UNITED STATES DRAWS 1-1
WEDNESDAY APRIL 1, 2015
FREE
JOZY ALTIDORE GETS RED CARD IN FRIENDLY AT SWITZERLAND, 7A
DELIVERED EVERY SATURDAY
TO 4,000 HOMES
A HEARST PUBLICATION
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Promise, pitfalls Cruz marks first week as a candidate By KATIE ZEZIMA THE WASHINGTON POST
Photo by Matt McClain | Washington Post
Cevin Hynes, left, and Gary DiPiero, left center, listen to potential presidential candidate, United States Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as he makes an appearance on March 15 in Barrington, New Hampshire.
MERRIMACK, N.H. — When Sen. Ted Cruz finally made it to the primary season campaign trail Friday, more than four full days after officially announcing his presidential bid, he said he felt good. Really good. “I am amazingly, powerfully, profoundly optimistic,” Cruz (R-
Tex.) said here, telling the crowd that the reaction to his campaign announcement had been “breathtaking.” “I’m optimistic because of each of you, the men and women in this room who will not let freedom go.” On the ground in chilly New Hampshire, it seemed he had some reason for the sunny outlook, with his Granite State appearances this weekend greeted
enthusiastically by rowdy crowds. “Cruz missile!” one man with a thick New England accent yelled out during the Rockingham County Republican Committee and Republican Women’s brunch in Greenland Saturday morning. Still, Cruz’s New Hampshire debut, much like the rest of his first week as a candidate, demon-
See CRUZ PAGE 11A
MEXICO
TEXAS-MEXICO BORDER
BORDER SURGE EFFECTS Photo by Eduardo Verdugo | AP
A supporter of fired journalist Carmen Aristegui holds a sign that reads in Spanish: "I’m with Aristegui" outside the area where she planned to give a press conference in Mexico City, March 19.
Journalistic freedom scrutinized Firing of Carmen Aristegui causes growing anger across country Photo by Eric Gay | AP file
In this Sept. 5, 2014 file photo, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine agent looks for signs along a trail with assistance from agents in a helicopter near the Texas-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. Officials in counties across the state say they’re seeing fewer troopers to assist them.
Fewer arrests recorded across the rest of Texas ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — State police agencies are making fewer arrests and fewer traffic stops than the same period a year ago, a dropoff that local officials attribute to sending hundreds of troopers to help secure the Texas-Mexico border. The Dallas Morning News reports Highway Patrol citations have fallen 14 percent from the previous year, new investigations started by the
state criminal investigations division have fallen 13 percent and Texas Rangers arrests have fallen by 25 percent. The Texas Department of Public Safety acknowledges it has taken agents from other parts of the state to patrol the border as part of a security mission started last year. Officials in counties across the state say they’re seeing fewer troopers to assist them. Denis Simons, the county judge in Jackson
County, southwest of Houston, said the number of troopers sometimes falls from three or four to just one for his county and others nearby. “It puts a little more burden on our local law enforcement,” he said. DPS said in a statement that it has already acknowledged some of the troopers now on the border were to come from other parts of the state, “and that we would work to minimize the impact to other areas or services.”
Former Gov. Rick Perry directed hundreds of troopers and National Guardsmen to the border with a stated mission to bolster surveillance. While top state officials have said that increase has improved security at border crossings, some lawmakers are skeptical or concerned about the surge’s impact elsewhere. “The truth is the rest of Texas is just a tad bit less safe,” said State Rep. Den-
See SURGE PAGE 11A
TEXAS FARM BUREAU
Food prices drop slightly SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
WACO —Retail food prices decreased slightly during the first quarter of 2015, with a basket of 16 staple items at the grocery store totaling $49.04, according to the latest Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Grocery Price Watch survey. “Down nearly three percent from last quarter at $50.48, lower food prices are good news for Texas families, taking a little bit of pressure off tight budgets,” TFB President Russell Boening said.
