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world news Dialuna 4 aPRil 2022

Ex-president, treasury minister compete in Costa Rica runoff

(AP) — A former presi- out of the World Bank.
dent and a treasury min- More than 3.5 million Costa
ister from Costa Rica’s Ricans were eligible to vote, Figueres has been questioned
outgoing administration but with many voters un- over a $900,000 consult-
were facing off Sunday to derwhelmed by the options, ing fee he received after his
become the country’s next turnout could be even lower presidency from the tele-
leader. than the 60% in February. communication company
Alcatel while it competed for
José María Figueres, who Lines formed before voting a contract with the national
led Costa Rica from 1994 to started at some polling places electricity company. He was
1998, represents the National in San Jose, the capital, while never charged with any crime
Liberation Party like his fa- others appeared nearly empty. and denied any wrongdoing.
ther, three-time president
José Figueres Ferrer. Rodrigo Juan Morales, a 68-year-old While Costa Rica has enjoyed
Chaves was the surprise of retiree, voted early to avoid relative democratic stability
the first round of voting in any crowds. compared with other coun-
February. He served briefly tries in the region, the pub-
in the administration of out- “ I hope that everyone comes lic has grown frustrated with
going president Carlos Al- out to vote today,” he said. public corruption scandals
varado and represents the “I know that they don’t like and high unemployment.
Social Democratic Progress the candidates much, but we
Party. have to elect a president and In the February vote, Al-
voting is to take care of de- varado’s party was practi-
Both men waged a bruising mocracy.” cally erased from the politi-
campaign that highlighted cal landscape, receiving no
past controversies. Neither Chaves’ campaign is under seats in the new congress.
approached the 40% of the investigation by electoral au- At the time of that first vote,
vote necessary to avoid a run- thorities for allegedly run- the country was riding a new
off in the first round of vot- ning an illegal parallel financ- wave of COVID-19 infec-
ing. The latest polling had ing structure. He has been tions, but infections and hos-
them in a technical tie head- dogged by a sexual harass- pitalizations have fallen con-
ing into Sunday’s vote. ment scandal that drove him siderably since.

Ukraine accuses Russia of massacre, city strewn with bodies

(AP) — Bodies with cently retaken from Russian of Russian troops, with the immediately.” tee of the Red Cross said
bound hands, close-range forces, Ukraine’s prosecutor- president calling them evi- Sunday that a team sent Sat-
gunshot wounds and signs general, Iryna Venediktova, dence of genocide. But Rus- Officials in France, Germany, urday to help evacuate resi-
of torture lay scattered in said. sia’s Defense Ministry reject- Italy, Estonia and the U.K. dents had yet to reach the city.
a city on the outskirts of ed the accusations as “provo- separately condemned what
Kyiv after Russian soldiers Associated Press journal- cation.” was being described and Ukrainian authorities said
withdrew from the area. ists saw the bodies of at least vowed that Russia would be Russia agreed days ago to al-
Ukrainian authorities on 21 people in various spots The discoveries followed the held accountable. low safe passage from the
Sunday accused the de- around Bucha, northwest Russian retreat from the area city, but similar agreements
parting forces of commit- of the capital. One group of around the capital, territory “This is not a battlefield, it’s a have broken down repeatedly
ting war crimes and leav- nine, all in civilian clothes, that has seen heavy fighting crime scene,” Estonian Prime under continued shelling.
ing behind a “scene from a were scattered around a site since troops invaded Ukraine Minister Kaja Kallas tweeted.
horror movie.” that residents said Russian from three directions on Feb. A supermarket parking lot
troops used as a base. They 24. Troops who swept in from Authorities said they were in the Ukrainian city of Za-
As images of the bodies — of appeared to have been killed Belarus to the north spent documenting evidence to porizhzhia, meanwhile, has
people whom residents said at close range. At least two weeks trying to clear a path to add to their case for prosecut- become the staging ground
were killed indiscriminately had their hands tied behind Kyiv, but their advance stalled ing Russian officials for war for helping people who have
— began to emerge from Bu- their backs and one of those in the face of resolute defense crimes. made it out.
cha, a slew of European lead- was shot in the head; anoth- from Ukraine’s forces.
ers condemned the atrocities er’s legs were bound. As Russian forces retreated Peycheva Olena, who fled the
and called for tougher sanc- Moscow now says it is focus- from the area around the cap- besieged city, told Britain’s
tions against Moscow. Ukrainian officials laid the ing its offensive on the coun- ital, they pressed their sieges Sky News she was forced to
blame for the killings — try’s east, but it also pressed in other parts of the country. leave the body of her hus-
The bodies of 410 civilians which they said happened in a siege on a city in the north Russia has said it is directing band unburied when he was
have been removed from Bucha and other Kyiv sub- and continued to strike cit- troops to the Donbas in east- killed in shooting.
Kyiv-area towns that were re- urbs — squarely at the feet ies elsewhere in a war that ern Ukraine, where Russia-
has already forced more than backed separatists have been “There was shelling, and we
4 million Ukrainians to flee fighting Ukrainian forces for tried to drag him away but it
their country and many more eight years. was too much, we couldn’t
to leave their homes. do it,” explained her daugh-
In that region, Mariupol, a ter, Kristina Katrikova.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko port on the Sea of Azov that
called on other nations to im- has seen some of the war’s The mayor of Chernihiv,
mediately end Russian gas greatest suffering, remained which also has been under
imports, saying they were cut off. About 100,000 civil- attack for weeks, said Sunday
funding the killings. ians — less than a quarter that relentless Russian shell-
of the prewar population of ing has destroyed 70% of the
“Not a penny should go to 430,000 — are believed to be northern city. Like in Mari-
Russia anymore,” Klitschko trapped there with little or no upol, Chernihiv has been cut
told German newspaper Bild. food, water, fuel and medi- off from shipments of food
“That’s bloody money used cine. and other supplies.
to slaughter people. The gas
and oil embargo must come The International Commit-