The United States today condemned the killing of an American kidnapped last year in Ecuador whose body was recovered yesterday, and demanded the abductors be brought to justice.
State Department spokesman, Mr Richard Boucher said Washington "abhors the senseless death of kidnapping victim Mr Ronald Sander," whose body was found near where he and five other American oil workers were abducted in October.
Mr Boucher also called for the kidnappers to immediately and unconditionally release the five others unharmed, and for Ecuadorian authorities to move swiftly to arrest and prosecute those responsible.
Mr Sander's body was found in the jungle along the border with Colombia, the same area in which the workers were kidnapped by an unknown armed group.
He was among 10 workers for the Spanish-Argentine oil company Repsol-YPF kidnapped near an oil well at Pompeya, 200 kilometers (124 miles) east of Quito and just 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the border with Colombia.
Two Frenchmen in the group escaped two days after the kidnapping. The fate of the other seven hostages is still unknown.
Mr Boucher declined to comment on the specifics of the kidnapping, but a senior State Department official said Washington was aware that ransom demands had been made for the abductees.
Neither Mr Boucher nor the senior official would comment on who, if anyone, the US believed was responsible for the kidnapping.
AFP