Page 12 - aruba-today-20200111

A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 11 January 2020
Puerto Ricans settle in quake shelters, refuse to go home

By DANICA COTO turning some shelters into
GUAYANILLA, Puerto Rico a makeshift community. At
(AP) — A new commu- the baseball park in Guay-
nity has popped up in this anilla late Thursday night
earthquake-damaged — the town's largest one —
town in southwest Puerto volunteers played the mov-
Rico: it houses 300 people, ie "Dinosaur," for a dozen
a dozen police officers and small children who sat en-
one macaw. raptured and cross-legged
Cries of "Uno!" filled the air as generators roared in the
early Friday morning as chil- background and the elder-
dren on cots played card ly nestled under blankets
games while men with a in the chilly air and tried to
pillow under their arm and sleep.
sleep in their eyes went to Nearby, older children
work. Many families in this kicked up dust as they
dusty baseball park con- chased each other on bi-
verted into a makeshift out- cycles, prompting volun-
door shelter live nearby. But teers to yell, "Watch out!"
they can't or won't return People still trickled into the
home because their walls baseball field close to mid-
are cracked, their houses night, including 74-year-old
have collapsed or they've Lydia Ramos. She dragged
been indefinitely evacu- Tents and cots are set up for people whose homes are either destroyed or unsafe to enter after an a small suitcase with her
ated after a 6.4-magnitude 6.4 magnitude earthquake, at a baseball stadium amid aftershocks and no electricity in Guaya- right hand and carried her
earthquake that prompt- nilla, Puerto Rico, at sunrise Friday, Jan. 10, 2020. 10-year-old Chihuahua,
ed U.S. President Donald Associated Press "Princess," in her left as the
Trump to declare an emer- dog snuggled into a pink
gency in the U.S. territory. have delayed recovery Another aftershock of ing since Dec. 28, with blanket.
Hundreds of thousands of efforts, caused a spike in 4.36-magnitude hit before more than 1,100 earth- "Find me a little cot,"she told
Puerto Ricans are still with- people staying in govern- dawn, causing people in quakes, of which 96 have volunteers as she recount-
out power and water, and ment shelters like the one in the shelter to yell, "It's shak- been felt and 66 were of a ed the recent nights at
thousands are staying in Guayanilla and unleashed ing! It's shaking!" as some magnitude 3.5 or greater, home. "My home is shaking
shelters and sleeping on panic among thousands of sat upright in their cots. The according to the island's from side to side... I'm even
sidewalks since Tuesday's Puerto Ricans. quakes have also dam- Seismic Network. scared to take a shower...
earthquake. The tremor "I've reached the point aged government build- Gavin Hayes, with the U.S. I'm so ready to leave."
killed one person, injured where I'm getting on my ings, including a maximum Geological Survey, said the Ramos spent the night on
nine others and damaged knees in the street to pray, security prison in the near- most likely scenario is that an army green cot and
or destroyed hundreds of and I'm even listening to by southern coastal city of aftershocks will continue to left early Friday morning
homes and several schools Christian music," said Irma Ponce, where officials relo- decrease in frequency for for New York to temporar-
and businesses in the is- Vega, a 45-year-old care- cated nearly 200 inmates the next 30 days. ily stay with her son. But for
land's southwest region. taker for the elderly. "It's for their safety. Meanwhile, government those who cannot afford to
The unusual seismic activ- been 20 years since I've The ground in southwest officials are trying to calm fly to the U.S. mainland, the
ity and strong aftershocks worshipped." Puerto Rico has been shak- and distract people by future is uncertain.q

Family: 2 suspects in Mexico

border killings arrested in .U.S

can officials told the fam- U.S.-Mexican citizenship. tially matches the police
ily that two suspects had The prosecutors' office did chief of the town of Janos,
been detained in the not offer any further details Chihuahua, near where
United States, but did not on the 40 suspects, many the killings occurred. Local
specify what role they had of whom are apparently media reported the police
played in the Nov. 4 am- known only by their nick- chief had been in the pay
bush attack. names. of the La Linea drug gang.
Earlier this week, prosecu- Last week, prosecu- Julian LeBaron, who lost
tors said more than 40 tors reported that three relatives and friends in the
suspects have now been men were arrested and ambush, confirmed the
identified in connection charged with organized police chief had been ar-
Mexican writer and activist Javier Sicilia, left, Julian, center, with the killings of the ex- crime for drug offenses, rested, and added, "That
and Adrian LeBaron, who lost relatives and friends in a Nov.
4, 2019 ambush in northern Mexico, pose for photos during a tended Langford and LeB- though none apparently should be very worrying
press conference in Mexico City, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. aron families who have yet faces homicide charg- to everyone." "Who vets
Associated Press lived in northern Mexico for es in the case. them?" LeBaron asked.
decades. They said four other sus- "He (the police chief) was
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Rela- U.S. authorities told them They consider themselves pects are being held un- there for 13 years", he said,
tives of nine U.S. dual-na- they have two suspects un- Mormon but are not af- der a form of house arrest. questioning how state au-
tional women and children der detention in the United filiated with The Church of The name of one suspect thorities could not have
killed in northern Mexico in States. Jesus Christ of Latter-Day announced by federal known the man was work-
November said Thursday Bryan LeBaron said Ameri- Saints. Many have dual prosecutors Monday par- ing for a drug cartel.q