Spain Ousts 4 Cubans in Kidnaping Bid
Spain has ordered the expulsion of the Cuban vice consul in Madrid and three other envoys for the attempted kidnaping of a Cuban defector, the Spanish Foreign Ministry announced.
Vice Consul Angel Alberto Leon Cervantes, two embassy clerks and Cuban Prof. Ventura Ventura Torrientes were arrested Thursday when they tried to force Manuel Sanchez Perez into a car in Madrid.
The kidnaping attempt failed when bystanders responding to Sanchez’s cries surrounded the car while a taxi cut off its escape route. The crowd alerted police, who arrested the men.
Spanish radio said the victim detected the presence of the kidnapers before going into a bank and alerted police, who arrested the four diplomats. Police said the vice consul and one of the clerks were carrying guns.
Western diplomatic sources said Sanchez, a 50-year-old refugee provisionally granted asylum, was a Cuban intelligence agent.
They were unable to confirm reports by Cuban exiles that he was the Havana government’s espionage paymaster for Western Europe and the United States.
The radio, quoting Cuban exile sources, said Sanchez was carrying a list of Cuban espionage agents in his briefcase.
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