Abduction of William Niehous
Late 1970s kidnapping in Venezuela
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Frank Niehous (August 11, 1931 – October 9, 2013)[1] was an American executive for Owens-Illinois Inc. who was abducted in Venezuela by the Marxist Revolutionary Group of Commands (GCR).[2][a] His captivity became the longest kidnapping of a U.S. national in Latin America.[2] His captors claimed he was a CIA spy.
The GCR referred to the operation as "Argimiro Gabaldón".[3][2] Because the group lacked the financial and logistical capacity to sustain a prolonged abduction, it initially sought support from the left-wing[4] Red Flag group.[b] When this cooperation proved insufficient, the GCR established further ties with the Socialist League, co-founded by Jorge Antonio Rodríguez.[3] The subsequent arrest and killing of Rodríguez by the Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services for his involvement in the kidnapping was a foundational memory for his daughter, Delcy Rodríguez, who was seven years old when her father died. The event was one of the reasons for her adopting a political career. She became acting president of Venezuela after the US kidnapped Nicolás Maduro in January 2026.
Niehous' kidnappers demanded, as a condition of his release, a 3.5 million U.S. dollar ransom ($19.8 million in 2025),[1] that Owens-Illinois compensate each of its Venezuelan employees with $116 for their "exploitation", that they donated 18 thousand food packages to the poor, and that they advertised a manifesto that criticized the government and accused the company of corruption and disrupting in the nation's internal politics.[1][5] The group said that Niehous was a CIA agent and announced that they intended to try him for "counter-revolutionary activities".[6][7]
He was held from February 1976 until his rescue by rural police[1] in June 1979.[8][9][5] Gabriel Puerta Aponte, one of the individuals involved in the kidnapping, remained a leading figure within Red Flag as late as 2013.[4]