Hello and welcome to cool people who did cool stuff, which is a podcast about cool people who did

cool stuff. I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy. I'm a science fiction author, a feminist, and an

activist, and every week I'll be telling a new story of rebellion, revolution, and, you know,

cool stuff like that to comedians, writers, journalists, and whoever else I can

convince to listen. For this mini episode, I want to tell you about a 1931 prison break from

Punta Curetas prison in Montevideo, the capital of Odegui. A bunch of anarchist bank robbers had

just been arrested. They had been over in Argentina, robbing the rich to raise money for revolution when it got too hot so they went to Uduguay.

They made a big score, they got caught, and they went to prison.

Their friends, though, and they had a lot of friends.

Their friends were like, oh, we should get them out.

So to raise money for the prison break, they, you know, robbed more capitalists.

And a nice, upstanding Italian couple with their young daughter,

went and purchased a plot of land next to the prison.

The cops ran a background check, it all came back fine.

They built and ran a successful Cold Depot for a year and a half.

They were kind to their neighbors, they gave good deals to their customers,

and they were generally well-loved.

Then all of a sudden they left. So did nine prisoners. You see, over that year and a half,

in addition to running the coal business, they were digging a tunnel, a 50-meter tunnel tall enough

to stand in with lights and ventilation, which ran right up to the prison yard. Three cars were

waiting for their newly free friends, and off they went.

Not a shot fired.

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