Emiliano Revilla is a Spanish industrialist who was kidnapped by the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

separatist group

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

in 1988. He was captured on February 25, 1988, and freed on October 30, 1988. From 1960 to 1974 Revilla was the mayor of

Ólvega Ólvega is a municipality located in the province of Soria, Castile and León, Spain. , the municipality had a population of 3,749 inhabitants. Villages *Muro de Ólvega Muro, a word meaning wall in the Spanish, Portuguese Italian, Esperanto and ...

. The ''

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'' reported that Revilla was freed by his captors after a payment of $12 million. They reported that his family had been able to pay his captors, even though the government had announced they would not allow any payments to the kidnappers. According to the ''

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'' the release of Revilla within sight of his apartment was very embarrassing for Spanish law enforcement officials and for the Spanish government. Revilla had inherited his wealth, in the form of a food company, which he expanded. He had also branched into real estate. During his eight months of captivity Revilla was provided paper, paints, brushes and pencils, for drawing and painting—activities he hadn't pursued since childhood. In 2008 the paintings Revilla had made in 1988 were put on display. Gonzalo Boye, one of the men convicted of his kidnapping, maintained his innocence, and earned a law degree while in prison.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Revilla, Emiliano Kidnappings in Spain 1928 births Living people Kidnapping in the 1980s