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A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 14 January 2020
Monument to honor U.S.-Mexican dual citizens slain in Mexico

By CHRISTIAN TORRES and and through the fault of
PETER ORSI crime. I personally do not
Associated Press understand how so many
LA MORA, Mexico (AP) — people continue to die in
President Andrés Manuel such a beautiful country,
López Obrador said Sun- such good people and
day that a monument will with such richness," com-
be put up to memorialize munity member Margaret
nine U.S.-Mexican dual citi- Langford said at Sunday's
zens ambushed and slain ceremony. "I was born in
last year by suspected drug Chihuahua but I have been
gang assassins along a re- living for 20 years here in La
mote road in the northern Mora, a place that was so
border region near New tranquil and neighbors we
Mexico. treasure so much."
In remarks to members of "I love this country and it
the small town of La Mora, pains me to my soul to think
which was shattered by the of not being able to live
Nov. 4 killings of three wom- here," Langford said. "This
en and six children from massacre has left us lost
the extended Langford, and destroyed. I ask God
LeBarón and Miller families, that it not be what defines
López Obrador said the first our community.."
goal is to bring those re- Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during his visit to the small town of La Mexico has been posting
sponsible to justice. Mora, Sonora state, Mexico, Sunday Jan. 12, 2020. homicide totals in recent
Speaking after meeting Associated Press years at all-time highs since
with victims' relatives, the comparable records be-
president said an agree- the investigation and to re- tablish colonies elsewhere. kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" gan to be kept in the 1990s.
ment had been reached turn in four to six months to Many of those in northern Guzmán holding sway in López Obrador repeated
with municipal and Sonora present a plan on regional Mexico have by now, over Sonora and the Juarez car- Sunday that his security
state officials to establish development including the generations, aban- tel dominant in Chihuahua. strategy aims to address
a monument of some sort road improvements. doned polygamy as well. The killings sowed grief root causes of violence
"here where these lamen- The mostly bilingual Amer- La Mora is a hamlet of and fear in the tightly knit such as poverty, inequal-
table and painful events ican-Mexicans have lived about 300 people in So- communities, and dozens ity and lack of opportunity,
took place," and also for in northern Mexico for de- nora state while Colonia fled La Mora for the United particularly for young peo-
special recognition of cades and consider them- LeBaron is a larger town of States in the subsequent ple, rather than the military
those who risked their lives selves Mormons, though over 2,000 on the other side days out of concerns for offensive launched in 2006
to rush to the aid of victims they are not affiliated with of the mountains in Chihua- their safety. What was once by then-President Felipe
and survivors. The Church of Jesus Christ hua; the two are linked by a tranquil and even idyl- Calderón and continued
"So that we exalt this, the of Latter-day Saints. a bone-jarring and treach- lic life in a fertile river val- under López Obrador's pre-
true solidarity: He who is The community's origins in erous dirt road where the ley surrounded by moun- decessor, Enrique Peña Ni-
willing to give his life for an- Mexico date to the offi- attack occurred as the tains and desert scrub had eto.
other," López Obrador said. cial end of polygamy over women and children were grown increasingly tenuous "Deprive the fish of water,"
He promised to meet with a century ago by the LDS traveling to visit relatives. as criminal gangs exerted the president said "so there
family members in two church, which prompted The areas lie in the territory their influence and fought are no longer young peo-
months to give them an- many families that con- of rival drug gangs with the each other, some said. ple who want to be cartel
other in-person update on tinued the practice to es- Sinaloa cartel of convicted "Broken hearts, defeated, killers." q
Panama Canal announces freshwater

surcharge amid scant rains

the last seven decades in per passage plus another operations and also sup-
2019. Canal administrator variable charge that will plies freshwater to Panama
Ricaurte Vásquez said the depend on water levels at City, home to about half
new measure aims to pro- Lake Gatun at the time of the country's population of
tect the supply of freshwa- the crossing. 4 million.
ter for shipping activity and "The level of the surcharge Vásquez has warned that
human consumption. drops when the level of climate change is a threat
"It is not an easy decision," the lake is at full capacity," to the canal's operations.
Vásquez said. He added Vásquez said. Authorities have not yet
that it will "guarantee the The Canal Authority pre- determined whether draft-
A cargo ship finishes its transit through the Panama Canal on availability of water and sented its annual report last ing restrictions on vessels,
the Pacific side, seen from Panama City, Monday, Jan. 13, 2020. the reliability of the (canal) week highlighting that 2019 which were implemented
Associated Press route." was one of the watershed's in 2019 due to low levels at
By JUAN ZAMORANO waterway, authorities an- The new fee will take ef- lowest rain years in many Lake Gatun, will be neces-
PANAMA CITY (AP) — The nounced Monday, as part fect Feb. 15 and has no decades, about 20% below sary this year.
Panama Canal will be- of actions to address a expiration date. It applies the historic average. The surcharge could lead
gin collecting a freshwa- scarcity of rainfall after the to all vessels over 125 feet The watershed, a system to a reduction in traffic
ter surcharge from ships surrounding watershed re- in length and consists of of rivers and brooks that through the 105-year-old
transiting the interoceanic corded its fifth driest year of a fixed charge of $10,000 feed lakes, is key to canal waterway. q