Although prices for most food items fell, beef prices remain on the rise. Top sirloin steak increased to $7.08 per pound, up by 3.51 percent from the last quarter. Lean ground beef rose 1.34 percent to $4.54 per pound. “Ranchers are still feeling the effects of a multi-year drought,” Boening said. “The U.S. and Texas cow herds fell to their lowest numbers during those extremely dry years. It takes time to rebuild.” While beef prices are expected to remain high through 2015,
shoppers are finding lower prices for other meats, including pork, chicken and turkey. Increased pork supplies and lower grain prices have pushed pork chop prices down to $4.50 per pound, a 5.86 percent decrease from last year. Prices for boneless chicken breasts dropped to $3.31 per pound, a 1.49 percent decrease, while sliced turkey prices fell to $4.79, a 4.58 percent decrease. “Texas shoppers are noticing
See FOOD PAGE 11A
By ELISABETH MALKIN NEW YORK TIMES
MEXICO CITY — When Carmen Aristegui, Mexico’s most famous radio personality, was abruptly fired this month, nobody expected her to go quietly. But anger over her dismissal has been rising steadily, and it has turned up the heat in this country’s charged political atmosphere. Conspiracy theories have abounded since a dispute between Aristegui and her employer, MVS Communications, ended in her departure. She has become an emblem of press freedom under siege, and social media has lighted up with demands for her return to the airwaves.
Even her critics, who point to a lack of reportorial rigor in many of her stories, argue that her dismissal removed one of the few broadcast journalists in Mexico who openly challenge authority. Many journalists contend that Aristegui’s case is part of a broader attempt by the government to check aggressive news coverage. "Today we have radio that is less plural than it was two weeks ago," said Raul Trejo, a media expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. "I have been very critical. But I think her voice is very healthy for Mexican society." Aristegui leads a
See FREEDOM PAGE 12A
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Used Book Sale, 10 a.m. to noon. Widener Book Room, First United Methodist Church. Public invited; no admission fee.
SATURDAY, APRIL 4 Used book and magazine sale at First United Methodist Church. Widener Book Room. 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Public invited; no admission fee.
TUESDAY, APRIL 7 The Alzheimer’s support group. Meeting room 2, building B of the Laredo Medical Center. The support group is for family members and caregivers taking care of someone who has Alzheimer’s. For information, please call 693-9991. Les Amies Birthday Club’s monthly meeting at 11:30 a.m. at the Ramada Plaza, honoring Leonor “Noni” Daves.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8 Used book sale. First United Methodist Church. 10 a.m. to noon. Come join us at the Laredo Human Resource Management Association Meeting. Embassy Suites at 12:00 noon. Mr. Rodney Klein the Education and Training Manager for the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will be presenting on: Harassment and Bullying in the workplace. Please register on-line at LAHRM.org .
SATURDAY, APRIL 11 “Larry Hernandez Memorial 7th Annual Crime Stoppers 5-K Run/ Walk Against Crime at the entrance of Lake Casa Blanca State Park. Registration 7 a.m. Race at 8 a.m. Preregistration fee $15 through April 10. Day of the event n April 11, $20. Kids’ run for ages 10 years and under. Proceeds benefit Laredo Crime Stoppers. The first 100 entries receive T-shirt and goody bag. Registration forms at Laredo Crime Stoppers office, 1200 Washington St., 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., or at Laredo Ciclo Mania at 611 Shiloh, Ste. #2 from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Call 956- 724-1876 for information; applications at www.laredocrimestoppers.org.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15 Used Book Sale, 10 a.m. to noon. Widener Book Room, First United Methodist Church. Public invited; no admission fee. “Opportunities and Challenges for Mexico Today” from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at TAMIU Student Center Ballroom 5201 University Blvd. Dr. Negroponte will examine the high expectations for modernization of the Mexican economy under President Enrique Peña Nieto and the 11 structural reforms that he succeeded in passing through Congress. She will discuss questions such as how implementation of the principal reforms, energy and telecommunications progressed. She will also explore the question of how Peña Nieto’s administration has met serious security and political challenges following the reforms’ passages and what lies ahead in 2015. For more information, contact Amy Palacios at cswht@tamiu.edu or 956-326-2820.
