International Herald Tribune: A high-ranking executive of one of Venezuela's leading banks has been kidnapped, authorities said Friday. Banker German Garcia Velutini was abducted by a group of heavily armed and masked men who forced him out of his car on an avenue in the capital, prosecutors said in a statement.

Garcia, 54, was abducted Wednesday shortly after leaving the headquarters of Banco Venezolano de Credito in Caracas. Authorities said the assailants left behind one of the vehicles they had used to block his way and fled. "We feel extremely anguished," the banker's family said in a statement. They said the kidnappers had not yet contacted them, and the motive for the abduction was unclear.

Garcia Velutini is president of the securities trading company Vencred Casa de Bolsa. He is also on the board of directors of Banco Venezolano de Credito and is the brother of the bank's president, Oscar Garcia Mendoza, an outspoken critic of President Hugo Chavez.

Ransom kidnappings have been on the rise in the South American country in recent years, and polls show violent crime is Venezuelans' top concern.

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2009/02/27/business/LT-Venezuela-Kidnapping.php