s M A E T T A W S E U C S E R E G A T S O H I B F 8 INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION In 1980 Cuban president Fidel Castro allowed more than 100,000 of his people to come to the United States in a mass emigration event known as the Mariel Boatlift Several thousand were dangerous criminals whom Castro wanted to get rid of Many committed crimes in the U S and were imprisoned Threatened with deportation to Cuba in 1991 dozens of those Marielitos housed in the Federal Correctional Facility in Talladega Alabama seized control of part of the prison and took 10 hostages F B I H O S T A G E R E S C U E S W A T T E A M s 9 The Hostage Rescue Team HRT of the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI quickly responded as did other federal forces During an uneasy truce that lasted for more than a week little progress was made in resolving the situation At that point authorities be came convinced the hostages were in danger of being killed HRT was ordered to retake the facility The operation began in the early morning darkness when HRT members blew open several doors Rushing inside they flung stun grenades to momentarily blind their tar gets The grenades also generated a shock wave that knocked down anyone in the area Moments later the assault team threw stingers which unleashed dozens of painful rubber pellets and fog-causing devices that also emitted a skin-irritating chemical It was loud confused and smoky said one team member It seemed like we caught them completely by surprise There were no attempts to fight back From start to finish the operation took just three minutes The hostages were unharmed and the only casu alty was a slightly wounded prisoner ZzZ Communist leader Fidel Castro strictly regulated who could enter and exit Cuba
s M A E T T A W S E U C S E R E G A T S O H I B F 10
HOSTAGES AND HANDCUFFS When people think of special forces they might en vision U S Navy SEALs taking down America’s most wanted man Osama bin Laden in 2011 Or the army’s Green Berets whose jaunty headgear visually sets them apart from other military units Or Delta Force the ultra-secret unit that has often been featured in movies television and thriller novels F B I H O S T A G E R E S C U E S W A T T E A M s 11 However these highly skilled warriors can’t operate on American soil The Posse Comitatus Act which dates back to 1878 forbids using the military for civilian law enforcement un less the president specifically allows it Yet long before the 9 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 the need for operators able to take on terrorists either homegrown or from abroad who threaten people inside the U S became apparent The first inkling of danger came at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich West Germany when terrorists murdered 11 mem bers of the Israeli team inside the Olympic Village Terror struck much closer to home five years later A group of gunmen took over 3 buildings in Washington D C and held more than 100 hostages for 38 hours The situation was resolved with minimal loss of life but it illustrated the need for more advanced skills than local police possessed It would have been a bloodbath said Donald Bassett an FBI firearms instructor These police officers had never been training to do airborne assaults The FBI of the mid-1970s had a number of Special Weapons and Training SWAT teams at its disposal These were modeled after the Los Angeles Police Department’s SWAT teams which first formed in 1967 Eventually each of the 56 FBI field offices would have its own SWAT team consisting of special agents The 1972 killings inside the Olympic Park became known as the Munich Massacre
