German Ambassador To Brazil Kidnapped

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32322, 13 June 1970, Page 11

German Ambassador To Brazil Kidnapped

(N Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 12.

Eight terrorists, including a couple masquerading as lovers, kidnapped the West German Ambassador (Mr Ehrenfried von Holleben) in Rio de Janeiro last night after a street gunfight in which a security guard was killed and two others wounded.

The 60-year-old Ambassador was reported to have been unharmed in the gunfight, but there were fears today for his safety as the police launched a country-wide search for him and the kidnappers. t

Before speeding off with the Ambassador in a car the kidnappers scattered leaflets in the road demanding that the Brazilian Government release political prisoners in exchange for the Ambassador’s life.

Mr von Holleben, who is married and has three children, is the second West German Ambassador to have been kidnapped by terrorists in Latin American countries. Diplomat Killed Last April the West German Ambassador to Guatemala (Count Karl von Spreti) was executed by Left-wing rebels when the Government refused to meet their demands for ransom and the release of political prisoners. Witnesses, who refused to be named, told the Jornal do Brasil news agency that one of the kidnapping gang fired shots at a street lamp and knocked it out as the car carrying the Ambassador made its way from the West German Embassy along a steep winding road to his official residence in the Rio beach district of Gloria.

A pick-up truck then rammed the front of the diplomat’s vehicle, forcing it to a standstill.

Machine-gun Fire

At the same time, a couple posing as lovers opened up parcels they were carrying and sprayed an accompanying security service car with machine-gun fire. Three other armed men guarded the other side of the street while the driver of the pick-up rushed toward the Ambassador’s car, brandishing a revolver.

He then tried to open the rear .side-window of the car

to get at the Ambassador, who was sitting next to a security agent, Milande de Souza. Failing to force it open, he tried to break the glass. The security agent pulled out his gun but the kidnapper swiftly fired a shot, killing him instantly. One of the security agents in the escorting car was gravely injured by the machine-gun fire from the other members of the gang. He opened the car’s door and slid on to the road, pretending to be dead. A blonde girl scattered leaflets carrying the kidnappers’ demands while other gunmen held the remaining

security agents and the Ambassador’s chauffeur at bay with their guns. Some of the kidnappers then pushed Mr von Holleben into a beige-coloured Chevrolet and drove off. The others scrambled into a second car —a Volkswagen—which was parked on the side of the street.

A massive search was immediately launched for the kidnappers and Brazilian television stations broadcast a dramatic appeal for any information that would help in the search.

The Ambassador’s chauffeur, Mr Marinho Huttl, told reporters that he had been forced to stop by a pick-up

truck blocking the road. “I heard machine-gun shots, quickly answered by the Federals (embassy security officers). I covered my face with my bands and saw nothing else except the Ambassador being dragged out of our car.”

The Embassy appealed to the Brazilian Government “in the name of the German nation” to spare no efforts in finding the Ambassador, whose wife and three children all live in West Germany. He has been Ambassador in Brazil since May, 1966.

Government Assurance

The Brazilian Government, in turn, sent an assurance to Bonn that every possible effort would be made to secure the Ambassador’s freedom. The kidnapping occurred while most city residents sat at television sets watching the World Cup football match in Mexico between Czechoslovakia and England.