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WORLD NEWS Monday 1 February 2021
Wrangle over valuable art uncovered in Cypriot ghost town

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Speaking on behalf of his
Associated Press family, Panayiotis Constan-
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — tinou told the AP that their
The abstract figures of na- lawyer has advised them
ked women gyrating to that the hotel, the club and
the rhythms of a five-piece everything inside it belongs
band had shocked many to the family, regardless of
people almost 60 years the Savva artwork's cultural
ago as they eyed the art- value.
work for the first time on the "We respect and value
walls of a popular restau- culture, but this is private
rant-nightclub in Cyprus. property about which we
The valuable and very rare haven't been asked any-
concrete relief by Christo- thing about removing it,
foros Savva, Cyprus' most and on top of that, some-
avant-garde artist of the one else lays claim to it,"
1960s, had lain hidden Constantinou said.
for decades in the under- Art historians credit Savva
ground recesses of the Per- as one of the most influen-
roquet nightclub in aban- tial artists of the time who
doned Varosha — an in- brought the country's in-
accessible ghost town that In this Tuesday Oct. 20, 2020 shows a priceless and very rare concrete relief by Cyprus' most ward-looking, traditionalist
had been under Turkish avant-garde artist of the 1960s, Christoforos Savva, appears on the wall of the defunct Perroquet art world into modernity in
nightclub in the abandoned ghost-town of Varosha in the breakaway, Turkish Cypriot north of
military control since a 1974 ethnically divided Cyprus. the years immediately after
war ethnically cleaved the Associated Press Cyprus gained indepen-
island nation. dence from British colonial
But with Varosha's contro- gallery for all to see. "In return, I pledge to cede could be derailed as the rule in 1960.
versial partial opening last Former Perroquet owner Av- these pieces to the Na- Greek Cypriot family that A painter and sculptor,
November, the artwork has gerinos Nikitas, 93, a Greek tional Collection as a small owns the Esperia Tower Savva shifted away from
again come to light follow- Cypriot, has appealed to contribution to Christofo- hotel that hosted the Per- the established, represen-
ing a report by local news- a committee composed ros Savva's huge body of roquet club insist that the tational art styles by en-
paper Politis. Now, the man of both Greek and Turkish work," Nikitas said in a let- artwork legally belongs to compassing influences like
who says he commissioned Cypriots that's tasked with ter obtained by The Asso- them. They say they won't cubism, which he picked
the art from Savva is asking protecting Cyprus' cultural ciated Press, addressed to allow their "private prop- up during his stays in Lon-
authorities for help to have treasures on both sides of the committee as well as erty" to be removed and don and Paris through the
it removed and transport- the divide to help remove Cyprus' education ministry. transferred and are warn- 1950s, into his voluminous
ed to the country's national the 13 sections. But the whole venture ing of legal action. artwork. He died in 1968.q

Mexico confirms at least 2 Guatemalan migrants among 19 dead

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Pros- immigration agents. charred corpses were their
ecutors in northern Mexico The Tamaulipas state pros- loved ones that some of
confirmed Saturday that at ecutors' office did not re- the families already erect-
least two of the 19 people lease the names of the four ed traditional altars to the
found shot to death and victims identified so far. dead, with flowers and
burned near the U.S. bor- Of the 19 bodies examined photographs.
der were Guatemalan mi- by experts, 16 were found Some of the relatives in
grants. Two other victims to be males, one was Guatemala told of receiv-
among the four identified confirmed as female and ing calls from the migrant
so far were Mexicans, they two others were so badly smuggler who took the
said. burned their gender had group of 10 males and
The forensic results con- not yet been determined. three female north, telling
firmed the fears of families in The killings revived memo- them their family members
a rural Indigenous farming ries of the 2010 massacre of were dead. Relatives said
community in Guatemala 72 migrants near the town they lost contact with the Natalia Tomas keeps vigil next to an altar adorned with photos
who have said they lost of San Fernando in the ground around Jan. 21. of her son Ivan Gudiel, in her home in Comitancillo, Guatemala,
contact with 13 migrants same gang-ridden state. It is unclear why the 19 Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021.
last week as they travelled A repeat of the 2010 mas- people were slain. There Associated Press
toward the United States. sacre has long been one of have been instances in
The bodies were found the Mexican government's which drug cartels charge nized crime groups covet over.
Jan. 22 piled in a burned- worst nightmares. migrant smugglers for cross- control of stretches of the In August 2010, Zetas car-
out truck on a dirt road in In 2019, President Andrés ing their territory, and kid- border because they make tel members stopped two
the northern border state of Manuel López Obrador nap or kill migrants whose money off everything that tractor-trailers carrying
Tamaulipas. The truck had said, "We do not want a smugglers have not paid. crosses the border. dozens of mostly Central
113 bullet impacts. repeat of horrendous, re- Camargo, the area where The town is near the edge American migrants and
A burned-out SUV found grettable acts like San Fer- the bodies were found, of territory historically con- took them to a ranch in
nearby had previously nando." has long been the scene trolled by factions of the San Fernando. After the mi-
been seen in the neighbor- Relatives of migrants from of turf battles between ri- Gulf cartel and in recent grants refused to work for
ing state of Nuevo Leon, at Guatemala's province of val drug gangs as a major years a remnant of the the cartel, they were blind-
a spot where 66 migrants San Marcos are so con- smuggling transit point for Zetas known as the North- folded, tied up on the floor
were caught by police and vinced that 13 of the 19 drugs and migrants. Orga- east cartel has tried to take and shot dead.q