Cartoonist Holds Hostages At Newspaper With Toy Gun. What Would You Expect Him To Use!

Dressed in black, with the letters FBI printed on his shirt, cartoonist Jose Varela used a knife and a toy gun to hold hostages and shut down the operations of the newspaper El Nuevo Herald in Miami the day after Thanksgiving.

Varela was a stringer for the paper and his issues with the company sound a bit familiar to those engaged in his craft; poor and untimely pay and and a feeling that the paper was not respectful of his viewpoint.

Jose Varela, 50, was being held on $22,500 bond, jail officials said.

"I'm here to unmask the true conflicts in the newspaper," Varela told The Miami Herald. "They laugh at exiles here. There are problems with payment."

Varela is a Cuban exile who came to Florida in the Mariel boatlift.