Madrid - The Spanish government on Thursday denied a newspaper report that a ransom of two million dollars was paid for Alicia Gamez, an aid worker who was released by al-Qaeda after 102 days in captivity. Gamez, 35, who was kidnapped with two other Spanish aid workers in
Mauritania and taken to northern Mali, arrived in
Barcelona on Wednesday.
The daily El Mundo claimed Thursday that two million dollars had been paid for Gamez.
The money had reached the abductors through a string of intermediaries in Mali and
Burkina Faso, who had retained a percentage of it for themselves, according to the daily.
The al-Qaeda branch in North
Africa would also release Gamez' two male companions after two million dollars was paid for each of them, the daily quoted al-Qaeda sources as saying.
Spanish cooperation secretary of state Soraya Rodriguez denied the report, saying no ransom had been paid.
She was echoing Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega who attributed Gamez' release only to the work of Spanish diplomatic and intelligence services on Wednesday.
Vega did not want to be specific about which African countries had helped in the effort to release the aid workers, but the daily El Pais described Burkina Faso as having played a key role.
The government has repeatedly stressed the need for "prudence and discretion" in order to facilitate the negotiations with the hostage-takers.
On arrival in Spain, Gamez said her companions were well and that the three had been treated with respect, within the limits imposed by "the harsh conditions in the desert."
The three were kidnapped on November 29 when their aid convoy was travelling along a country road in Mauritania.
Spain's conservative opposition said it would criticize the government's handling of the case after the two male aid workers were released.
