Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-02-20
Army Rescues
Cuban Heir, 3,
From kidnapers
Chauffeur Deemed
FoithIess Is Slain;
JobIess Man Held
BY the Associated Press

SANTIAGO, Cuba, Feb. 90
Swift army action-rescue, ar
rests and the killing of a servant
deemed faithless-broke the
Facundo Bacardi kidnapping case
last night little more than II
hours after the 8-year-old heir
to rum fortune was seized for
$4,000 ransom.
The servant was Chauffeur
Guillermo Rodriguez. %. a dis
honorably discharged navy vet
eran who was at the wheel of
the station wagon in which the
boy vanished on his way to
fashionable private school yes
terday.
Accused of conspiracy in the
frustrated plot. Rodriguez was
shot to death while attempting
to escape" soon after Facundo
was restored to his parents.
hungry but safe and sound. A
joblesS youth seized while walk
ing the boy along a suburban
road was jailed in a barracks.
Army officials said Rodriguez.
discharged by the Navy as a
marijuana peddler and gambler
some months before the Bacardi
family hired him, died under a
hail Of soldiers bullets when he
made break for liberty in the
country while re-enacting his
part in the crime.
Faces 12-Year Sentence.
The surviving prisoner. Man.
uel Echevarria, 20. faces prose-
cution under a law providing a
maximum of II years for kid
mapping.
To Facundo. the day was one
Of hiking and hunger.
There was lots and lots of
walking and I got real tired and
hungry. =" he said. THE men did
not harm me in any way. but
they gave me nothing to eat. l
am just fine now"
Not penny ransom was paid.
Facundo's father, Daniel Ba-
cardi, vice president of the FAM
ily's Hatuey brewery in San
tiago, had anxiously assembled
the $4,000 in peso notes and
made one attempt through Rod
riguez to deliver it as indicated
in a ransom note the chauffeur
said was given him by a group
Of three kidnapers.
But Rodriguez returned with a
story that he was unable to re-
establish contact on this initial
attempt.
Army Lieutenant Is Hero.
A quick-thinking army lieu
tenant, Luis Gamboa, was the
hero of the rescue. Alerted in
a ground and air hunt for the
'kidnapers. he was patroling in
jeep about pm. in suburban
Melgarejo when he saw a man
and a boy walking along the
road.
On the chance that the boy
might be the rum heir, 1t. Gam
boa shouted, "Facundo!"
THE boy answered immedi-
ately I am Facundo,' and I
grabbed him as the man fled"
the lieutenant said.
Soldiers in nearby field fired
warning shots over the head of
the fleeing man and he quickly
surrendered.
The prisoner, Echevarria, iden-
titled himself and said Rodriguez
was his only accomplice.
Out of Work Long Time,
Echevarria told reporters he
had been out of work a long
time and needed money. He said
he and Rodriguez decided recent
ly to attempt a kidnapping and
chose Facundo because Rodri-
guez had the job with the Bacardi
family as chauffeur.
He said they wrote a crude
ransom note which Rodriguez
delivered to the frantic parents:
IF you want to save your boys
life send $4,000 pesos (the peso
is equal to SD by chauffeur. We
will find the chauffeur"
Mr.. Bacardi had agreed quickly
to send the money.
Rodriguez had told this story:
He had driven only few