The eleven-day siege at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary was one of the longest in the nation's history, and its nonviolent ending was a tribute to the tenacity of federal negotiators. Day after day they put the safety of the 89 hostages above any impatience in dealing with the balky, shifting factions of 1,100 Cuban detainees who had seized control of the prison. Not a single hostage was injured, and when the ordeal finally came to an end at 1 a.m. last Friday, an unusual scene occurred. As the released prison guards began rushing out of the prison, many stopped to embrace...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In