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WORLD NEWS Friday 22 January 2021
Report: Witness implicates Mexico's army in abduction of 43

MEXICO CITY (AP) — New offered differing versions of
testimony by a cooperat- what happened to the stu-
ing witness directly impli- dents from a rural teachers'
cates Mexico's army in the college who were hijack-
disappearance of 43 col- ing buses when they were
lege students in a 2014 in- rounded up by police and
cident that continues to turned over to a drug gang.
haunt the country, accord- Over more than six years of
ing to a newspaper report investigations, Mexican au-
Wednesday. thorities have found dozens
The newspaper Reforma of clandestine graves and
said the witness, presum- 184 bodies, but none of the
ably a gang member iden- missing students.
tified only as "Juan," alleges According to initial inves-
soldiers held and interro- tigations of the Septem-
gated some of the students ber 2014 events, police in
before turning them over to the city of Iguala handed
a drug gang. the students over to cartel
The students' bodies were members, who purportedly
then either burned at a killed and burned them.
local crematorium or dis- However, charred bone
solved in acid or caustic so- fragments have been fully
lutions and dumped down In this Oct. 22, 2014 file photo, people protest the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico City. matched to only two stu-
drains, the witness said. Still Associated Press dents. The witness "Juan"
other bodies were purport- purportedly told investiga-
edly hacked up and scat- The Interior Department and was part of the case and gang members cap- tors that bone fragments
tered near the city of Tax- confirmed that the testimo- file. tured still others. In all, the found around a garbage
co. ny was part of the case file The witness said that an witness said as many as 70 dump near Iguala were
The revelation could further and said it would file charg- army captain, who is now to 80 people were held, planted by the drug gang
embarrass the army, which es against whoever leaked facing organized crime turned over to the gang to throw off investigations.
has recently been hit by it. The department did not charges in the case, held and killed, because the Prosecutors once main-
allegations that a former comment on the accuracy some of the students at a Guerreros Unidos gang be- tained the students had
defense secretary was in of the newspaper's version local army base and inter- lieved that criminals from been burned in a huge
the pay of a drug gang. It of the testimony. rogated them, before turn- a rival group were among pyre at the dump, a version
could also imply that most But a person familiar with ing them over to the Guer- them. The accusation is that independent forensics
of the students' remains the case said the testimony reros Unidos drug gang. one of a series of conflict- experts later said was not
may never be found. was new, from early 2020, Police held another group, ing testimonies that have feasible.q

Search for oxygen tank refills routine for Peruvians

By MAURICIO MUÑOZ day outside a facility that plant. At their facility, a cu-
VILLA EL SALVADOR, Peru sells oxygen. "It is sad to see bic meter of oxygen sells for
(AP) — In the middle of that not only I, all people, $4.10, while other places
what was once a sandy are waiting for oxygen for charge up to $13.69 for the
desert, on the outskirts of their family." same amount.
Peru's capital, a new rou- People are carrying empty The young entrepreneurs
tine has emerged for many oxygen tanks, bought in the say they are not trying to
of the residents of the black market, around town, profit off of COVID-19, they
densely populated city of hoping to find a place to fill just want to help the most
Villa El Salvador. them. The hunt for oxygen vulnerable population in
With the lives of friends or is in part the result of the Lima. Their plant has drawn
relatives at stake because government's lack of pre- people from all corners of
of the new coronavirus, paredness to handle the the city since it opened,
people are spending their pandemic. Most of the hos- with the lemon green tanks
days searching for a place pitals in Peru do not have lined up on the sidewalk.
to buy oxygen, preferably the equipment necessary "Everyone has gone A man waits by his empty oxygen tank in a line of other custom-
ers outside a shop that refills them in the Villa El Salvador shanty-
without having to spend to produce oxygen. through the disease," Juan town of Lima, Peru, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021, amid the COVID-19
their life savings. The desperation for oxygen Carlos Urbano, 45, said re- pandemic.
Oxygen is crucial to save has led some businesses to ferring to his family while Associated Press
the lives of those critically ill triple its price, forcing many he waited to refill a tank
with COVID-19. And in this to plunder their savings or outside the entrepreneurs' according to data from patients.
city of more than 508,000 sell belongings to afford it. facility. "Right now, there Johns Hopkins University. But even in Los Angeles, a
people, it has become a But while some are price are four who are ill and one Developing nations often recent surge of coronavirus
scarce commodity just as a gauging, others are step- who is in serious condition lack the reliable supply of cases overwhelmed clin-
second wave of coronavi- ping in to help. In Villa El and in need of oxygen. medical oxygen found in ics and created a short-
rus infections hits the South Salvador, a group of 13 Most of the families I think wealthy Europe and North age of oxygen that led to
American country. friends, among them engi- are in this situation." America, where it is deliv- a directive for ambulance
"It's so sad to see that all neers, economists and law- Peru has tallied more than ered in liquid form by tank- crews to stop transporting
people go through this," yers, pooled their savings to 1 million cases and over er truck and piped directly patients they can't revive in
Noa Torres, 34, said Thurs- recently open an oxygen 39,000 deaths of COVID-19, to the beds of coronavirus the field.q