Sanyo Executive Relishes His Release

SAN DIEGO —  A day after gaining his freedom, the Japanese executive held captive for more than a week by Mexican kidnappers said he plans to rest, enjoy his family and “savor the sweetness of freedom.”

“This last week was one of the worst weeks of my life,” Mamoru Konno said.

Looking tired and emotionally drained, Konno, 57, read a brief statement to dozens of reporters, many of them representing Japanese news media, at a news conference at Sanyo North America Corp.’s San Diego headquarters. He thanked reporters for “coming to help celebrate my release.”

Meanwhile, Mexican authorities predicted an imminent break in their efforts to apprehend the six-member gang responsible for the kidnapping.

Konno was set free early Monday in the La Mesa area of Tijuana by a gang said by the Baja California attorney general’s office to number six men, all Mexicans or possibly including a South American. Konno was kidnapped Aug. 10 as he left a Tijuana park where a Sanyo company baseball game had been played. Sanyo paid the $2 million ransom.

Through a translator, Konno said the ordeal had left him exhausted “emotionally, physically and intellectually” and he credited his family for helping him survive the nine days of captivity.

“My family has been a tremendous source of support and encouragement, and I am elated to be reunited with them,” Konno added. “Thinking of them last week is what kept me going.”

The business executive did not take reporters’ questions, and Mexican and Sanyo officials declined to release any details about the treatment Konno received or descriptions of his captors.

A break in the case may come as early as today, said Teodoro Gonzalez Luna, spokesman for Baja California Atty. Gen. Jose Luis Anaya Bautista, who is based in Mexicali but is in Tijuana leading the investigation. Gonzales said a possible announcement on suspects’ identities or arrests may be made today.

At a news conference in Tijuana on Monday, Bautista said four of the six gang members had been identified and were believed to be the same group that kidnapped a wealthy Baja California farmer from the San Quentin area, about 200 miles south of Tijuana. The farmer was released unharmed last month.

Konno was the first executive from Mexico’s rapidly expanding maquiladora industry--foreign owned plants set up to make mainly export goods using Mexico’s low cost labor--known to have been kidnapped. The crime sent tremors throughout foreign managers who up to now have traveled freely from their homes located mainly on the U.S. side of the border to their work in Mexico.

Konno has been the president of Sanyo Video Components, one of several plants making televisions and other appliances that Sanyo operates in Tijuana, employing 5,000 workers. It was not clear whether Konno will remain on the job.

Meanwhile, many of the maquiladora managers who were shaken by Konno’s kidnapping have begun to seek out advice from security companies.

“Now everyone wants to learn more about crisis management and what to do in the event of a similar type of occurrence,” said Tony Ramirez, vice president of Made in Mexico, a San Diego-based maquiladora management and consulting firm.

Two international security firms are slated to speak at a special Sept. 4 meeting in San Diego of the Western Maquiladora Trade Assn., a group representing managers of 250 Tijuana-area maquiladoras. The meeting was called to “inform the membership on safety and security measures that can be taken in and out of the workplace,” Ramirez said.