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      CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - The government sent top investigators
Thursday to hunt for Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos,
whose abduction has shaken Venezuela's elite athletes and focused
attention on the nation's sharp rise in kidnappings for ransom.


      The 24-year-old player, who had returned to Venezuela after his
rookie season, was just outside the front door at his home
Wednesday night when an SUV approached, armed men got out "and
they took him away," said Ramos' agent, Gustavo Marcano.


      It was the first known kidnapping of a Major League Baseball
player in Venezuela, though the relatives of some ballplayers have
previously been held captive for ransom.


      Police found the kidnappers' vehicle abandoned in the nearby
town of Bejuma on Thursday morning, Justice Minister Tareck El
Aissami said. He said anti-kidnapping units led by "the best
investigators we have" were dispatched to the area in central
Carabobo state.


      He vowed to rescue Ramos and capture his abductors.


      "We're taking on this investigation with everything we've
got," El Aissami said.


      Major League Baseball and the Nationals said the leagues'
Department of Investigations was working with authorities.


      "Our foremost concern is with Wilson Ramos and his family and
our thoughts are with them at this time," the team and the MLB
said in a joint statement, adding there would be no further
comment.


      Ramos was outside with his father and two brothers in their
working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of Valencia when the
SUV pulled up with four men inside, three of whom got out and
seized the player, Marcano said.


      "The abductors haven't made contact with the family or with
anyone," said Domingo Alvarez, vice president of the Venezuelan
Professional Baseball League. "We're worried."


      At baseball games in three Venezuelan stadiums, fans and players
observed a minute of silence Thursay night in support of Ramos, and
prayed for him. Some held signs reading: "Free Wilson Ramos!"


      Julio Franco, a Dominican former major leaguer who is manager of
the Venezuelan Caribes team, grabbed a microphone and spoke to fans
at a game in the eastern city of Puerto La Cruz. "Jesus, we ask
you for your grace and divine power to protect our brother, Wilson
Ramos," he said.


      To show support, teams added green to their uniforms, some
sporting a green band on one shoulder, others a green "W" for
Wilson embroidered on the chests of their jerseys.


      Ramos is a key young player for the Nationals. As a rookie in
2011, he hit .267 with 15 home runs and 52 RBIs in 113 games. He
also threw out 19 of 67 runners attempting to steal a base, a 28
percent success rate that ranked third among qualifying catchers in
the National League.


      Washington acquired Ramos from the Minnesota Twins in a trade
for All-Star relief pitcher Matt Capps in July 2010.


      He is one of dozens of Venezuelans in professional baseball, and
security while at home has increasingly become a concern for the
players and their families as a rising wave of kidnappings has hit
the wealthy as well as the middle class.


      Venezuelan police said 618 kidnappings were reported in 2009,
and the numbers have grown rapidly in recent years. In 1998, when
President Hugo Chavez was elected, just 52 kidnappings were
reported. Security experts say the real number of kidnappings today
is much higher because many cases aren't reported to authorities.


      The wealthy have taken steps to protect themselves. Sales of
armored cars have soared in the past several years. Bodyguards
typically shadow major leaguers when they return to their homeland
to play in the winter league.


      "Every major league player has his own security, but we don't
know if he had his security there at that time," Alvarez said.


      Katherine Vilera, spokeswoman for Ramos' Venezuelan team, the
Aragua Tigers, said on Twitter that neighbors gathered at his home
and prayed.


      Former Boston Red Sox slugger Tony Armas, who lives in
Venezuela, said young players have been taking additional security
measures due to the risk of kidnappings.


      "But many of them are careless sometimes. No one seriously
thinks that this can happen to us, and much less in a country like
ours where people love baseball," Armas said in a telephone
interview.


      "Most of us came from humble families. We still have relatives
who live in poor areas; we frequent those places and unfortunately
the criminals are getting more soulless all the time," he said.


      In November 2009, the 56-year-old mother of Victor Zambrano, who
retired after a seven-year Major League career, was rescued in a
commando-style operation three days after she was kidnapped. The
former pitcher's cousin, Richard Mendez Zambrano, had been
kidnapped a few days earlier, and was later killed.


      In June 2009, Colorado Rockies catcher Yorvit Torrealba's
11-year-old son and brother-in-law were kidnapped and released a
day later.


      The mother of former player Ugueth Urbina, who was a two-time
All-Star pitcher, spent more than five months in captivity until
she was rescued in early 2005.


      Venezuela has one of Latin America's highest murder rates, and
violent crime has worsened in recent years. As ransom kidnapping
has soared, the government passed a revised law in 2009 that
stiffened prison sentences for kidnapping and also allows
authorities to freeze the banks accounts of victims' families to
prevent them from paying ransom.


      Ramos had been training and planned to start playing with his
Venezuelan team next week. Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman
Melvin Mora, also a Venezuelan, proposed that the Venezuelan league
ought to call off its games "until he appears."


      But league president Jose Grasso said that won't happen.


"Turning out the stadium lights isn't a solution," Grasso said,
calling Ramos' abduction "an isolated event."


---AP Sports Writers Howard Fendrich in Washington and Ron Blum in
New York and AP freelance writer Billy Russo in Caracas contributed
to this report.
      
      (Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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The government sent top investigators
Thursday to hunt for Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos, whose abduction has shaken Venezuela's elite athletes.

Venezuela vows all-out hunt for Wilson Ramos

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