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:latin america
||| MEXICO. They were
held after a deadly clash at Mexican ruins
Five policemen arrested
||| Six villagers were
killed and two dozen were injured including officers.
||| The villagers were protesting because they
considered the entrance price excessive and also demand
participation in the administration of the ruins.
Manuel De La Cruz | AP
Writer
SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS – Five state police officers
were arrested in southern Mexico on Sunday in connection
with a deadly raid to dislodge protesters from a Mayan
archaeological site.
The five officers led an operation last Friday to remove
hundreds of mostly indigenous villagers who had occupied
the entrance to the Chinkultic ruins for nearly a month,
the Chiapas state Justice Department said. The officers
could face homicide charges.
Protesters fought back with sticks, stones and machetes,
the department said. They wrested 75 guns from the
officers and poured gasoline on others, threatening to
set them on fire.
State Justice Secretary Amador Rodríguez Lozano said
four villagers were killed and two are missing.
Two dozen other people were injured, including 16 police
officers. Indigenous leaders said the two missing
protesters were found dead, bringing the toll to six.
The villagers, most of them from the Mayan Tzeltal and
Tzotzil cultures, were protesting what they call
excessive entrance fees and a failure to reinvest gate
revenues in local infrastructure and environmental
protection. They also demanded a role in the
administration of the ruins.
They invaded the site on Sept. 7, driving away
administrative workers but allowing archeologists to
keep working.
They had operated the front gate ever since, charging
visitors 20 pesos ($1.80) rather than the official 35
pesos ($3) and saying the money would go to fixing roads
and other infrastructure improvements.
Another 295 police who had been held for questioning
were released by Sunday. But the Justice Department said
more could be arrested as investigations continue.
Lozano also said authorities are considering an offer
from the villagers to hand over the stolen weapons in
return for the release of 30 detained protesters.
Chinkultic is a 1,200-year-old Mayan archaeological site
near the Guatemalan border. |||
||| SCANDAL. Valdivia
Romero resigns after accusations on TV program
Economy in good shape
The Associated Press
LIMA, Peru – A scandal
over alleged oil kickbacks has forced out Peru's energy
minister and two top state oil company executives and
led the government to void four oil contracts with
Norway's Discover Petroleum, officials said Monday.
President Alan García accepted the resignations of
Energy Minister Juan Valdivia Romero and César
Gutiérrez, president of state oil operations company
Petroperu, García's Cabinet chief announced a day after
the scandal broke in Peruvian media.
On Sunday, the news program Cuarto Poder broadcast audio
of conversations allegedly between Alberto Quimper, vice
president of state oil licensing company Perupetro, and
a former government official from García's APRA party
discussing payments they would receive if Discover won
oil concessions in an auction last month.
Discover was awarded the bids in partnership with
Petroperu to explore for oil on Peru's coastline and in
the jungle of southern Madre de Dios.
García's Cabinet chief, Jorge del Castillo, announced
Monday that Quimper had been fired and the contracts
suspended.
"The best way to respond to these atrocities and these
rats is to immediately act to purge our government and
our state from all acts of corruption,'' García said
Sunday night.
Gutiérrez denied involvement with any irregularities and
said he resigned to protect Petroperu and cooperate with
an investigation into the company's dealings with
Discover.
"What we have done is associate ourselves with a
qualified company to participate in the auction,'' he
told state news agency Andina. "If people unrelated to
us had economic pacts, it was absolutely unknown to
me.''
Discover also said it was not involved in any alleged
bribery.
"We have never known about or been party to any payments
like these,'' managing director Jostein Kjerstad said in
a statement.
Cuarto Poder said it was given tapes of the
conversations by Fernando Rospigliosi, interior minister
under former President Alejandro Toledo. Rospigliosi
reportedly received them from an anonymous individual.
|||
BRIEFS
Venezuelan officials
are predicting economic growth of about 6 percent
this year despite troubled world markets and falling oil
prices. Planning Minister Haiman El Troudi says
Venezuela expects "very robust'' GDP expansion even as a
financial crisis afflicts the United States, its top
trading partner. El Troudi tells Venezuela's state-run
news agency that gross domestic product should finish
the year close to 6 percent. AP
Chile’s Central Bank is reporting that the country's
economy expanded 3.8 percent in the 12-month period
ending in August. The bank also says GDP was up 2.4
percent for that month over the previous August, largely
due to two more working days. The government is
predicting 4.2 percent economic growth for this year.
That's down from 5.1 percent in 2008. The Central Bank
said Monday in a statement that Chile's mining industry
has lost value, but did not give more details. AP
El Salvador’s president says he'll keep troops in
Iraq alongside U.S. forces as long as Baghdad needs them.
President Tony Saca estimates that could be "one more
year,'' but says it depends on circumstances. He says
his country will be there "with the coalition until it
finishes its work.'' El Salvador has about 280 soldiers
in Iraq and is the only Latin American nation that has
had forces there since the war started in 2003. AP
Tropical Storm Norbert is growing toward hurricane
force off Mexico's Pacific coast and forecasters say it
might bring weekend rains and wind to the Baja
California Peninsula. The U.S. National Hurricane Center
in Miami says Norbert is centered about 325 miles south
of Manzanillo and is moving west at near 8 mph Maximum
sustained winds are near 65 mph. It's expected to
strengthen and turn toward the northwest. AP
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