In the summer of 1963, Real Madrid landed in Caracas, Venezuela for the Trofeo Ciudad de Caracas – a less popular successor of the Pequena Copa del Mundo – which in itself was an uncorroborated precursor of the Intercontinental Cup.
The players were enjoying their stay at the Potomac Hotel when four armed men infiltrated the compound and kidnapped club legend Alfredo Di Stefano at gunpoint on the night of August 24.
The assailants were Venezuelan communists and members of the revolutionary group Armed Forces of National Liberation or FALN. They believed that this act would draw international attention to their agenda, i.