Venezuelan CP Leaders Escape from Prison

leaders of the Venezuelan Communist party escaped from the San Carlos prison in which they had been held for four years in Caracas, according to a February 7 dispatch. They were Pompeio Marquez, Guillermo Garcia Ponce and Teodoro Petkoff. Police found a tunnel about 260 feet long dug from a house located near the prison and calculated that it took at least a year to dig it. The three leaders were political prisoners, having been jailed by the Betancourt regime as political opponents in 196%. Marquez and Garcia were members of parliament. Reputedly the three leaders berong to the right wing of the Communist party and are opposed to armed guerrilla struggle.