UPcrawfish
12-16-2006, 11:00 PM
‘Libby’ now free; Younger Piña returns after early-morning release; no news on Piña Jr., Cantu
By TRICIA CORTEZ, LAREDO MORNING TIMES 12/16/2006
Almost three weeks after being abducted in a harrowing, armed attack involving 30 to 50 masked men, Librado “Libby” Piña III, 25, was released early Friday morning. The whereabouts of his father, Librado Jr., 49, and the ranch cook, Marcos Cantu of Nuevo Laredo, kidnapped in the same raid, are still unknown.
Sources say the younger Piña was released between 12:30 and 1 a.m. at one of the two downtown bridges that span the Rio Grande into Nuevo Laredo.
“We’re happy that my nephew is back, and all I can say is that he’s in great spirits,” Piña’s uncle, Eddie, said Friday. “He told us that it was all the people’s prayers who got him through all of that.”
Eddie Piña declined to comment further on any details, including his nephew’s condition.
“They still have my brother pending, so it’s a critical time,” he said. “We’re just hoping and praying he will come home soon.”
A law enforcement official close to the case asked not to be identified, but said the situation “is getting very intense.”
The source said, “A lot is happening right now and we don’t want to do anything to upset what’s going on.”
Piña Jr. is a well-known business owner and licensed U.S. Customs broker in Laredo.
On the night of Nov. 27, armed men entered the elder Piña Jr.’s ranch, La Barranca de los Apaches, in the Mexican State of Coahuila, on the highway to Piedras Negras, about 30 miles northwest of the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge.
After ransacking and emptying the ranch house of all contents that Sunday night, the gang kidnapped Piña Jr., his son, Libby, the ranch cook, Marcos Cantu of Nuevo Laredo, and two visiting hunters.
The two hunters, David Mueller of west Texas and Felix Rodriguez Cerdan of the Monterrey area, were released three days later in the middle of the night on a country road in Mexico.
Eddie Piña and other family members have appeared on CNN and local television stations the last two weeks to make pleas to the kidnappers to make contact with the Piña family to negotiate the safe return of their loved ones.
FBI officials say 60 U.S. citizens have been kidnapped in this area of the border since 2004, and 21 cases remain unresolved.
(Tricia Cortez may be reached at (956) 728-2568 or by e-mail at tricia@lmtonline.com)
By TRICIA CORTEZ, LAREDO MORNING TIMES 12/16/2006
Almost three weeks after being abducted in a harrowing, armed attack involving 30 to 50 masked men, Librado “Libby” Piña III, 25, was released early Friday morning. The whereabouts of his father, Librado Jr., 49, and the ranch cook, Marcos Cantu of Nuevo Laredo, kidnapped in the same raid, are still unknown.
Sources say the younger Piña was released between 12:30 and 1 a.m. at one of the two downtown bridges that span the Rio Grande into Nuevo Laredo.
“We’re happy that my nephew is back, and all I can say is that he’s in great spirits,” Piña’s uncle, Eddie, said Friday. “He told us that it was all the people’s prayers who got him through all of that.”
Eddie Piña declined to comment further on any details, including his nephew’s condition.
“They still have my brother pending, so it’s a critical time,” he said. “We’re just hoping and praying he will come home soon.”
A law enforcement official close to the case asked not to be identified, but said the situation “is getting very intense.”
The source said, “A lot is happening right now and we don’t want to do anything to upset what’s going on.”
Piña Jr. is a well-known business owner and licensed U.S. Customs broker in Laredo.
On the night of Nov. 27, armed men entered the elder Piña Jr.’s ranch, La Barranca de los Apaches, in the Mexican State of Coahuila, on the highway to Piedras Negras, about 30 miles northwest of the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge.
After ransacking and emptying the ranch house of all contents that Sunday night, the gang kidnapped Piña Jr., his son, Libby, the ranch cook, Marcos Cantu of Nuevo Laredo, and two visiting hunters.
The two hunters, David Mueller of west Texas and Felix Rodriguez Cerdan of the Monterrey area, were released three days later in the middle of the night on a country road in Mexico.
Eddie Piña and other family members have appeared on CNN and local television stations the last two weeks to make pleas to the kidnappers to make contact with the Piña family to negotiate the safe return of their loved ones.
FBI officials say 60 U.S. citizens have been kidnapped in this area of the border since 2004, and 21 cases remain unresolved.
(Tricia Cortez may be reached at (956) 728-2568 or by e-mail at tricia@lmtonline.com)