Kidnapped coach rescued after 64 days
Published: September 24, 2005
THE coach of a top Mexican football club, Ruben Omar Romano, was rescued from kidnappers by the police in a daring raid.
He said on Thursday that he was blindfolded but fed regularly and allowed to listen to the news and an occasional football game.
Despite having spent 64 days in captivity, Romano said he could not wait to get back to work.
He was kidnapped on 19 Jul while driving back after a practice session with Mexico City’s Cruz Azul team.
‘I feel a bit weak, and I still can’t believe I’m out of captivity,’ a smiling Romano told reporters.
‘But I’m happy to see my family and I’ve got the strength to go on fighting and be back with the team as quickly as possible.’
On Wednesday evening, officers from the Federal Agency of Investigation (AFI) - Mexico’s equivalent of the FBI - liberated Romano, 47, from a house in a working-class Mexico City neighbourhood, reported The Houston Chronicle.
SEVEN ARRESTED
Seven men and women were arrested without a single shot being fired, AFI Chief Genaro Garcia Luna said.
Romano’s high-profile abduction, Mr Garcia said, had been masterminded from inside a prison by convicted kidnapper Jose Luis Canchola.
‘Canchola used conjugal visits and visits from friends to keep in contact with his criminal network and oversee the kidnapping negotiations,’ he added.
The kidnappers had asked for a US$5 million ($8.4m) ransom, but no money was paid, Mr Garcia said.
Romano, an Argentine who has played and coached football in Mexico since the ’70s, was abducted by five armed assailants.
Talking about his days in captivity, Romano said: ‘I was in complete darkness during the 60 and something days, with my eyes covered.
‘Sometimes they changed the eye-wrap but I could never open my eyes.
TOUGH ORDEAL
‘I could hear. I could listen to the news, because they had a television and later they gave me a radio.’
‘I think they treated me pretty well. I can’t deny that.
‘They were always eager for me to eat, for me to be well.’
Negotiations between Romano’s family and the captors had not been going well just before his rescue, Mexican TV network Televisa reported.
Romano, who is married with three children, said: ‘The only serious threat was during the final days, when they did threaten me, my family - one more thing to worry about. Mentally, of course, it was difficult thinking of my family.’
The police said they had located the ’safe house’ where Romano was held before Wednesday but needed to wait for the best opportunity, reported the Dallas Morning News.
Romano said that he has no intention of leaving Mexico despite his ordeal. ‘It never crossed my mind. My family feels the same way. It was a bad experience; that’s how you have to take it.’
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