Final chapter? of what, without a doubt, has been the busiest Christmas that the Child Jesus of Barberà de Valléswhich this Saturday has been returned, among the admiration of the neighbors, to its original home, the manger that is located in the Plaza de la Vila in the town of Vallenca, after an express kidnapping and its subsequent return to the City Council.
Let’s remember the tortuous adventure of such an iconic figure. The events occurred after ‘El Periódico’ published a report explaining that the Barberà Local Police had activated during these Christmas days the operation ‘Baby Jesus’ which consisted of picking up the manger every night and taking this figure “much loved by the neighbors” to the police station, as explained by the mayor of the town Xavier Garces, to, precisely, prevent its theft.
But on December 28, the Child Jesus of Barberà was kidnapped by some youths who later created a tiktok account to claim, with his face covered and his voice distorted, his abduction under the motto of “tonight the baby does not sleep in the police station“and a ransom request of 10,000 euros.
a broken finger
The robbery did not last more than two days, and last Friday the figure was returned to its owners after explaining the kidnappers, through that same social network, that they had set him free “for citizenship, because we want it“, but demanding that the police that he would not return “to spend a night at the police station“.
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Although the kidnappers had explained that they had returned the figure “safe and sound”, the truth is that the Baby Jesus has arrived at the Town Hall with a broken finger.
From the City Council they have wanted to limit this event to a simple hooliganism, taking the subject with humor and being really surprised by the mediatization of this story that has given The return to Spain and that it has even managed to reach its echo in Latin America, where in countries like Ecuador kidnapping has been experienced with real fury.