Venezuelan journalist Nairobi Pinto was freed by her kidnappers on Monday after being seized by masked men in front of her home in Caracas eight days ago, reported El Universal. Venezuelan Interior Minister Miguel Rodríguez Torres told reporters at a news conference that she was in good health and credited “judicial..and police pressure”, including increased patrols in the region. She was released in Cúa, in neighboring Miranda state, after she presented herself to authorities there, and was then transported home to Caracas.
According to the Associated Press, Rodríguez Torres said that authorities have not wanted to publicly speculate about possible motives for the kidnapping but noted that Pinto – a head correspondent for Globovisión, a network long seen as unsympathetic to the government of late president Hugo Chávez but which was bought last May by a group which includes several prominent Chavistas – was a university law student and member of a Christian group in addition to being a journalist. Venezuela is among the top three most insecure countries in Latin America, along with Honduras and El Salvador, although the government says it made great strides in 2013, with kidnappings falling over 50 percent.
The BBC writes that Pinto herself appeared beside the interior minister at the press conference on Monday, where she said she hadn’t been able to identify her kidnappers because her eyes were always covered. “They treated me well. They never touched me, never mistreated me. I ate all three meals,” she told reporters. Pinto declined to give more details for security reasons.
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