4 Cubans Held for Trying to Abduct Exile
- Share via
MADRID — Police arrested a Cuban vice-consul, two embassy clerks and a professor today for trying to kidnap at gunpoint a political refugee who exile sources said was a top defector from Cuba’s secret service.
Witnesses told reporters the exile, a 50-year-old man who carried a briefcase, told them: “I carry very important documents. I don’t care about the money.”
They said three of the abductors managed to wrestle him into a car as he came out of a bank in downtown Madrid, but about 30 passers-by surrounded the vehicle and a taxi driver blocked its path until police arrived.
A Madrid city spokeswoman identified the exile as Manuel Antonio Sanchez Perez.
Cuban exile sources said Sanchez was not registered with either of the two relief agencies handling Cuban refugees in Spain. They told Reuters Sanchez was a top defector from the Cuban secret service G-2.
But the government spokeswoman said she could only say Sanchez was a highly qualified technician who had been granted political asylum.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
