Lake and Seguira:SI:Under Siege: the Kidnapping and Rescue of Wilson Ramos

...When Wilson Ramos emerged from the jungle barely 48 hours after he was taken, the government’s account of his rescue failed to convince everyone. In one private conversation after another, well-known members of Venezuela’s baseball community cast doubt on the official version of events. The story described federal agents going bravely into the wilderness to rescue Ramos in a hail of bullets that apparently hit no one. The skeptics considered this a play by the Chávez regime to remix the truth for its own benefit—to show the world that Venezuela wouldn’t let the malandros snatch a baseball player and get away with it.

Well, something happened to bring Ramos home. The skeptics had their theories. And in a country where real life can imitate an overwrought spy novel, nothing was too strange to consider.

A follow-up story on the Ramos kidnapping and aftermath.