MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Brazilian guerrilla involved in kidnap of ambassador extended US visa

Ambassador Charles Elbrick exchanged for political prisoners

A former Brazilian guerrilla who in 1969 was involved in the abduction of US ambassador Charles Elbrick has been extended a visa to travel to United States by the consulate office in Sao Paulo.

According to economist Paulo de Tarso Vencesalu the fact the President Obama administration agreed to extend him a visa marks a complete different attitude from the previous government of former president George Bush.

The news reported in Estado de Sao Paulo also recalls that current Social Communications minister Franklin Margins and Fernando Gabeira, member of Congress for the Green party were also involved in the kidnapping of Elbrick during Brazil’s military regime (1964/1985).

Congress member Gabeira had requested a visa during the administration of former President Bush but was rejected and impeded from travelling to the US.

Daniel Arao Reis, quoted in the Sao Paulo daily and who in the sixties belonged to the organization which planned the abduction of the US ambassador, said that the Obama administration has adopted a more “liberal” position regarding former Brazilian guerrillas.

Arao Reis argued that those who participated in the kidnapping of diplomats “have benefited from a Brazilian government amnesty” and are no longer believers in the armed struggle, so preventing them from travelling to United States “is a kind of punishment that doesn’t make sense in our times”.

Elbrik was exchanged for the liberation of fifteen political prisoners that were flown to Algeria. The kidnap was re-edited in the 1997 film “Four days in September” with Alan Arkin portraying Elbrick.

Gabeira was later caught, imprisoned, and then freed in another prisoner exchange, this time for the kidnapped West German ambassador. He lived in exile for ten years, returning to Brazil in 1979 taking advantage of a political amnesty.