SATURDAY, APRIL 18 Garage sale at Holy Redeemer Church, 1602 Garcia St., from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will be clothes, toys, furniture and more. For more information, call Amparo Elegarte at 2860862. (Submit calendar items at lmtonline.com/calendar/submit or by emailing editorial@lmtonline.com with the event’s name, date and time, location and purpose and contact information for a representative. Items will run as space is available.)
Photo by Eric Gay | AP
In this July 10, 2013 file photo, Regent Wallace Hall, of Dallas, takes part in a University of Texas Regents meeting in Austin, Texas. A grand jury has declined to indict Hall for illegally releasing confidential student information, instead issuing a blistering report decrying his "unaccountable and abusive behavior."
No indictment for regent By JIM VERTUNO ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — A grand jury declined to indict a University of Texas regent on criminal charges in an investigation into the release of confidential student records, but issued a blistering report Tuesday decrying his “unaccountable and abusive behavior.” Travis County prosecutors asked grand jurors to consider whether Wallace Hall disseminated confidential student information during his relentless pursuit of Austin campus records. State lawmakers already have censured Hall over his actions during a yearslong personal investigation of the campus administration, including President Bill Powers. The four-page report issued by the grand jury contained no charges, but said Hall “used his positional power to the point of
abuse,” that his actions lowered morale and caused talented staff to leave or avoid the university, and that he purposely avoided scrutiny by making verbal demands instead of written ones that could be documented. The grand jury statement echoed previous reports prepared for state lawmakers that criticized Hall’s record requests that topped 800,000 pages, cost more than $1 million in expenses and overwhelmed University of Texas System and Austin campus officials. The grand jury said that while Hall didn’t break any laws, it was “appalled at (Hall’s) unaccountable and abusive behavior.” The state House initially investigated Hall for possible release of confidential student records as he dug into Austin campus admissions procedures. Lawmakers then turned their findings over to prosecutors. The jury also called for Hall’s removal from office.
2 dozen charged in online solicitation stings
Supreme Court justice testifies on truancy
Officer fatally shoots man who had pellet gun
HOUSTON — Two dozen men have been charged in separate Houston-area online sex solicitation investigations by neighboring counties. The Fort Bend County Sheriff ’s Office on Tuesday announced 12 arrests in a sting last week of men allegedly trying to meet children for sex. All remained in custody Tuesday.
AUSTIN — A Texas Senate panel is hearing testimony — including comments from the state’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht — on a bill to decriminalize truancy. Hecht said Texas has “a real problem with keeping kids in school.” Houston Democratic Sen. John Whitmire is sponsoring a plan making truancy a misdemeanor punishable by graduated fines starting at $100.
BAYTOWN — A Houston-area officer has fatally shot an armed man after police say the suspect refused to drop what turned out to be a pellet gun. The shooting happened early Tuesday as Baytown officers responded to reports of a man with a rifle near downtown. A police statement says 21year-old Benjamin Quezada refused several orders from an officer to drop the weapon.
Feds appeal judge in gay-couple rules change AUSTIN — The U.S. Justice Department is asking a federal judge in Texas to reconsider his order temporarily blocking federal rules that would have expanded medical leave benefits to some gay couples. Last week, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Wichita Falls stayed expansion of the definition of “spouse” under the Family and Medical Leave Act to include same-sex couples.
Police arrest man accused Authorities investigate 8 of illegal butt injections recent vacant home fires DALLAS — Dallas police say a second person accused of recently providing illegal buttocks injections has surrendered to authorities. Investigators say 32-year-old Jimmy Clarke was arrested Tuesday on a charge of practicing medicine without a license. He was being held at the Dallas County jail on a $25,000 bond.
