Kidnapped Envoy’s Body Found In House

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32265, 7 April 1970, Page 15

Kidnapped Envoy’s Body Found In House

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter-Copyright) GUATEMALA CITY, April 6. The kidnapped West German Ambassador, Count Karl Von Spreti, was found dead in Guatemala with a bullet wound in his temple oozing a small trickle of blood, and his rimless glasses clenched in one hand. The body of the 62« year-old German nobleman—snatched last Tuesday by the Leftwing Rebel Armed Forces (F.A.R.) from his chauffeur-driven car—was found late last night in an abandoned house on the northern outskirts of the capital after an anonymous telephone call. ' •' ■ “There is a corpse on kilometre 17 on the road to San Pedro,” the caller said.

Soldiers and police rushed to the spot. There they found the body clad in the crumpled blue suit Count Von Spreti was wearing when he was kidnapped. At his feet lay his dark sunglasses and around were scattered his coat, wallet and other small belongings.

He was the second ambassador to die in Guatemala—one of the Latin American countries where kidnappings of diplomats to force governments in political concessions has become increasingly frequent.

In August, 1968, the United States Ambassador to Guatemala, Mr John Gordon Mein,

was shot dead by Left-wing terrorists while driving through the capital. In January the same year a United States naval attache and the commander of a United States military advisory group were also killed by terrorists while driving through the capital. Prelate On TV An announcement by a Guatemalan Government military official that the count’s body had been found came only hours after the kidnappers told the Papal Nuncio in Guatemala City that he was safe and well The Nuncio, Monsignor Gerolamo Prigione, who had been acting as intermediary between the Government and the rebels, then went on tele vision to appeal for the life of the ambassador. He said that the kidnappers had called him at 2.15 p.m. and promised to call back but did not Monsignor Prigione said that was why he was making the apneat He went on to deny reports that the kidnappers had set a 15-minute deadline for the Government to meet their demands for the release of 25 political prisoners and SUS7OO,OOO ransom for the count Demands Refused Guatemala’s Government had flatly refused to meet the guerrillas’ demands. Shortly before news of the

count’s death, his wife, Countess Helena Von Spreti, arrived back in Guatemala City from Panama. She had been away on a voyage when the kidnapping occurred.

■ Also in the hours before , the body was discovered, a 9 telegram was received here 1 by the President, Julio Cesar i Montenegro, from the West German Chancellor, Mr Willy

Brandt, now visiting the' United States, saying that there was a growing impression the Government was not exhausting all possibilities of liberating him. The military spokesman who announced the count's death said he apparently had been killed by F.A.R. One Guatemalan soldier who saw the ambassador’s body lying crumpled in the roofless, abandoned cottage, said that he recognised it from photographs. The count had his rimless glasses in one hand, he said. It looked as though they had been put there after he had been killed. He said that the ambassador had apparently been dead several hours when found. City Sealed Off Immediately afterwards Guatemala City was sealed off by troops in utility vehicles and armed with machine-guns to prevent anyone from entering. The country has been under a state of siege since last week after the kidnapping and other terrorist violence. Under these emergency conditions, the military was put in control of the country for 30 days. The Associated Press reported that the body was found near an adobe house where Count Von Spreti was believed to have been since Tuesday. A ring remained on his finger and the eye-glasses held in his hand were covered in blood. Dirt Road The dirt road leading to the place where he was found is not easily accessible and is quite narrow. The body was not identified officially until a brigade of firemen and some local reporters arrived at the scene to look at the body. Several officials from the German Embassy, including Mr Wilhelm Hoppe, a special envoy sent from Bonn to aid in obtaining Count Von Spreti’s release, and the Charge d’Affaires, Mr Gerhard Mikesch, also went to the scene.

When they returned about 10 p.m. they confirmed Count Von Spreti’s death. The body was expected to be brought to Guatemala City within a few hours after legalities in the municipality had been complied with.