Agent Mauss – always at your service

FOCUS 02/99 11.01.1999

Controversial German private agent Werner Mauss will gladly place himself at the disposal of the new government in Bonn. In the most recent hostage affair, when Munich doctor Ottmar Broda (60) was kidnapped in Colombia, Mauss and his wife Ida were able to set up the crucial contacts between the ELN guerrilla kidnappers and the Federal Foreign Office.

Following this, the ELN second-in-command, Antonio Garcia has spoken several times with SPD foreign policy expert Guntram von Schenk in recent weeks.

The confidant of Günter Verheugen, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office was entrusted with the sensitive talks. Schenk’s negotiation skills finally brought about Broda’s release last Friday evening.

No ransom money was paid.

In his discussions with Schenk, Garcia canvassed for an active support of the peace process from Bonn.

In a personal letter to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the ELN man appealed to the German government to denounce the atrocities committed by the right-wing death squads in Colombia.

By courtesy of Focus magazine