Kidnap victim freed

Press, 2 July 1979, Page 6

Kidnap victim freed

/ ■*• -■ • ■•■•■ 1 NZPA-Reuter Caracas > [ Venezuelan security offi'lcials were yesterday quesItioning an American exec.uJtive, William Niehous, who ;lwas rescued on Saturday by troops and police after 40 J months of captivity by Leftwing guerrillas. Mr Niehous, vice-president ,of the United States-based Owens Illinois Glass ComIpany, escaped after more [than 1000 soldiers and policemen had..fought with his captors in an isolated area of Bolivar State, about 800 km south-east of Caracas. Two guerrillas were killed in the clash. ■ Mr Niehous’s ordeal was perhaps the longest suffered by a kidnap victim. He was seized on .February 27, 1976. After his rescue he was taken by helicopter to Ciudad Bolivar, capital of Bolivar State. The helicopter pilot said that Mr Niehous had wept during the journey. Official sources said that Mr Niehous spoke for 20 minutes over the telephone with his wife, Donna, in Toledo, | Ohio. He was reported to be in excellent physical and mental health. His hair was below shoulder length.

si It was not clear if he .-[would stay in Venezuela or -[be taken to the United States -[soon. j [ His kidnappers had de/[mandecl that the Government j i distribute food parcels to -; needy families as a condition’ [for his safety. t[ They also demanded publii ication of documents in Ven--1 ezuelan and foreign newspapers which, they charged, . showed ’ that Mr Niehous’s . company was involved in acf tivities prejudicial to the i Venezuelan economy. I The Government refused to I meet the demands. Owens Illinois Glass then paid for the s publication of some of the 1 guerrilla’s communiques and > the Government took over . the local subsidiary on the s ground that it had violated I Venezuelan laws. ■ Two Left-wing congressjimen and a socialist militant 1 were among several persons arrested in connection with - the kidnapping. One of the ’ congressmen and the social--1 ist politician were later re- • leased. The kidnappers held on to , Mr Niehous in spite of pleas from his family and a ransom offer from his wife. Their long silence led to the widespread belief that he had been killed.