After a two-month ordeal, cousins Alanny Fernandez, 12, and Ariel Fernandez, 16, were released by their kidnappers in La Vega on Saturday evening. According to CDN TV, the girls? families paid the abductors an undisclosed amount
for their safe return. Father Rogelio Cruz, of the Cristo Rey parish, said that the kidnappers had initially requested US$1 million, but later said they would accept US$800,000.
The children were kidnapped at 7:30 am on 10 June as they made their way to school in La Vega. There had been speculation that the abduction was connected to the business dealings of one of the parents. The List?n Diario now says the kidnapping has
been attributed to a heavy debt amassed by Junior Hernandez, the father of Ariel and a resident of the US, with a resident of Mexico. The children were not physically harmed and were picked up by a police patrol in El Pino, La Vega.