American Kidnapped by Ex-Contras in Nicaragua Is Freed

Former Nicaraguan rebels released a kidnapped American election observer and her driver Saturday in jungle-covered northeastern Nicaragua, a government official said.

Cynthia Gersony, 41, of New York City, was “freed by the rearmed Contra group that kidnapped her yesterday near the Honduran border,” government spokesman Emigdio Quintero said.

Some former members of the Contra group, which waged an insurgency against the leftist Sandinista government in the 1980s, have resurfaced in armed gangs in northern Nicaragua. Police recently began a sweep in the region to end the banditry.

Gersony and driver Roberto Moncada were abducted Friday outside the jungle village of Somutigny, near the Honduran border.

Quintero said Gersony was freed unharmed after a special team negotiated with the abductors. Authorities said Moncada was also released. Nicaraguan officials said the army and police were asked not to intervene.

Gersony was expected to reach the town of Wiwili, about 240 miles northeast of Managua, late Saturday before traveling to the northern town of Jinotega to rejoin her husband, said Quintero, a spokesman for the Social Welfare Ministry.

In a letter to Nicaraguan authorities shortly after the abduction, the kidnappers demanded two more voter registration stations in the area. General elections are to be held Oct. 20.