Jail Break

When dictators ruled Venezuela, the country's prisons were kept in lock-and-key efficiency. This is one thing dictators are particular about. Under the left-liberal government of President Romulo Betancourt, neither the cops nor the jails are what they used to be. Prisons are run down and poorly managed, and jail breaks are a daily occurrence.

At 9 a.m. one morning last week, at Caracas' big La Planta jail, a dope suspect named Jose Rafael Cariola ("El Gorila") jumped a guard and grabbed his rifle. El Gorila and his cronies then stalked one guard after another until by late morning they had rounded up and disarmed 25 of La Planta's guards. By this time close to half of the prison's 800 inmates were on the loose.

They cut off all communication with the outside and raided the prison arsenal. Before long, police cars and a patrol jeep rolled out of the jail, carrying escapees wearing stolen police uniforms. About the same time, the noon guard shift marched up to the prison gate. The remaining convicts greeted them with rapid bursts of gunfire.

For the next four hours, patrol cars howled through the streets of Caracas in pursuit of patrol cars. The army sent troops and armored cars to join the fight; cops by the hundreds chased around frantically trying to sort out friend from foe. An order went out to legitimate police to wrap white handkerchiefs around their heads. That only made them better targets. Rumors swept Caracas that the pro-Castro Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN) had attacked the prison and freed all 800 inmates. The report was proved false, but the FALN rejoiced in the publicity and Communist terrorists got in on the free-for-all with their own bombing and sniping.

By the time government troops and police finally recaptured La Planta, the number of people killed--cops and jailbirds--was 10, while 52 were wounded. All told some 300 prisoners involved in the break actually made it outside the prison, and 52 of them were still at large by week's end.

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