Mexican ex-candidate freed by kidnappers
MEXICO CITY – A former Mexican presidential candidate was freed Monday more than seven months after his kidnapping, telling reporters outside his Mexico City home that he is well and forgives his captors.
Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, a top Mexican political power broker who ran unsuccessfully for president in 1994, gave no details about his abductors in what was the highest-profile and most brazen kidnapping in Mexico’s recent history.
“As far as the kidnappers are concerned, as a man of faith I have forgiven (them),” he said, looking fit as he stood in a gray sweat shirt and pants outside his luxurious Mexico City home. “As a citizen, I think that the authorities have some work to do.”
In a statement, President Felipe Calderon said he talked by telephone with Fernandez de Cevallos, 69, a leading member of Calderon’s conservative National Action Party, expressing his joy at the release of his friend and promising to use the full force of the law to bring the kidnappers to justice.
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Former Mexican presidential candidate Diego Fernandez de Cevallos speaks with journalists outside his home in Mexico City, Monday, Dec. 20, 2010. Fernandez de Cevallos, who had been missing since May 15, said that he is well, he thanks God and he has forgiven his kidnappers (AP Photo/Claudio Cruz)