Guerrillas snatch Minister from car

Press, 21 April 1977, Page 8

Guerrillas snatch Minister from car

NZPA-Reuter San Salvador I Marxist urban guerrillas (have kidnapped th El Salvador Foreign Minister and are threatening to kill him unless the Government of ’the Central American republic releases 37 jailed comrades.

The guerrillas made their threat in a note delivered to news media in the capital, San Sal.ador, on Tuesday night after abducting the (Foreign Minister (Mr Maujricio Borgo.iovo Phol) from near his home in San Salvador earlier in the day. Official sources said that the Government was taking the threat seriously. The guerrillas, who claim to be members of a group called the Popular Liberation Forces, kidnapped the 40-vear-old Minister as he left home in his car in a rich western suburb for his office. | It was not known whether IMr Borgonovo, who has been Foreign Minister for I five years, had been hurt in the attack. Eye-witnesses said that his car was rammed by another vehicle whose occupants quickly overpowered him.

It was the most daring kidnap to date by guerrillas in El Salvador, still under a state of siege imposed during rioting after Presidential elections two months ago. The guerrillas have demanded that the 37 prisoners should be reed, given safe conduct out of the country, and granted political asylum in Mexico, Costa Rica, or Venezuela. The three countries have ali granted asylum to prominent Salvadorean political exiles in recent years. The Popular Liberation Forces were first heard of three years ago and the police said that they believed the group was a splinter from a larger group which has been going since the late 19605.