Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Monday 2 deceMber 2019
Toll at least 21 after Mexico cartel attack near U.S. border

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexi- is not least the flaring up of
can security forces on regional conflict scenarios."
Sunday killed seven more Mexico's murder rate has in-
members of a presumed creased to historically high
cartel assault force that levels, inching up by 2% in
rolled into a town near the the first 10 months of the
Texas border and staged presidency of Andrés Man-
an hour-long attack, of- uel López Obrador. Federal
ficials said, bringing the officials said recently that
death toll to at least 21. there have been 29,414
The Coahuila state govern- homicides so far in 2019,
ment said in a statement compared to 28,869 in the
that lawmen aided by he- same period of 2018.
licopters were still chasing The November slaughter by
remnants of the force that Mexican drug cartel gun-
arrived in a convoy of pick- men of three women who
up trucks and attacked the held U.S. citizenship and six
city hall of Villa Union on of their children focused
Saturday. world attention on the ris-
Gov. Miguel Angel ing violence.
Riquelme said at least 14 Saturday's attack also
people had died by that showed cartels again re-
afternoon, four of them The City Hall of Villa Union is riddled with bullet holes after a gun battle between Mexican security sorting to quasi-military op-
police officers. He also said forces and suspected cartel gunmen, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019. erations in a brazen chal-
then that several munici- Associated Press lenge to state authority.
pal workers were missing. In October, a massive op-
It wasn't clear if they had The governor said the headed for a funeral, ac- The governor said security eration by the Sinaloa car-
since been located. armed group — at least cording to the newspaper forces would remain in the tel prompted the federal
The reason for the military- some in military style garb Zocalo of Saltillo. town for several days to re- government to release the
style attack remained un- — stormed the town of The town is about 35 miles store a sense of calm. captured son of a drug lord
clear Sunday. Cartels have 3,000 residents in a convoy (60 kilometers) south-south- Falko Ernst, senior Mexico and pull back the army,
been contending for con- of trucks, attacking local west of Eagle Pass, Texas, analyst for the non-profit which found itself outma-
trol of smuggling routes government offices and and 12 miles (20 kilometers) Crisis Group, which seeks neuvered on the streets of
in northern Mexico, but prompting state and feder- from the town of Allende to promote peace, said Culiacan.
there was no immediate al forces to intervene. Bul- — site of a 2011 massacre there are few incentives for U.S. President Donald Trump
evidence that a rival cartel let-riddled trucks left aban- involving the Zetas cartel in armed groups in the coun- said in a radio interview
had been targeted in Villa doned in the streets were which officials say 70 died. try to refrain from violence. last week that he plans to
Union. marked C.D.N. — Spanish Rapid gunfire could be "Solving this issue — which designate Mexican drug
The new statement did not initials of the Cartel of the heard in videos posted to underpins impunity — cartels as terrorist organiza-
give a new death total, but Northeast gang. social media along with would have to be the cen- tions, though he declined
said seven more attackers Several of the gunmen stole frantic people telling friends terpiece of an integrated to say what actions might
were killed on Sunday in vehicles as they fled and to stay indoors. Images of security strategy. But such a follow that designation.
addition to at least seven kidnapped locals to help the aftermath of the shoot- thing is yet to be presented Mexican officials have op-
who reportedly died the guide them on dirt tracks out showed burned out by (President) López Ob- posed such a designation,
day before. Three other out of town, the governor vehicles, while the facade rador and his team," said worried it could lead to uni-
bodies had not been iden- said. At least one of the sto- of Villa Union's city hall was Ernst. laterial U.S. interventions in
tified. len vehicles was a hearse riddled with bullets. "The price of that absence its territory.q

AP Explains: What awaits Suriname’s convicted president?

PARAMARIBO, Suriname 600,000 people who live in Bouterse pushed through
(AP) — A court in the South Suriname, a former Dutch an amnesty law only to see
American country of Suri- colony located in South it ruled unconstitutional.
name has convicted Presi- America's northeast coast Then in 2016, he ordered
dent Desi Bouterse in the whose economy is largely Suriname's attorney gen-
1982 killings of 15 promi- based on oil and gold ex- eral to put a stop to legal
nent political opponents ports. Bouterse is scheduled proceedings in the name
and sentenced him to 20 to arrive in Suriname on of national security, but a
years in prison. The deci- Sunday and then leave for court ruled that he could
sion marks the end of a Cuba shortly afterward for not do so because the
historic trial that began in an official visit. trial had already started.
2007, the same year that It is unclear if those plans re- The murders are known
Bouterse accepted "po- main unchanged. as the "December killings"
litical responsibility" for the Suriname's President Desi Bouterse, left, shakes hands with ___ whose victims included
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang before a meeting at the Great Hall
killings but insists he was of the People in Beijing, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2019. WHY DID THE TRIAL TAKE 12 well-known people such as
not present. Associated Press YEARS? lawyers, journalists and a
___ The trial began in Novem- university professor.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW? not issue an arrest order for verdict" and appealed the ber 2007 and was hit by At the time, the killings
A panel of three judges is- Bouterse, who could not be ruling. multiple setbacks, includ- prompted the Dutch gov-
sued its verdict while Bout- immediately reached for Meanwhile, government ing efforts by Bouterse to ernment to withdraw about
erse is in China on an offi- comment and whose at- officials have asked for end it. Shortly after he was $90 million in annual aid
cial visit. However, they did torney called it a "political calm among the nearly elected president in 2010, from Suriname.q