GUATEMALA CITY- Thirteen missionaries who were kidnapped ``have been freed'', according to the spokesperson for the Guatemalan minister if the Interior, Nery Morales. Communication problems prevented the release of details on the liberation.
A group of armed individuals kidnapped the 13 American missionaries in the northern department of Petén, 500 kilometers (312.5 miles) from Guatemala City, the chief of the National Civil Police (PNC in Spanish), Angel Conte, disclosed yesterday.
He explained that the event took place on a ranch near the village of La Anchura, municipality of Sayaxché, a jungle area near the border with Mexico.
Conte told the press that the kidnappers demanded a $2 million ransom for their victims, according to the leader of the New Life mission, of which the kidnapped are members, and who was not identified by the police chief. Early reports had valued the ransom at $325,000.
According to the official, the 10 to 12 kidnappers, who carried AK-47 sub-machine guns and other heavy firearms, had released the leader of the religious organization so that he would disclose their demands and would help collect the ransom.
Conte further explained that the missionaries provided health and sanitation care in the area, which is one hour by outboard boat from the town of La Pasión, west of Sayaxché.
Furthermore, the sources had speculated that the victims could even have been in Mexico and that had this been so, as has been rumored, the kidnappers might be members of the Zapatista National Liberation Army.
Members of a PNC elite unit and of the Anti-Drug Operations Department (DOAN in Spanish) were deployed in the area, Conte said. He added that they also requested the help of the military in the area in order to hunt down the criminals and release their victims.
This is the third time that foreign volunteers working here have been kidnapped, starting with the abduction of a United Nations mission who were the victims of a para-military group in 1995.