It Was a Terrible Scene

They must have been in the midst of preparations for his fiftieth birthday. Sure, his wife and the kids had their presents ready. Had invited friends to a party. I guess, those at home had mailed their birthday letters already. Oh, I wish I could-—I could. . . .”

The man sitting next tomeina little “boliche” in Montevideo, tried to explain, more to himself than to me, the situation on July 31, when Dan Anthony Mitrione, a technical adviser of the Uruguayan police, was kidnaped on his way to the office. When his birthday came, on August 4, Mitrione was a prisoner of the Tupamaros, Uruguay’s wellknown terrorist gang. On August 9 he was dead. Left behind: a wife and nine children.

They must have been in the midst of preparations for his fiftieth birthday. Sure, his wife and the kids had their presents ready. Had invited friends to a party. I guess, those at home had mailed their birthday letters already. Oh, I wish I could-—I could. . . .”

The man sitting next tomeina little “boliche” in Montevideo, tried to explain, more to himself than to me, the situation on July 31, when Dan Anthony Mitrione, a technical adviser of the Uruguayan police, was kidnaped on his way to the office. When his birthday came, on August 4, Mitrione was a prisoner of the Tupamaros, Uruguay’s wellknown terrorist gang. On August 9 he was dead. Left behind: a wife and nine children.