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Guatemalan president's family flee to Canada

Last Updated: Friday, November 10, 2000 | 11:58 PM ET

CBC News
A kidnapping threat has prompted the mother, sister and other family of Guatemala's president to leave the country for the safety of Canada.

President Alfonso Portillo said he had information a kidnapping ring, known as Los Pasaco, was targeting his family after he refused to pardon two of its members facing a death sentence.

Portillo's mother, sister, son-in-law and two nephews left Guatemala for Canada Tuesday. It's the first time organized crime has forced a president's family out of the country.

The two members of Los Pasaco are scheduled to be executed June 29 for the 1997 kidnapping and murder of Bonifassi de Botran, an heir to a liquor distillery fortune.

The president said his mother would return to Guatemala once the men are executed, but the other family members would stay in Canada.

Portillo did not reveal where his family are in Canada or what security measures they're taking. Portillo's wife, the only family member protected by the presidential guard, is staying with him in Guatemala.

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