Gunman Frees U.S. Consular Agent, Aide in Mexico After 14-Hour Ordeal
A Mexican lawyer angered by a family inheritance case released a U.S. consular agent and a secretary unharmed early Friday after holding them hostage in Veracruz for 14 hours.
Officials in the port of Veracruz, 195 miles east of Mexico City, said lawyer Francisco Delfin Perez, 45, surrendered peacefully after holding consular agent Edwin Culp and his secretary, Teresa Horts, at gunpoint in the consular office.
U.S. and Mexican officials obtained the release by convincing Delfin Perez “that holding Culp was not the way to solve his problem,” according to U.S. Embassy spokesman Robert Hugins.
The state attorney general’s office said that no charges have been filed against Delfin Perez but that he was being interrogated.
Delfin Perez told reporters by telephone that he seized the two hostages because he admires Culp and thought that holding him would attract attention to his $1-million inheritance case.
He said that after his father’s death, his mother was granted ownership of two drugstores in Cordoba. He charged that authorities collaborated with his brother to swindle his mother.
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