Kidnapped Utah man may be hurt

Kidnapped Utah man may be hurt

Sept. 16, 1999

By Gail Binkly

A 23-year-old Four Corners native kidnapped Saturday in the jungles of Ecuador may be in need of medical attention, according to sources in Ecuador.

Leonard Carter, a Navajo oil worker from Hatch, Utah, was taken hostage along with seven Canadian oil workers and four European tourists by an unidentified group of armed assailants. A relative of Carter said Wednesday the family is very concerned and members are gathering together to offer each other support.

No ransom demands had been received as of Wednesday morning, and there was no new information on the identity of the kidnappers or their whereabouts, said a spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy in Quito who asked not to be identified.

A report from a Paris news service that was published in Ecuadorean newspapers said four of the 12 hostages were believed to be in need of medical attention, including Carter, who was reported to have a deep wound on one hand that was in danger of infection.

Three of the Canadians likewise had health problems, the Ecuadorean press was stating, quoting the Ecuadorean Armed Forces Joint Command, which said it had received the information from colleagues of the oil workers.

One of the Canadians is reportedly an asthmatic who did not have his medicine with him; another was said to have an intestinal infection and to be possibly dehydrated; and a third is allergic to insect bites, putting him at risk while traveling in the jungle.

All four of the workers were said to have had the problems before they were kidnapped.

The men, all employees of United Pipelines Systems of Edmonton, Alberta, were working on a project approximately 30 miles from the Colombian border in the densely forested province of Sucumbios when they were captured by a group of about 25 armed terrorists.

The project involved rehabilitating an 80-kilometer stretch of 8-inch oil pipeline, according to a spokesman for UPS, and UPS was under contract to City Investing, a Canadian energy company. The workers had been on the project for several weeks.

On Saturday they were being guarded by four Ecuadoreans, one of whom was killed during the attack, according to the Associated Press.

According to the AP, shortly after the attack, the kidnappers set up a roadblock on a nearby highway, stopped 15 vehicles, and took four more hostages: two Spanish women, one Spanish man, and a Belgian woman, all instructors with the Latin American Radio Broadcasters Association.
In a prepared statement, UPS said it had reviewed its security measures during on-site meetings with City Investing before crews were sent into the area.

"There was a strong security program in place at the time of the incident," the statement read. "The workers were under constant armed escort while on the job site and while traveling to and from the site. There were private security personnel on the site, complemented by additional security provided by the Ecuadorean military.

"This was an unprecedented major incursion from an organized major assault force that was not consistent with past profiles and the risks perceived to date."

According to the UPS spokesman, the families of the seven Canadian hostages met Tuesday night in an Edmonton hotel and were briefed on the situation by Helen Harris of Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and David Kilgour, secretary of state for Latin America and Africa.

A statement prepared by Kilgour's staff said the Ecuadorean president has made it clear that the safety of the hostages is "paramount."

"It was announced at the meeting (of the families) that Canada's ambassador to Ecuador, John Neale, was present in Quito Sept. 14 when the Ecuadorean defense minister, Jose Gallardo, telephoned the colonel in charge of the search," the statement said.

"Gallardo told the colonel that President (Jamil) Mahaud, who is also commander in chief, has ordered that the safety of the 12 hostages is paramount and if contact is made there is to be no violence."

Although the group behind the attack has not made itself known, a number of eyewitnesses to the kidnapping believed the assailants were Colombian because of their accents, according to the spokesperson at the embassy. It was widely speculated in the Ecuadorean press that they might be members of FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a leftist rebel army engaged in an ongoing struggle with the government of Colombia, or another similar group seeking ransom money to finance its operations.

However, others speculated that a paramilitary right-wing group might have conducted the kidnappings to discredit the leftists, the AP reported.

The U.S. Embassy in Ecuador recently released the following statement:

"The U.S. Embassy is deeply concerned about the kidnapping of foreign workers and tourists, including one U.S. citizen, on Saturday, Sept. 11, in the Ecuadorean province of Sucumbios. We are working very closely with the Ecuadorean government and armed forces to obtain the release of those who are kidnapped. We are also cooperating with the embassy of Canada, other embassies involved, and with the companies involved."