Colombian Rebels Blow Up Wall at Prison; 35 Inmates Escape

Marxist rebels blew up a prison wall in southern Colombia and pinned down wardens with volleys of bullets as 35 prisoners sprinted to freedom through the rubble, the prison service said Wednesday.

Most of the prisoners who escaped when the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, attacked late Tuesday night in the town of Florencia in Caqueta province were accused of belonging to leftist rebel groups, but others were common criminals, a National Penitentiary and Prison Institute spokesman said. No one was killed, he said.

Florencia is two hours’ drive south of a demilitarized enclave as big as Switzerland that President Andres Pastrana granted the FARC to start peace talks in 1998.

It was the biggest prison break engineered this year by the 17,000-member group, the largest leftist rebel organization engaged in Colombia’s nearly 4-decade-old conflict.