WACO — Investigators in Central Texas are trying to determine whether recent suspicious fires at eight vacant homes are related. The Waco Fire Department reports all of the blazes happened in the past two weeks. The latest fire was Monday afternoon. One Waco firefighter was injured in a March 25 blaze. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Health providers take stand against execution SAN DIEGO — The medical community has become united in its opposition to playing any role in capital punishment killings. People on both sides of the issue said Tuesday the recent stance by doctors, pharmacists and others could make it increasingly difficult for corrections departments to obtain the already scarce drugs for lethal injections. It also could prompt more deathpenalty states to return to previously shunned methods like firing squads, gas chambers and electric chairs.
Google Maps turns into chomping grounds SAN FRANCISCO — The virtual streets of Google Maps are being transformed into PacMan’s chomping grounds in celebration of April Fools’ Day.
Today is Wednesday, April 1, the 91st day of 2015. There are 274 days left in the year. This is April Fool’s Day. Today’s Highlight in History: On April 1, 1945, American forces launched the amphibious invasion of Okinawa during World War II. (U.S. forces succeeded in capturing the Japanese island on June 22.) On this date: In 1789, the U.S. House of Representatives held its first full meeting in New York; Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first House speaker. In 1924, Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. (Hitler was released in Dec. 1924; during his time behind bars, he wrote his autobiographical screed, “Mein Kampf.”) In 1933, Nazi Germany staged a daylong national boycott of Jewish-owned businesses. In 1954, the United States Air Force Academy was established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon signed a measure banning cigarette advertising on radio and television, to take effect after Jan. 1, 1971. In 1972, the first Major League Baseball players’ strike began; it lasted 12 days. In 1975, with Khmer Rouge guerrillas closing in, Cambodian President Lon Nol resigned and fled into exile, spending the rest of his life in the United States. In 1984, recording star Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father, Marvin Gay (cq) Sr. in Los Angeles, the day before his 45th birthday. (The elder Gay pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, and received probation.) In 1992, the National Hockey League Players’ Association went on its first-ever strike, which lasted 10 days. Ten years ago: The Vatican reported that Pope John Paul II was near death, his breathing shallow and his heart and kidneys failing. Five years ago: Roman Catholic cardinals across Europe used their Holy Thursday sermons to defend Pope Benedict XVI from accusations he’d played a role in covering up sex abuse scandals. One year ago: Mocking his critics, President Barack Obama boasted that 7.1 million people had signed up for his health care law, and said “the debate over repealing this law is over.” Today’s Birthdays: Actress Jane Powell is 86. Actress Debbie Reynolds is 83. Baseball Hall of Famer Phil Niekro is 76. Actress Ali MacGraw is 76. Rhythm-and-blues singer Rudolph Isley is 76. Reggae singer Jimmy Cliff is 67. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is 65. Actress Annette O’Toole is 63. Movie director Barry Sonnenfeld is 62. Singer Susan Boyle is 54. Actor Jose Zuniga is 53. Rapperactor Method Man is 44. Movie directors Albert and Allen Hughes are 43. Political commentator Rachel Maddow is 42. Singer Bijou Phillips is 35. Actor Sam Huntington is 33. Comedian-actor Taran Killam is 33. Actor Matt Lanter is 32. Actor Josh Zuckerman is 30. Country singer Hillary Scott (Lady Antebellum) is 29. Thought for Today: “The only sin is mediocrity.” — Martha Graham, American modern dance pioneer (born 1894, died this date in 1991).
