MEXICO - Former presidential candidate freed

MEXICO CITY (AP):

A former Mexican presidential candidate was freed on Monday, seven months after his kidnapping, telling reporters outside his Mexico City home that he is well and forgives his captors.

Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, a top Mexican political power broker who ran unsuccessfully for president in 1994, gave no details about his abductors in what was the highest-profile and most brazen kidnapping in Mexico's recent history.

"As far as the kidnappers are concerned, as a man of faith I have forgiven (them)," he said, looking fit as he stood in a grey sweatshirt and pants outside his luxurious Mexico City home. "As a citizen, I think that the authorities have a task to do, but without abuses."

In a statement, President Felipe Calderon welcomed the freeing of Fernandez de Cevallos, a leading member of Calderon's conservative National Action Party, and pledged that prosecutors were working to detain the kidnappers.

The national party, known as PAN, issued a statement calling the seven-month kidnapping "a period of anguish and worry," and called on the government to investigate and punish those responsible "with the ultimate consequences".

a surprise

Fernandez de Cevallos had been missing since May when his vehicle was found near his ranch in the central state of Queretaro. His abduction caught the country by surprise: Kidnappers are known to target the rich and powerful, but seldom power brokers of his level.

Throughout the ordeal, photographs of the ex-candidate in captivity were sent to the Mexican news media, along with messages purportedly from him and his captors. Local news media reported in October that the family paid more than $20 million in ransom, though the family never confirmed that.

His imminent release was first announced by a previously unknown leftist group in statements posted on a blog last Friday. Rebel groups kidnapped Mexican politicians and businessmen in the 1970s, both to get operating money and make a political point.