Off the wire
• Dutch FM says Lebanon under pressure over Syrian refugee crisis  • Germany's benchmark DAX index closes up  • 1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks rally amid housing data  • Egyptian army kills 19 militants in Western Desert, Sinai  • ECB foreign exchange rates of Euro to other currencies  • Chicago agricultural commodities close higher on short covering  • Urgent: U.S. stocks rally amid housing data  • U.S.-China relationship not a zero-sum game: Rice  • Scientists develop transparent cooling coating for solar cells  • 1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar soars on policy divergence  
You are here: 　 Home

Father, brother of Mexican director killed after ransom paid

Xinhua, September 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

The kidnapped father and brother of award-winning Mexican director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde have been killed, although the family have paid a ransom, local media reported on Monday.

The father, Juan Manuel Gomez Fernandez, and brother, Juan Manuel Gomez Monteverde, "were killed more than two weeks after being kidnapped, news network Radio Formula reported.

The bodies of the two men, who had been kidnapped Sept. 4 in the northwestern city of Tampico, Tamaulipas, were found in the town of Pueblo Viejo, in the neighboring state of Veracruz.

"The ransom had been paid to the kidnappers and still they killed the relatives of the filmmaker," the agency said.

Authorities found the bodies Saturday, and were able to identify them Sunday.

"Mexico has one of the highest kidnapping rates in the world," according to the InSight Crime foundation, "with complaints rising from 0.89 per day to 3.72 per day" in the past five years.

Gomez Monteverde's debut film "Bella" won the top prize, the People's Choice Award, at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. His latest movie was "Little Boy" released earlier this year. Endit