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WORLD NEWS A11
Death toll rises to 34 in fire at youth shelter in Guatemala
JOSE LOPEZ
SONIA PEREZ D.
Associated Press
SAN JOSE PINULA, Guate-
mala (AP) — A blaze that
killed at least 34 girls at a
shelter for troubled youths
erupted when some of
them set fire to mattresses
to protest rapes and other
mistreatment at the badly
overcrowded institution,
the parent of one victim
said Thursday.
Officials said they are still
investigating who started
the fire Wednesday at
the long-criticized shelter
on the outskirts of Guate-
mala’s capital. It houses
troubled and abused boys
and girls as well as juvenile
offenders. Nineteen victims
were found dead at the
scene, and 15 more suc-
cumbed one by one to
their grisly injuries at hospi- crowded and unsanitary
tals in Guatemala City. Sev-
eral more girls were fighting
for their lives, some with se-
vere burns over more than
half their bodies.
The fire started when some-
one ignited mattresses in
a dormitory that held girls
who had been caught the
day before during a mass
breakout attempt, authori-
ties said. On Thursday, dis-
traught parents haunted
hospitals and the morgue,
passing scraps of paper
scrawled with the names of
loved ones they hoped to
find. Geovany Castillo said
his 15-year-old daughter
Kimberly suffered burns on
her face, arms and hands
but survived. She was in a
locked area where girls
who took part in the es-
cape attempt had been
placed, he said.
“My daughter said the
area was locked and that
several girls broke down a
door, and she survived be-
cause she put a wet sheet
over herself,” Castillo said.
“She said the girls them-
selves set the fire,” he said,
Friday 10 March 2017

adding: “She said the girls Relatives of a youth who resided at the Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home wait for the release
told her that they had of the names of those who died in a fire at the shelter, outside the morgue in Guatemala City,
been raped and in protest Thursday, March 9, 2017. Officials say they are still investigating who set the blaze that killed at
they escaped, and that least 31 girls and young women and left ten others battling for their lives, with severe burns that in
later, to protest, to get at- some cases covered more than half their bodies.
tention, they set fire to the
mattresses.” (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Another surviving 15-year-
old girl said that male on the courts for ignoring a “Before the fire, the govern- fenders to other detention
residents had apparently request by his administra- ment had asked the appro- centers, to avoid greater
been able to enter at least tion to transfer juvenile of- priate authorities to imme- consequences,” the presi-
some of the girls’ dormi- fenders out. diately transfer youthful of- dent’s office wrote.q
tories before the fire. She
and others took refuge
on a roof for fear of be-
ing attacked and saw the
fire break out in a nearby
building.
“I saw the smoke in the
place,” she said. “It smelled
like flesh.”
The state-run Virgin of the
Assumption Safe House has
long been the subject of
complaints about abuse,
inadequate food and
conditions behind its 30-
foot wall. The shelter was
built to hold 500 young resi-
dents but housed at least
800 at the time of the fire.
Guatemalan President Jim-
my Morales issued a state-
ment blaming the disaster
Town’s peace statue to Colombia’s Santos draws fire
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Armed Forces of Colombia. vised agreement was later quipped Daniel Samper
Opponents of Colombia’s “Here the change is felt,” passed by Congress but Ospina, one of the coun-
peace process are angry Mayor Edilmer Ducuara the country remains divid- try’s most prominent politi-
that a city has erected a said. ed and Santos’ approval cal satirists, in a column.
statue of President Juan Opponents accuse Ducu- rating has plummeted. Sculptor Anibal Castillo, a
Manuel Santos to honor his ara of violating a decree Ducuara said no govern- 38-year-old Colombian,
efforts to end Colombia’s against monuments to sit- ment funds were spent on said he spent 45 days work-
half-century armed con- ting public officials. the monument. ing on the piece.
flict. They also point out that 60 Colombians have chimed He said the statue of San-
The mayor of Belen de los percent of the town reject- in on the statue with sat- tos was a true “homage to
Andaquies dedicated the ed the peace deal in a ref- ire and criticism online. A peace.”
life-size bronze statue of erendum. petition on Change.org Those signing the Change.
the Nobel Peace Prize win- The dispute is, in many demanding the statue be org petition were less exalt-
ner last month on the 100th ways, a microcosm for the removed garnered more ing.
anniversary of the town, continued friction over the than 400 signatures. Some “The peace Colombians
which was hard hit by the peace deal meant to end of the critics poke fun at long for does not exist,”
conflict. Latin America’s longest- the statue’s awkward ap- wrote Alejandrina Ramirez,
Santos appears holding a running dispute. Colombi- pearance, and the dove one of the signers. “It’s a
peace dove and the ac- ans narrowly rejected the with oddly oversized wings. joke. We won’t let Santos
cord he reached last year deal in a national refer- “Is it a falcon attacking continue to be held up on
with the Revolutionary endum in October. A re- the president? A stork?” a pedestal.” q