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WORLD NEWS A11
Thursday 11 February 2016
Reporter kidnapped Pope visit to Mexico basilica highlights Guadalupe influence
in southern Mexico
found dead: officials PETER ORSI A police officer takes a photo of a mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the neighborhood of Ecate-
Associated Press pec, on the outskirts of Mexico City. Pope Francis will make an emotional stop at the Basilica of
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A re- MEXICO CITY (AP) — A the Virgin of Guadalupe on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016, where millions of pilgrims flock each year to
porter who was kidnapped weathered pastel image pray before the shroud that bears her image.
by armed assailants in the of the Virgin of Guadalupe
Gulf Coast state of Vera- hangs from German Herre- (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
cruz this week has been ra Hernandez’s dashboard,
found dead, Mexican au- watching over his passen- to dead relatives, while otees.” saint in 2002 during the pa-
thorities said Tuesday. gers from her perch next to
Anabel Flores Salazar’s his cigarettes, gum and the young hipsters shell out big According to tradition, pacy of John Paul II.
body was discovered on a handful of coins he uses to
highway in the neighboring make change. bucks for shirtsleeve tattoos the dark-skinned virgin ap- Juan Diego’s cloak is on
state of Puebla and later “We believe in her,” said of the Virgin. peared before the Indian display today behind glass
identified by family mem- Herrera, a 55-year-old who “There’s the old refrain in peasant Juan Diego in at the basilica, the most
bers, Veracruz prosecutors has been driving a cab in Mexico that Mexicans are 1531 at Tepeyac, a hillside visited Marian shrine on
said in a statement. Mexico City for about a
Flores Salazar, a crime- decade. “She protects us, 90 percent Catholic and near Mexico City where Az- the planet, where signs ad-
beat reporter for a local wherever we go.”
newspaper in Orizaba, Ve- When Pope Francis visits this 100 percent Guadalupan,” tecs worshipped a mother- monish against flash pho-
racruz, was dragged from week he’ll make an emo- said Andrew Chesnut, goddess, and her image tography and long lines
her home near the city be- tional stop at the Basilica of chair in Catholic studies at was miraculously imprinted of worshippers are carried
fore dawn Monday. the Virgin of Guadalupe —
At least 15 journalists have patron saint of Mexico and Virginia Commonwealth on his cloak. past along a self-moving
been killed in Veracruz “empress of the Americas”
since Gov. Javier Duarte — where millions of pilgrims University. “If there’s one The image helped priests walkway.
took office in 2010, and flock each year to pray be- main constituent element Chesnut called Francis “a
three more have disap- fore the shroud that bears of Mexican-ness, it’s Gua- inculcate Catholicism very strongly Marian pon-
peared. His administra- her image. dalupe, because she ob- tiff” and said his visit to the
tion has been criticized for But she’s also an ever-pres- among indigenous Mexi-
suggesting many of those ent part of life for millions of
reporters had links to drug people like Herrera, not just cans during Spanish colo-
gangs or were victims of at the basilica. Across the
common crime. country, in private homes viously transcends the reli- nial rule, and the church basilica will be one of the
In Flores Salazar’s case, and public marketplaces,
prosecutors have said she gazes down benefi- gious realm. ... So she sells later made her patron of defining moments of his trip
they were investigating cently from the walls of products, she’s tattoos, all the Americas. Juan Di- to Mexico, which has more
“all the reporter’s possible taco stands and police sta- (even with) people who ego was canonized as the Catholics than any other
ties.” The office said she tions, from hair salon mirrors
had been in the company and even outside no-tell aren’t necessarily her dev- hemisphere’s first Indian Spanish-speaking country.
of an alleged Zetas drug motels.
gang member when he In poor barrios and posh
was arrested in 2014. shopping districts, perhaps
“Veracruz authorities have nothing unites Mexicans
a history of denigrating the more than their reverence
activities of local journalists for the Virgin. Grieving
without providing any con- families light candles be-
crete evidence,” said Car- neath her likeness in shrines
los Lauria, senior America
program coordinator at Jamaica:
the New York-based Com-
mittee to Protect Journal- Gunmen open fire on motorcade by opposition party
ists. “We urge authorities
to abstain from making un- KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) ers were wounded by gun- been a reliable source of lence.
founded accusations that — Police say gunmen fire in the Jamaica Labor votes for Labor. Two men from Flankers
may further endanger the have opened fire on a Party motorcade. In a Wednesday police were killed late Sunday
Veracruz media.” campaign motorcade by About 12 cars also were statement, Senior Superin- when gunfire broke out
In August, five gunmen Jamaica’s main opposi- damaged by hurled rocks. tendent Steve McGregor at a Labor rally in nearby
burst into a bar in Orizaba tion party and killed one The violence occurred in said political organizers Montego Bay.
and killed a reporter who man as it traveled through Flankers, an impoverished had been told not to send Jamaica will hold general
was sitting at a table with a troubled neighborhood. community in northern Ja- campaign motorcades elections Feb. 25.
a reputed drug gang boss. Investigators say three oth- maica that has historically there due to recent vio-
