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Venezuela Charges 8 Suspects in Ramos Kidnapping


Major League Baseball player Wilson Ramos attends a news conference in Valencia, Venezuela November 12, 2011.
Major League Baseball player Wilson Ramos attends a news conference in Valencia, Venezuela November 12, 2011.

Venezuelan officials say eight suspects have been charged in the kidnapping of Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos in his native country, less than a week after he was rescued.

Officials say six suspects directly involved in Ramos kidnapping face weapons charges after he was taken at gunpoint outside his parents' house in Valencia last Wednesday.

Prosecutors are charging two other suspects as accomplices for providing Ramos' alleged kidnappers with food.

Two days after his kidnapping, Venezuelan security forces rescued Ramos in the mountainous region of Montalban.

Ramos told the media the forces who freed him in an exchange of gunfire did a great job.

The baseball star told Venezuela's Globovision television that his abductors had not harmed him physically, but had greatly hurt him "psychologically." He said he would start playing baseball again as soon as he felt better.

Ramos had recently returned to his homeland to play with his winter league team, the Aragua Tigers.

Relatives of U.S. major league players have been kidnapped in Venezuela in recent years, but not players themselves.

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