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‘Express’ abduction of Spanish citizen ends in tragedy

Mexico City’s growing reputation as a safe destination  was dealt a severe blow this week after the niece of the president of the Spanish Soccer Federation was kidnapped and murdered in the capital. 

The body of María Villar Galaz, 39, was discovered outside Toluca on September 15, dumped in a stream with her feet and hands bound and a plastic bag wrapped around her head. She had died from asphyxiation.  

According to police reports, Villar Galaz was abducted   September 13 after leaving the IBM building in the Santa Fe district, where she worked as a consultant. Colleagues said she was planning to take a taxi to her home in the Polanco neighborhood.  After forcing her to withdraw cash from various ATMs, the kidnappers called family members to demand a ransom, reported by one news source to have been around $US100,000. 

In a radio interview, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García Margallo said a “small part” of the ransom was paid the following day and the family fully expected their relative to be released safe and sound. (One news source this week said the amount handed over was 65,000 pesos, around $US3,275.)

A woman’s body discovered the next day in the municipality of Santiago Tianguistenco, Estado de México was later identified as that of Villar Galaz.

Abductions where victims are forced to withdraw money from their accounts at ATMs are common throughout Mexico and often referred to “secuestros exprés” (express kidnappings). In most cases, fortunately, the victims are released unharmed. 

García Margallo recognized that it was “atypical” for this kind of crime to have been committed in Mexico City.  

News of the kidnapping and murder has provoked consternation and anger in Spain, where the interior minister described the situation as “dramatic.”  

Spain is one of Europe’s largest investors in Mexico and thousands of Spanish tourists visit the capital each year.

Spanish police are assisting their Mexican counterparts in the investigation of the crime. 

Villar Galaz’s uncle, Angel Maria Villar, has been president of the Spanish Football Federation since 1988.

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