Nation: RANSOM FOR A U.S. AMBASSADOR

An ambassador of the United States is worth a great deal.

With that chilling calculation, spelled out in a note left in U.S. Ambassador C. Burke Elbrick's Cadillac in Rio, a group of Brazilian terrorists last week launched a fantastic—and successful—caper worthy of Mission: Impossible. Expanding on a terror technique already familiar in Latin America, leftists kidnaped the U.S. diplomat, blackmailed South America's most powerful government, sprang a randy group of political prisoners from jail and got them to sanctuary in another country—on a Brazilian military plane. The abductors' note was signed...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!