In 1990 Mario Vargas Llosa, one of Latin America's foremost novelists, enraged by a government attempt to nationalise his country's banks, cast aside hispen and threw himself into politics.
Led by Khaled Atrash, one of the most notorious car thieves in the region - who had just completed a four-year prison term for agricultural theft - the thieves poisoned Dromi's guard dogs before moving toward his sheep pen.