Kidnapping of Abilio Diniz

The kidnapping took place in the morning of the Brazilian presidential election in Brazil in 1989 when the candidates were Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, founding member of the Workers' Party, and Fernando Collor de Mello, the right wing party candidate running for a newly formed National Reconstruction Party, backed by the richest man in Alagoas, senator João Lyra, who reportedly gave up to $16 million to help elect Collor. When arrested, the kidnappers characterized themselves as members of a left-wing group. In June 1989, two Canadians David Spencer and Christine Lamont joined the kidnap-gang. They used their Canadian passports and contacts to rent a number of apartments in preparation for the next victim, the principal shareholder of Brazil's largest supermarket chain, Abilio Diniz. In December 1989 Diniz was dragged out of his Mercedes-Benz as he was on his way to work and then bundled into a station wagon disguised as an ambulance. Diniz was freed and ten people were arrested. The police arrested five Chileans, two Argentines, a Brazilian, along with the two Canadians Spencer and Lamont. Chilean police were later able to confirm that three of the Chileans are members of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left: • Ulises Gallardo Acevedo - Movement of the Revolutionary Left cadre • Pedro Fernandes Lembach - an explosives expert, was secretary of Chile's National Council of Political Prisoners while he was in jail in Chile. • Maria Emilia Badilla - spent 10 years in jail in Chile for subversive activities. ==The Canadians==

David Spencer David Spencer was born in in Moncton, New Brunswick. A university dropout who moved to Vancouver in the 1980s where he found work at an alternate radio station. There he met Christine Lamont, a student at Simon Fraser University. The two soon became supporters of the Sandinista movement in Nicaragua and became members of Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador. While both Lamont and Spencer stated they were innocent, there were several inconsistencies with their story. First, trial transcripts show that the two had rented two houses in São Paulo using false passports and letters of reference. One of these houses was later used to house Diniz. Secondly, these transcripts state that Spencer had obtained the materials the cell later used to house Diniz. Finally, they also state that Spencer had actually participated in guarding the kidnap victim. Release Lamont and Spencer continued to battle the Brazilian government in an effort to be deported back to Canada. In November 1998 after a hunger strike by the pair, the Brazilian government accused them of violating "good behaviour" and refused to release them to Canadian authorities. That decision was soon reversed, and on November 21, 1998 they landed in Abbotsford, British Columbia and were immediately taken to a local prison. Two years later the pair was granted full parole. ==See also==