Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 3 March 2018

Clash of local officials, vigilantes leaves 11 dead Outraged Bolivians

protest over Virgin
By MARK STEVENSON painted in lingerie
LA CONCEPCION, Mexico
(AP) — The brothers lead-
ing the nearly 15-year fight By CARLOS VALDEZ
against a Mexico dam proj- Associated Press
ect have been hailed as LA PAZ, Argentina (AP) —
environmental heroes, but Hundreds of Bolivians held
after a confused gunfight a pilgrimage Thursday to
between their vigilante protest an artist's rendition
forces and other townsfolk, of their patron saint wear-
they are now in jail facing ing red underwear and
homicide charges. black stockings.
Some residents of the com- Artist Rilda Paco has
munities around the pro- earned some praise, but
posed La Parota dam near also faced criticism and
Acapulco say the Sua- even death threats over
stegui brothers have been her painting of the Virgin
oppressors who used their of Socavon in the mostly
"community police" vigilan- Roman Catholic country.
te group to attack elected The painting shows the vir-
officials who didn't agree gin in lingerie surrounded
with them. by people in colorful cos-
Those disputes erupted tumes who dance with al-
into a Jan. 7 confrontation In this Feb. 5, 2018 photo, a woman lifts up a baby in the wooden house where she and family cohol bottles in their hands
between villagers in which members lived with Jesus Estrada Calixto, 26, in La Concepcion, Mexico. Estrada was one of six at the annual Carnival in
eight were killed — six vil- civilians allegedly killed in January by "community police". (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) the mining city of Oruro.
lagers and two from the The protesting faithful at-
anti-dam police force — "The towns are divided by approve the project. violence has led people in tended an outdoor Mass
followed by a state police politics because the gov- The Suasteguis and some other parts of Guerrero and and some dropped to their
raid in which in which three ernment divides the peo- of the group's other leaders neighboring states to form knees before a religious
more anti-dam vigilantes ple," said Leandro Elacio, have been arrested several their own versions of citizen painting of the virgin at a
died. coordinator of the group times over protests against police — vigilante groups church in Oruro, about 120
It is the latest in a series of whose name roughly trans- the project, and assert they that sometimes battle the miles (190 kilometers) south
conflicts that have erupted lates as the Council of Com- were tortured. cartels and in some cases of La Paz.
across parts of southern munities Opposed to the La Three years ago, the op- have been infiltrated by As the faithful sang and
Mexico where townsfolk, Parota Dam. Elacio claims ponents took a step further: them. And they often find prayed, the sun broke out
usually fed up with violence government aid programs They formed a community themselves in conflict with on a rainy day. Oruro Arch-
and corrupt police, have are given to dam support- police force of almost 100 elected authorities, as in bishop Cristobal Bialasic
created their own "com- ers and not opponents, men, claiming their au- La Concepcion, a town of called it "a sign of purifica-
munity police" forces with and that gravel companies thority from show-of-hands about 1,300 people. tion before such a serious
no allegiance — and often offer local households as lit- community assemblies that One of those authorities, offense."
outright hostility — to elect- tle as 1,000 pesos per year they say has more validity recently elected town The city is home to a statue
ed authorities. for the right to scoop out than official elections. manager Lucio Mendez, of the virgin that is nearly
La Concepcion is one of the bed of the river to use Such groups are common had been taken prisoner 150 feet (45 meters) high
numerous small communi- in construction, damaging in tightly knit indigenous by the community police — a shade less than New
ties in the mountains east of the environment. communities where centu- three days before the clash York's Statue of Liberty
Acapulco that have been Since 2003, the anti-dam ries-old practices include broke out. A dam support- and 23 feet (seven meters)
split by federal plans for the group founded by Vicente rule by a council of elders er, he says he was unjustly higher than Rio de Janei-
vast hydroelectric project. and Marco Antonio Sua- and cooperative commu- held because of differ- ro's image of Christ the Re-
All or parts of two dozen stegui has managed to nity work. They punish minor ences of opinion. The com- deemer.
villages would disappear block the hydroelectric crimes with work, short im- munity police accused the Bolivians pay homage to
under the reservoir's wa- project on the Papagayo, prisonment and re-adapta- nearly toothless farmer of the Virgin of Socavon dur-
ters. But some communities successfully arguing in tion. A Guerrero state law leading an armed plot to ing the city's annual Car-
downstream, which won't court that the government specifically allows indig- kill vigilante leader Marco nival celebrations, which
be flooded, support the had meddled with local enous communities to form Antonio Suastegui. have been recognized as
dam, which would bring assemblies in the 47 towns such police forces. "They started to beat me, part of the patrimony of
jobs to the impoverished and hamlets in the water- But disgust with police cor- they ordered my head humanity by UNESCO. Two
region. shed that have to vote to ruption and drug gang shaved," he said.q deadly explosions shocked
Oruro during this year's cel-
ebrations.
Ex-Colombia guerrilla leader to undergo heart surgery Paco has said she did not
mean to offend anyone
with her painting but only
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — it recommended the un- The 59-year-old Londono reaching an historic peace wanted to use it as a form
The leader of Colombia's specified procedure after has suffered various health accord to end Latin Amer- of protest.
once-largest rebel group carrying out a battery of setbacks in recent years, ica's longest-running con- Carnival is "where you see
will undergo heart surgery tests on Rodrigo Londono. including a heart attack flict in 2016. the largest consumption
after being hospitalized The rebel leader best in 2015 during peace talks Timochenko's bid for presi- of alcohol, rapes and vio-
while campaigning for known by his nom de in Cuba and a stroke last dent has been rife with lence," she said. "The Virgin
president. guerre Timocehnko was year. conflict, with angry Colom- is a mother and as mother
Bogota's Shaio Clinic issued hospitalized Thursday suf- The former rebels are tran- bians throwing eggs at him she is a woman before a
a statement Friday saying fering from chest pain. sitioning to civilian life after on several occasions.q saint.q