Kidnapped baseball player Ramos rescued

Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos, whose kidnapping in his native Venezuela has anguished sports fan around the world, has been rescued alive, government officials announced. "Baseball player Ramos was found alive by security forces in the mountain region of Montalban," Information Minister Andres Izarra said in a Twitter message. Minutes later, the announcement was confirmed by the country's Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami. "With a lot of joy, we would like to announce that an operation to rescue Wilson Ramos was completed several minutes ago," El Aissami said in a telephone call to a local television station. He said he did not know yet all the details of the operation because communication with the remote area where it had taken place was poor. Sports officials said Ramos was seized by four armed men near his home in Santa Ines in the center of the country on Wednesday. He had been training with his Venezuelan League team, the Aragua Tigres, with whom he plays during the winter tournament season. On Thursday, authorities said they found the vehicle used to abduct Ramos and had put together sketches of two of the kidnappers. The Nationals acquired Ramos, 24, from the Minnesota Twins in a trade in July 2010. As a rookie in 2011 he hit .267 with 15 home runs and 52 RBIs in 113 games. Kidnapping is not unusual in Venezuela, and many cases are resolved within hours or days after payment of a ransom. In 2009, the most recent year for which there are official figures, there were 16,917 kidnappings in the country, although some non-government organizations estimate the number is higher. A total of 271 Venezuelans have played with Major League Baseball in the United States. The first was Alejandro Carrasquel, in 1939. Although this was the first time a professional baseball player has been kidnapped in Venezuela, relatives of players have been snatched in recent years. In 2008, the brother of major leaguer Henry Blanco was killed by his kidnappers on the outskirts of Caracas. A year later, Major League Baseball catcher Yorvit Torrealba had to cut short his season in the United States and travel to Venezuela to negotiate with the kidnappers of his son, then 11 years old.