Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 31 January 2018

Police reinforce Mexican tourist cities after violence

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) suggested the legalization capital, Chilpancingo. It
— Mexican officials said of marijuana at the resorts turned out they weren’t
Tuesday they are dispatch- as a way to decrease vio- police and the truck was
ing 5,000 additional federal lence. stolen.
police officers to several He quickly stepped back That appeared to confirm
tourist cities after a series from that proposal, saying the chilling prospect that
of violent incidents, includ- he wasn’t speaking in an fake police had been driv-
ing a lengthy shootout that official capacity. ing around the capital, un-
rattled the Baja California But it’s clear there is a drug til they met members of a
resort city of La Paz. problem in several resort rival gang. Chilpancingo’s
Renato Sales, the coun- cities. real police were disarmed
try’s national security com- On Tuesday, prosecu- in early January after they
missioner, said the officers tors announced they had were suspected in the kid-
would be sent “to key cit- found 25 one-kilogram nap-killing of two men.
ies” like La Paz in the hopes (2.2-pound) bricks of co- On Tuesday, investigators
of reducing violence. He caine on a beach in Cozu- in Chilapa, a city near Chil-
told the Televisa network mel, the island near Can- pancingo, found 15 plas-
that the cities are mostly In this July 17, 2017 file photo, a federal police officer stands cun that is Mexico’s primary tic bags containing the
tourism destinations and in- guard outside the hangar of the attorney general’s office at the cruise ship destination. hacked-up remains of at
clude Cancun, Los Cabos, Mexico City airport. One resort that has long least seven people, includ-
Manzanillo and Colima. Associated Press been plagued by violence ing one woman.
The announcement came were confiscated. Mexico’s second-highest is Acapulco, in the southern The remains were so jum-
a day after police and Some of the suspects were homicide rate, at 69 per state of Guerrero. bled that police counted
crime suspects exchanged wanted on murder, drug, 100,000 inhabitants. Killings have become so the victims based on how
long bursts of gunfire in La weapons and other charg- The government is trying to common in Guerrero that many heads they found in
Paz. The prosecutor’s office es, authorities said. figure out ways to restore few were surprised Monday the bags. None were im-
in Baja California Sur state Baja California Sur was peace in Los Cabos and when two men wearing po- mediately identified, but
said Tuesday there were once a peaceful state other tourist destinations. lice uniforms and driving a Chilapa has long been the
no deaths, but five people home to the twin resorts of Tourism Minister Enrique de truck with police logos were scene of turf battles be-
were arrested and 10 guns Los Cabos, but now it has la Madrid, for one, recently found dead in the state tween rival drug gangs.q

FEMA criticized for plan to

end storm aid in Puerto Rico

WASHINGTON (AP) — Plans The mayor said that in re- deliveries of food and wa-
by the Federal Emergency cent days officials have ter Wednesday would es-
Management Agency to had to deliver powered pecially hurt people in re-
halt hurricane relief sup- milk and water to some mote parts of Puerto Rico.
plies to Puerto Rico drew parts of the island, where FEMA says it is ending the
criticism Tuesday from still about 35 percent of food and water shipments
members of Congress and population still has no pow- because private supplies
the mayor of the island’s er. are available.
largest city. “There is need still,” she It will continue to provide
San Juan Mayor Car- told reporters in Washing- assistance to agencies
men Yulin Cruz said many ton, where she was attend- and organizations working
people in the U.S. territory ing the State of the Union in outlying areas.
need the water and food address as a guest of New The agency says it distrib-
they have been getting York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. uted more than 65 million
from FEMA more than four A letter to FEMA Adminis- liters of bottled water and
In this Friday, Jan. 19, 2018 photo, shows one of multiple months after Hurricane trator Brock Long signed more than 58 million meals
properties located in the Esperanza sector that are currently for
sale, in Vieques, Puerto Rico. Maria devastated the is- by 30 members of Con- and snacks, totaling nearly
Associated Press land. gress said the plan to end $2 billion.q