaric, but I resent that stupid comment you made.that's true....cute little blonde girl like you...drive those people crazy!
I think its hilarious when the US is called barbaric by Latin American countries but we don't kidnap sports figures or shoot people over soccer games.
The whole world is going to in a handbasket, if you ask my opinion.
I felt the same way about nuevo laredo and what was going on down there. But apparently a cousin of mine (who's lived in Laredo her whole life and always crosses over) says its not as they make it out to be. Its not as dangerous as they say. She says the shootings have more to do with the rival gangs and The heads of them trying to get things under control. The older "gang" leaders are going after the younger members who are going around killing people for no reason. Apparently during their time (don't jump on me for this, its not my thinking), when you killed someone it was for respect or for a purpose, not this little drive by crap or silly fights that turn out in murders. From what I understand the young ones are doing alot of this and they are tired of it. And the people who've died have been innocent bystanders in the wrong place around the wrong people. There are guards around the town who are intimidating themselves when searching you now, so I guess it just depends. She says its not as bad as it seems.
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.
We were actually planning on going down there in Oct for her daughter's quincenera, but she said if we are still worried she would hire drivers and find places for us to stay. Cause the kidnappings do worry me regardless. People do crazy things. Its a wicked wicked world
Agreed!
Nuevo Laredo isn't as bad as people say. I live in Laredo and go the Nuevo Laredo every month or so and nothing has happened to me. If you do go to the wrong part of town you might get caught up in something ugly, but that usually in the outscurts of the city. The violence is drug and gang related and so are the kidnappings.I felt the same way about nuevo laredo and what was going on down there. But apparently a cousin of mine (who's lived in Laredo her whole life and always crosses over) says its not as they make it out to be. Its not as dangerous as they say. She says the shootings have more to do with the rival gangs and The heads of them trying to get things under control. The older "gang" leaders are going after the younger members who are going around killing people for no reason. Apparently during their time (don't jump on me for this, its not my thinking), when you killed someone it was for respect or for a purpose, not this little drive by crap or silly fights that turn out in murders. From what I understand the young ones are doing alot of this and they are tired of it. And the people who've died have been innocent bystanders in the wrong place around the wrong people. There are guards around the town who are intimidating themselves when searching you now, so I guess it just depends. She says its not as bad as it seems.
We were actually planning on going down there in Oct for her daughter's quincenera, but she said if we are still worried she would hire drivers and find places for us to stay. Cause the kidnappings do worry me regardless. People do crazy things. Its a wicked wicked world
I think you should come the your cousins quinceañera, its pretty safe unless they are involved in drug trafficing,
then you better stay at home.
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