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A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 3 december 2019
Mexican border town gripped by fear after gunbattle kills 22

By MARIA VERZA violence intended to intimi-
Associated Press date their enemies.
VILLA UNION, Mexico (AP) Villa Union is 12 miles (20 ki-
— A small town near the lometers) from the town of
U.S.-Mexico border be- Allende, the site of a 2011
gan cleaning up Monday, massacre involving the Ze-
gripped by fear after the tas in which officials say 70
killing of 22 people in a fero- died.
cious weekend gunbattle Villa Union residents won-
between drug cartel mem- dered why their town was
bers and security forces. targeted with such fury.
A 72-year-old woman living A woman who declined
near Villa Union's city hall to give her name likened
recounted how she hud- the attack to being in a
dled with two of her grand- war zone and said, "They
children inside an armoire caught us off guard."
during the shooting. The governor said that
The street in front of her all hostages taken Satur-
home was littered with shell day, including five minors,
casings, and her walls and had been rescued. Cartel
door were pocked with members had taken some
bullet holes. locals with them as guides
"I'm still trembling," she said, Police guard the highway leading to ViIlla Union, Mexico, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2019, the day after it as they tried to make their
speaking on condition of was assaulted by gunmen. escape along back roads.
anonymity out of fear for Associated Press Of the 25 vehicles seized,
her safety. "We've never four carried .50-caliber
seen anything like this. It Sixteen gunmen were pierced by bullets. He said the Northeast Car- machine guns. Dozens of
was as if they just wanted killed, along with four state Outside lay a burned SUV, tel, based in nearby Tam- homes were damaged.
to sow terror." police officers and two ci- a shot-up ambulance and aulipas state, has made 15 On Monday afternoon, the
Around midday Saturday, vilians, he said. a yellow school bus with attempts to establish itself family of a civil defense
armed men in a convoy of On Monday morning, the CDN spray-painted on the in Coahuila since he be- worker who was one of the
dozens of vehicles arrived town of about 6,000 people side. came governor two years two civilians killed in the
in Villa Union and began was strewn with burned-out Shops nearby cleaned up ago. shooting held a wake for
shooting up city hall. Many vehicles, and the city hall's rather than open for busi- "We have not permitted the the father of four children.
of the vehicles were em- facade was so riddled with ness. Despite the presence entrance of these criminals Still terrified, all declined to
blazoned with the cartel's bullet holes it looked like a of soldiers and federal po- in our entity," he said. "They speak or be identified. His
initials — CDN, for Cartel sieve. lice patrolling the quiet thought they were going to widow said only, "He didn't
del Noreste, or Northeast Workers swept up glass streets, no one sent their enter, strike and exit, some- do anything bad."
Cartel — as were the at- and rubble out front and children to school, and resi- thing that didn't happen." Mexico's homicide rate has
tackers' bulletproof vests. began to plaster over the dents did not want to give The Northeast Cartel is an increased to historically
Coahuila Gov. Miguel holes, while others collect- their names for fear the offshoot of the Zetas, a car- high levels this year. After a
Riquelme said state secu- ed important documents. gunmen could return. tel with roots in elite military string of massacres, critics
rity forces arrived within an Broken glass covered the "They wanted to send a units. The Zetas long domi- have charged that Presi-
hour and surrounded the floor, a crucifix had fallen message" to the state gov- nated Nuevo Laredo and dent Andrés Manuel López
town, about 35 miles (60 from a wall, furniture was ernment, Riquelme told the Tamaulipas state and were Obrador's government
kilometers) southwest of destroyed, and portraits Mexican network Radio known for military-style op- does not have a coherent
Eagle Pass, Texas. of local politicians were Formula. erations and grotesque security strategy.q

Haitian schools reopen after months of unrest

By EVENS SANON and MI- Moise says he is trying to school holds about 2,000
CHAEL WEISSENSTEIN steer the country toward students when at full enroll-
Associated Press greater stability and will not ment. Director Jean-Marc
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti cede to what he calls un- Charles said the school had
(AP) — Protected by po- constitutional demands for been trying to keep older
lice patrols, thousands of him to leave office before students up to date by
Haitian children began to his term is over. sending them homework
return to school Monday High school senior Yollande assignments through online
after months of violent un- Chery arrived at her school chat program WhatsApp.
rest forced schools to shut to find only four other stu- He said the school would
around the country. dents and one teacher. hold classes on Saturdays
Some schools were about "It hurts knowing that in oth- and eliminate all but a cou-
a quarter full in response to er countries schools are in ple of days of Christmas
the Education Ministry's call Students listen to school Director Jean Marc Charles at the session," she said. vacation in order to help
last week to reopen public Lycée school, which reopened about a week earlier than other "Staying home is not what I students try to catch up on
and private schools. schools in Petion-Ville, Haiti, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019. want to do. I want to be at their studies.
Others had only a handful Associated Press school with my friends." He said that the school had
of students or didn't open At the public Lycee de no choice but to close dur-
at all. closed during more than leave office. Protesters say Petionville, in a relatively ing the protests, which in-
Like virtually all govern- two months of protests Moise has mismanaged the prosperous section of the cluded roadblocks, clashes
ment offices and private aimed at pressuring Presi- economy and tolerated capital, about 400 children with police and ransacking
businesses, Haitian schools dent Jovenel Moise to corruption. showed up for class. The of local businesses.q