Another Nasty Stunt

There is no group in Latin America quite like Venezuela's Castroite Armed Forces of National Liberation (F.A.L.N.). It enjoys virtually no popular support, has had only limited success at guerrilla warfare in the hills, failed miserably in a much touted plan to disrupt last year's elections. Yet it is unparalleled in nasty little headline-grabbing stunts. Besides random killings and small acts of sabotage, F.A.L.N. terrorists have stolen five Louvre Museum masterpieces, hijacked one freighter on the high seas, kidnaped one visiting Spanish soccer star, and kidnaped one U.S. colonel. Last week they made it two U.S. colonels.

Keeping the Promise. Lieut. Colonel Michael Smolen, 44, deputy chief of the U.S. Air Force mission in Venezuela, lives in the Bello Monte section of Caracas, only four blocks from where Colonel James K. Chenault was kidnaped last year. Ever since then, occasional threats have promised another kidnaping, and one afternoon last week Smolen was specifically fingered. To be on the safe side, Mission Chief Colonel Henry Choate, 47, came by the next morning to give him a lift to work. Even so, the kidnaping took only 20 seconds. As Smolen was walking to Choate's car at 8 a.m., a 1958 Chevrolet sedan raced up, and out popped two hoods. Leveling a submachine gun at Smolen, they hustled him into the Chevy. Colonel Choate started out of his car, saw what was happening, and took off, high-hurdling through fenced yards until he was clear.

Police immediately threw up roadblocks, with no luck. The Chevy soon appeared, however, abandoned a block from the leftist-ridden Central University. Then, at 3:30 p.m., the phone rang in the Caracas office of the Associated Press. The F.A.L.N., said the caller, had Smolen. He would be released only when Nguyen Van Troi was released. And who is Nguyen Van Troi? He is the Viet Cong terrorist who was caught trying to assassinate U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara with a planted bomb in Saigon last May. Troi, 17, is sentenced to die this Thursday. If he is executed, warned the A.P.'s caller, Smolen will die an hour later.

Grabbing the Credit. That put the U.S. in an odd corner. Ever since Troi's conviction, the U.S. embassy in Saigon has been quietly pressuring for his reprieve on the grounds that executing a fumbling 17-year-old kid would do no one any good. Premier Nguyen Khanh was warming to the idea, and Saigon newspapers reported a reprieve in the works weeks ago. As the State Department and the Pentagon size it up, the Venezuelan F.A.L.N. knew that, figured by kidnaping a U.S. hostage it could grab credit for something that was due to happen anyway.

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