Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 14 sepTember 2017

Mexico: LATIN BRIEFS
Students hijack tanker truck, buses and kidnap cops

Venezuela govt
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Radi- delegates arrive
cal students in southern
Mexico hijacked a fuel for possible talks
tanker truck and two buses
Wednesday and later kid- SANTO DOMINGO, Do-
napped four police officers minican Republic (AP) —
to demand the release of Representatives of Ven-
about 10 students arrested ezuela’s government have
over the vehicle thefts. arrived in the Dominican
The events marked the lat- Republic for discussions
est chapter of violence at about restarting talks with
a rural teachers college the opposition on resolv-
where 43 students were ing the South American
kidnapped in 2014 and re- nation’s economic and
main missing. Students at political turmoil. But Ven-
the college have staged ezuelan opposition leader
bus hijackings for years, Julio Borges reiterated
and apparently stole the Wednesday there will be
fuel tank Wednesday to no new negotiations until
gas up a fleet of hijacked conditions outlined by the
passenger buses they are main opposition coalition
holding on the campus. have been met. Among
They also hijacked a num- those conditions are set-
ber of smaller trucks used The bodies of four men, two of them teenagers, lie against a wall under an overpass on a highway ting a complete electoral
after being shot in the town of Coyuca, near Acapulco, Guerrero state, Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 12,
to deliver bakery goods 2017. The position of the bodies suggested they were lined up and shot, according the Guerrero calendar including the
and snacks. Roberto Alva- state security spokesman Roberto Alvarez. 2018 presidential election,
rez, security spokesman for (AP Photo/Bernandino Hernandez) freeing political prisoners,
Guerrero state, told the Mi- leased in exchange for the litical movement and re- were apparently lined up allowing humanitarian aid
lenio television news chan- police officers. cruit students. against a wall and shot in and respecting institutions
nel that the students took A statement released by It was during one such out- another part of Guerrero like the opposition-con-
the tanker truck back to the committee of parents ing in hijacked buses in state. Alvarez said two of trolled congress.
their campus, but police of the disappeared stu- 2014 that local police in the the victims appeared to be But both sides have agreed
blocked their path and dents claimed that police nearby city of Iguala inter- between 15 and 20 years to send delegates to dis-
forced them to abandon opened fire on the hijacked cepted several busloads of old. The other two were cuss reopening negotia-
two hijacked passenger buses, calling that “an ex- students on Sept. 26, 2014, slightly older. Alvarez said tions in response to an invi-
buses. He said the students cessive use of force.” and turned 43 of the young a motive for the killings was tation from former Spanish
apparently were trying to “We condemn the bru- people over to a local under investigation. Prime Minister Jose Luis Ro-
ram the buses into a police tal aggression against our drug cartel. Federal pros- The bodies were found driguez Zapatero and Do-
checkpoint. Police arrested youths, and demand an ecutors say the cartel killed Tuesday under an overpass minican leaders.
about 10 students. end to the repression,” the the students and burned on a highway in the town-
But other students later committee wrote. their bodies, but tests on ship of Coyuca, which is Uruguay sets up
went to the nearby town The teachers college in Ay- charred bone fragments just northwest of the Pacific
of Tixtla and kidnapped otzinapa espouses social- have positively identified coast resort of Acapulco. pot-only shops as
four local policemen to de- ist education and its stu- only one student. The region has been hit by banks challenge
mand the release of those dents have long hijacked The student violence came killings over drug trafficking,
arrested. vehicles, fuel and delivery one day after the discov- extortion, vigilante activ- MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay
Alvarez said the students trucks and taken over toll ery of the bodies of two ity, illegal logging and land (AP) — Uruguay is chang-
would probably be re- booths to finance their po- men and two youths who disputes.q ing its marijuana selling sys-

Mujica’s wife assumes vice presidency in Uruguay tem because banks were
making it difficult for phar-
macies to sell pot as had
By LEONARDO HABERKORN departure over the week- been planned.
Associated Press end amid allegations of cor- The government’s legaliza-
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay ruption stemming from pur- tion of the sale of marijuana
(AP) — Lucia Topolansky, ported credit-card misuse by pharmacies has faced
the wife of former President during his tenure as head of challenges as banks refuse
Jose Mujica, became Uru- state oil company ANCAP. to deal with companies
guay’s vice president on It is the first time a vice presi- linked to pot in order to fol-
Wednesday after lawmak- dent has stepped down in low international financial
ers accepted Raul Sendic’s the South American nation. laws. A government official
resignation amid corruption aThe corruption allegations said Wednesday that Uru-
accusations. surfaced in June, when the guay will now set up shops
Topolansky, 72, is a former weekly publication Busque- to sell pot for cash. Juan
guerrilla who was impris- da reported that between Andres Roballo says this will
oned and later rose through 2010 and 2013, Sendic used avoid the problems faced
the political ranks to be- corporate credit cards to by pharmacies. Since then,
come a lawmaker. She will make purchases at jew- at least three pharma-
also head the Senate and elry, electronics, furniture Uruguay’s newly named Vice President Lucia Topolansky cies have decided not to
the congress’ general as- and other stores appar- leaves Senate chambers with her husband former President
sembly. ently unrelated to his official Jose Mujica, after presiding over a session in her new role, in sell pot after warnings by
Montevideo, Uruguay, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017.
Sendic, 54, announced his business.q (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico) banks.q