Lives in the Balance

At 8:15 one morning last week, two men rang the doorbell at the fashionable Montreal home of James R. ("Jasper") Cross, who directs the British trade office in Quebec. "A present for Mr. Cross," said one of the men, displaying a gaily wrapped package. Since her employer had celebrated his 49th birthday only six days earlier, the Portuguese maid unchained the door. With that, one of the men whipped out a revolver and the other pulled an M-1 rifle out of the package.

The men rushed upstairs and surprised Cross, who was dressing; his wife Barbara was still in bed. After identifying themselves as members of the Quebec Liberation Front, a small terrorist outfit, the men handcuffed Cross and hustled him into a waiting taxi.

Extended Deadline. Hours after Cross was abducted, an anonymous telephone tip led police to an eight-page message calling for the release from Quebec jails of 23 political prisoners. The Front demanded that the freed prisoners be flown in a Canadian plane either to Cuba or Algeria, and that a "voluntary tax" of $500,000 in gold bullion be delivered to the aircraft in nine Brink's armored trucks as ransom. Otherwise, the terrorists vowed, they "would not hesitate to get rid of" the Irish-born British official within 48 hours.

The kidnapers espouse a cause that has inspired Quebeckers ever since General Wolfe's redcoats defeated Montcalm's French army on the Plains of Abraham in 1759 and imposed British rule. In last April's provincial elections, Rene Levesque's Parti Quebecois, which demands an independent Quebec free of political ties to Canada, won 24% of the vote. But while most separatists seek their goals by peaceable means, a number seek to turn their fight for French separatism into full-scale urban guerrilla war. The Liberation Front, which probably numbers no more than 100 hard-core activists, is by far the most radical of the fringe groups.

Quebec officials rejected the Front's demands. In Ottawa, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau said: "It's difficult with a man's life in the balance. But you cannot permit a minority to impose its will by violence on the majority."

A Question of Dollars. A succession of communiques ensued. In the next four days, the Front issued six declarations, which progressively extended the deadline and softened the demands. The Front dropped its ransom demand but stuck to its insistence that political prisoners be released and flown to Cuba or Algeria, and that police activity stop. At week's end, the government announced that it still would not meet the Front's demands. Within minutes, the terrorists retaliated by kidnaping Quebec Labor Minister Pierre Laporte, who is one of the ruling Liberal Party's chief provincial leaders.

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