Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 21 august 2019
Brazilian police kill man who held bus passengers hostage

By DIANE JEANTET placed the paper at a win-
Associated Press dow in an attempt to guide
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — police.
Brandishing a fake gun, a Gov. Wilson Witzel of Rio
man on Tuesday took doz- de Janeiro pumped his fist
ens of hostages on a bus in triumph after arriving on
in Brazil and threatened to the bridge in a helicopter
set the vehicle on fire with after the hostage-taker
gasoline before police shot was killed. He later praised
him dead in a four-hour police, saying the hostage
standoff on Latin America’s situation was high-profile
longest bridge. but that armed criminals
All the hostages were freed are regularly “terrorizing”
unharmed on a 13-kilo- people out of sight of most
meter-long (8-mile-long) Brazilians.
bridge that offers a sweep- Any criminal with a firearm
ing view of Rio de Janeiro’s “can and should be shot
Sugarloaf Mountain and down by an elite sniper,”
the statue of Christ the Re- said Witzel, dismissing con-
deemer. The panoramic cerns that police killings of
setting where the man suspects in Rio are increas-
made his move seemed to ing.
reflect a bid for maximum Police in Rio killed 881 peo-
publicity in a spot with virtu- ple in the first six months of
ally no chance of escape. this year — almost five a
“He told us he didn’t want An armed man who took dozens of hostages on a bus steps outside of the bus where just moments day — a double digit in-
our belongings, that he later he is shot dead by police, following a four-hour standoff on the bridge connecting the city of crease compared to the
didn’t want to hurt us, that Niteroi to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019. Associated Press same period in 2018, ac-
he just wanted to go down cording to official figures.
in history,” said Hans More- with poverty and violence. to Nunes. The man took broadcast live on Brazil’s TV Witzel, a former marine,
no, a hostage who had Police initially said the man 37 people hostage on the Globo, riveting Brazilians in has argued in favor of us-
been sitting at the back of had a gun and a knife. bus at around 5:30 a.m., as a nation accustomed to ing snipers on helicopters
the bus. Later, however, Lt. Col. commuter traffic was in- high levels of crime. to shoot armed criminals in
The bridge links Rio to the Maurilio Nunes of the elite creasing, police said. He re- The man instructed a hos- Rio’s slums. He is a political
Niteroi municipality across police squad that handled leased two hostages, then tage to bind the wrists ally of President Jair Bol-
Guanabara Bay. Many the hostage-taking said the another two, and then two of other passengers with sonaro, whose successful
people use it to travel to gun was fake. more, separately. Later, plastic straps, but let them election platform last year
and from work in Rio, and “He had highs and lows,” he stepped out of the bus, make brief phone calls to included a pledge to get
hundreds of vehicles were Nunes said of the hostage- threw an object resembling family members, accord- tough on crime.
backed up as police closed taker, who communicated a bag and was shot by a ing to Moreno, one of the Rio’s elite police force,
its eight lanes and tried to with police. Professional sniper. The man’s inten- hostages. He said he jot- known as BOPE, on Tues-
get control of the danger- psychologists were sum- tions were unclear and he ted short descriptions on a day took charge of hos-
ous situation. The bus was moned to help police as- did not make any particu- piece of paper of where tage negotiations while a
coming from Sao Gonçalo, sess the man’s troubled lar demands, according the hostage-taker was sniper was seen deploying
a community struggling state of mind, according to police. The standoff was standing in the bus, and near the scene.q

New Argentina treasury minister guarantees peso stability

treasury minister said Tues- Fernández. primary elections, Macri’s
day. Macri’s loss, and fears of administration announced
“This is a complex situa- a potential return to in- a string of spending mea-
tion,” Hernán Lacunza told terventionist policies by a sures. They included: a
reporters moments after leftist administration, hit temporary hike of the
being sworn in as treasury markets, crashed the peso minimum wage, reducing
minister by President Mau- currency and sent stocks payroll taxes and imple-
ricio Macri. and bonds tumbling. La- menting other steps to
Lacunza said his main pri- cunza replaces Nicolas help workers as Argentina
ority will be to stabilize the Dujovne, who brokered struggles to overcome
peso. He also assured that the IMF deal and who an- galloping inflation, high
Argentina would keep nounced his resignation unemployment and other
2019 fiscal targets that it over the weekend. economic woes.
set out as a condition to “What matters now is that Macri acted after the left-
Argentina’s Treasury Minister Hernan Lacunza talks during a
press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Aug. get a record loan of more the starting point for (the ist presidential ticket that
20, 2019. than $56 billion from the next government) has a includes his predecessor,
Associated Press IMF to try to curb the coun- robust platform to be able Cristina Fernández running
Associated Press rency’s recent crash and try’s economic crisis. to recover growth,” said as vice president, turned
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina the government will meet Conservative Macri re- Lacunza, a former econo- in a powerful showing in
(AP) — Argentina will guar- its commitments with the cently lost in a primary my minister for Buenos Ai- primary voting for candi-
antee the stability of the International Monetary election by a wide margin res province. dates going into the Octo-
peso after the local cur- Fund, the country’s new against center-left Alberto After the defeat in the ber general elections.q