Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Friday 1 September 2017

Marist Brothers say member abused 14 minors at Chile schools

By EVA VERGARA Perez acknowledged the In the Aug. 8 statement to
Associated Press abuse to his superiors in parents and teachers, the
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — 2010 and was later trans- Marists said “we can assure
The Marist Brothers in Chile ferred to Peru, the order you that we have taken
say a brother who worked said this week. But the or- all the necessary efforts
at two of the order’s schools der was advised at the so that it doesn’t happen
abused at least 14 minors time not to disclose the again.”
from the 1970s until 2000, abuse until victims came “These acts cannot be re-
according to a document forward, Brother Mariano peated ever again in our
obtained Wednesday by Varona said. community,” it read.
The Associated Press. Asked by local media The AP was unable to lo-
A statement by the Marists about Perez’s future, Va- cate Perez, and Varona
to parents and teachers rona said he would remain declined to comment.
said the order has begun a member of the order Officials at the Prosecutor’s
legal action against Abel despite the abuse, even Office for Santiago’s South-
People walk inside the Marcelino Champagnat school, which is Perez, and its leaders have if he is convicted and im- ern Metropolitan Area
run by the Marist Brothers order, in Santiago, Chile, Wednesday,
Aug. 30, 2017. The Marist Brothers in Chile say a brother who met with victims and will prisoned. “You have to told the AP that the case
worked at two of the order’s schools abused at least 14 minors donate money to a non- have mercy and also worry would be investigated by
from the 1970s until 2000, according to a document obtained government group that about the abuser,” Varona prosecutors dealing with
Wednesday by The Associated Press. protects children. told CNN Chile this week. sex crimes and domestic
(AP Photo/Esteban Felix) “Abel Perez is a person. He violence. Earlier this month,
has all our respect despite the general director of an
of what he’s done.” elite school founded by the
Perez worked at the Institu- Marist Brothers in neighbor-
to Alonso de Ercilla and the ing Argentina admitted he
Marcelino Champagnat sexually abused a student
schools in Chile. 38 years ago. q

Mexico: seven killed in Acapulco
amid ongoing wave of violence

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Sev- ico’s deadliest city.
en people have been Nationwide, homicides are
murdered in the beach up 27 percent so far this
resort of Acapulco as the year.
city continues to grapple In northern Mexico on
with a violent crime wave, Wednesday, a man who
Mexican authorities said had been chased and shot
Wednesday. by attackers along a wide
The killings on Tuesday in- boulevard leading to the
cluded the slaying of two hotel zone in San Jose del
men and a woman at an Cabo crashed his car into
apartment used as an of- the local offices of Mex-
fice for a taxi service. ico’s tourism promotion
Guerrero state security agency, the Baja Califor-
spokesman Roberto Alva- nia Sur state prosecutor’s
rez said both men were office said.
bound with tape and all The man died of bullet
three were shot in the wounds. The tourism office
head. Family members said sits across a landscaped
the men were taxi drivers. median from a large shop-
Acapulco registered 483 ping center.
homicides in the first seven The resort cities at the
months of the year. southern tip of the Baja
That was down about 13 California peninsula have
percent from the same suffered increasing vio-
period in 2016, but still on lence as drug cartels com-
pace for it to remain Mex- pete for control. q