Kidnapped Nats catcher hails Venezuela rescuers

Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos on Saturday praised the Venezuelan security forces who rescued him from kidnappers in a hail of bullets and admitted he feared he would be killed. "I'm fine, fine. Thank God for the work of these (security) guys here with me," Ramos told the Telesur network upon arrival in Valencia, the city in Venezuela's Carabobo state where his family lives. The 24-year-old catcher, snatched by gunmen outside his parents' home on Wednesday, said chaos reigned at the moment security forces raided the remote mountain hideout where he was being kept. "You could hear a lot of gunfire," Ramos said. With his father at his side, he told reporters that his captivity "was pretty tough," adding: "I feared for my life, and worried that I might never again see my mother, my brothers." Ramos, who had been training with the Aragua Tigres, the Venezuelan league team for which he plays during the Major League Baseball off-season, said he believed his kidnappers were from neighboring Colombia. "I don't know who they were, but I know they were Colombians because of their accents," he said of the kidnappers, whose snatching of Ramos sparked candlelight vigils both in Ramos' native Venezuela and in Washington.  Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami said Saturday that six Venezuelans had been arrested over the kidnapping, and that five Colombians were being sought in the case, including the mastermind of the operation. "Research suggests that there were people linked to Colombian paramilitary groups that could be involved in the abduction of Wilson Ramos," he told a press conference. Many people in baseball-mad Venezuela breathed a sigh of relief when officials announced Friday that Ramos had been rescued safe and sound. "I am speechless," his mother Maria Magdalena Campos told state-run VTV television. "Thank you! Thank you for everything!" Kidnapping is not unusual in Venezuela, and many cases are resolved within hours or days after payment of a ransom. In 2009, there were 16,917 kidnappings in the country, although some non-government organizations estimate the number is higher. Although this was the first time a professional baseball player has been kidnapped in Venezuela, relatives of players have been snatched in recent years. The Nationals acquired Ramos, 24, from the Minnesota Twins in a trade in July 2010. As a rookie in 2011, he hit .267 with 15 home runs and 52 RBIs in 113 games.