CONTACT US Publisher, William B. Green........................728-2501 Account Executive, Dora Martinez ...... (956) 765-5113 General Manager, Adriana Devally ...............728-2510 Adv. Billing Inquiries ................................. 728-2531 Circulation Director ................................. 728-2559 MIS Director, Michael Castillo.................... 728-2505 Managing Editor, Nick Georgiou ................. 728-2565 Sports Editor, Zach Davis ..........................728-2578 Spanish Editor, Melva Lavin-Castillo............ 728-2569 Photo by Pat Sullivan | AP file
This May 27, 2008 file photo shows the State of Texas execution chamber in Huntsville, Texas. A leading association for pharmacists on Monday has approved a proposal against that participation in lethal injection executions. Google added the option to convert its popular navigation service into the Pac-Man video game on Tuesday morning, around the same day the calendar turned to April 1 in Asia. The gag on Google Maps enables visitors to click on a Pac-
Man symbol in the lower left of the screen to play the video game on whatever location is listed in the address bar. The game can be played in Google Maps on desktop computers or mobile devices. — Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
Politics
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Obama shortens sentences of 22 prisoners By DARLENE SUPERVILLE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday shortened the prison sentences of nearly two dozen drug convicts, including eight serving life in prison, in an act the White House said continues Obama’s push to make the justice system fairer by reducing harsh sentences that were handed down under outdated guidelines. The effort could lead Obama to grant clemency more often as his second and final term in office winds down. In December, Obama issued his first round of commutations under new guidelines that were put in place to cut costs by reducing the growing prison population and grant leniency to nonviolent drug offenders sentenced to yearslong terms of confinement away from society. A commutation leaves the conviction in place and ends the punishment. Neil Eggleston, the White House counsel, said many of the 22 people whose federal sentences will be cut short by Obama’s action would already have served their time and paid the debt they owed society had they been sentenced under current laws and policies.
“Because many were convicted under an outdated sentencing regime, they served years — in some cases more than a decade — longer than individuals convicted today of the same crime,” Eggleston said in a post on the White House blog. The 22 individuals were sentenced between 1992 and 2006. Eggleston said Tuesday’s commutations underscore Obama’s “commitment to using all the tools at his disposal to bring greater fairness and equity to our justice system.” Obama has now approved a total of 43 commutations during more than six years in office. Eggleston noted that Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, had commuted 11 sentences during his two terms. In a letter, Obama urged each individual to take advantage of the second chance he is giving them. The White House said it was the first time Obama had sent such letters. “I am granting your application because you have demonstrated the potential to turn your life around. Now it is up to you to make the most of this opportunity,” he wrote. “It will not be easy, and you will confront many who doubt people with criminal records can change. Per-
haps even you are unsure of how you will adjust to your new circumstances. “But remember that you have the capacity to make good choices,” Obama said. The nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates for less stringent drug sentences, praised the commutations. “The president’s actions today are welcome,” said Michael Collins, policy manager at DPA’s office of national affairs. Collins called on Congress to “act quickly on substantive sentencing reform,” adding, “It’s time to rectify the U.S.’s embarrassing record on mass incarceration.” The 22 individuals whose sentences will expire on July 28 are: Terry Andre Barnes, East Moline, Illinois. Conspiracy to distribute cocaine base; violation of supervised release. Sentenced to 246 months imprisonment. Theresa Brown, Pompano Beach, Florida. Conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. Sentenced to life in prison. Donel Marcus Clark, Dallas. Conspiracy; use of a communication facility; distribution and/or possession of cocaine or manufacturing in or near a school facility, aiding and abetting. Sentenced to 420 months in prison, later
amended to 360 months. Ricky Bernard Coggins, Tallahassee, Florida. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base. Sentenced to life imprisonment. Samuel Pasqual Edmondson, of Junction City, Kansas. Conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute; possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Sentenced to life in prison. Amado Garcia, Fresno, California. Conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine; aiding and abetting the possession of methamphetamine; aiding and abetting the possession of heroin. Sentenced to 240 months in prison. Dwight Anthony Goddard, Decatur, Georgia. Possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. Sentenced to 235 months in prison. Lionel Ray Hairston, of Ridgeway, Virginia. Distribution of cocaine base. Sentenced to 262 months in prison. Francis Darrell Hayden, Loretto, Kentucky: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1,000 or more marijuana plants or 1,000 or more kilograms of marijuana; manufacture of 1,000 or more marijuana plants. Sentenced to life
imprisonment. Harold Kenneth Herring, Havana, Florida: Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. Sentenced to life imprisonment. Tommie Lee Hollingshed, Memphis, Tennessee. Distribution of a controlled substance. Sentenced to 324 months imprisonment. Derrick DeWayne Johnson, Birmingham, Alabama. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine; possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Sentenced to 360 months imprisonment. Robert Martinez-Gil, San Antonio, Texas. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin. Sentenced to life imprisonment. David Navejar, Brooksville, Florida. Conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. Sentenced to 240 months imprisonment. Rudolph Norris, Washington, D.C. Unlawful distribution of cocaine base; unlawful possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of cocaine base. Sentenced to 360 months imprisonment. Tracy Lynn Petty, Shelby, North Carolina.
Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base. Sentenced to 240 months imprisonment, later amended to 204 months. Luis Razo, Davenport, Iowa. Conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Sentenced to 240 months imprisonment. Antwon Rogers, Cleveland. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 139.8 grams of cocaine base. Sentenced to life imprisonment. Herman Rosenboro, Kingsport, Tennessee. Conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute over five kilograms of cocaine and over 50 grams of cocaine base; distribution of a quantity of cocaine base; distribution of a quantity of cocaine. Sentenced to life imprisonment. Lawrence Elmo Scott, Lynchburg, Virginia. Distribution of crack cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school. Sentenced to 283 months imprisonment. Levar V. Wade, Chicago, Illinois. Possession of 50 or more grams of crack cocaine with intent to distribute. Sentenced to 240 months imprisonment. Eugene Winters, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Conspiracy to distribute cocaine base. Sentenced to 240 months in prison.
Panel issues subpoenas in Secret Service incident By MATTHEW DALY ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Oversight Committee said Tuesday he is issuing subpoenas to two Secret Service agents who witnessed an episode in which two high-ranking agency officials are accused of driving into a secure area at the White House without authorization. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah,
said the agents can shed light not only on the March 4 incident, “but also on why the Secret Service appears to be systemically broken and in desperate need of both leadership and reform.” Chaffetz had asked Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy to allow four agents and officers to testify at a hearing last week on the March 4 incident. Clancy declined the request and instead testified as the sole witness.
The committee is trying to get to the bottom of allegations that two senior agents had been drinking when they drove into the area. The agents were accused of nudging a construction barrier with their vehicle as they intruded during an investigation of a suspicious item. Chaffetz said the committee’s top priority in its investigation is to ensure that the Secret Service keeps the president and his fam-
ily safe. Clancy has been criticized for the agency’s handling of the incident and has complained that he was not told about it for five days, which he called unacceptable. He said he only learned about the incident from discussions about an anonymous email that was circulating within the agency. The email described the off-duty agents as “both extremely in-
toxicated” and confused about the investigation activity. It said uniformed Secret Service officers at the scene “were going to arrest both of them, but the UD (Uniform Division) watch commander said not to.” The Homeland Security Department’s inspector general is investigating allegations against the agents. The Secret Service had no comment on the subpoenas Tuesday evening.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Mom, don’t feel so guilty By PETULA DVORAK THE WASHINGTON POST
The guilt. The guilt! Today’s parents, especially today’s mothers, are filled with guilt. It gnaws at us at pickup time, at bedtime, long after the kids have gone to sleep and we’re RedBulled out of our minds making costumes or cupcakes or scrapbook photo albums to prove to ourselves and everyone around us that we are there for them. But smothering isn’t mothering. And we have, at long last, scientific proof that more of mom isn’t necessarily better. The study, which will be published in April in the Journal of Marriage and Family and was described in The Washington Post by my colleague Brigid Schulte, looks at the academic achievement, behavior and emotional well-being of kids 3 to 11 years old in relation to the time they spend with their parents. Guess what? Kids who log fewer mommy/daddy hours are great. Just. Fine. Their success and happiness — as well as we can measure these things — aren’t too different from the kids who can’t seem to shake their ever-present parents. What matters is the quality of the time, not the quantity of time. Common sense, right? You’d think. But we are a generation of parents twisting ourselves into knots trying to live up to what amounts to a big, fat myth. The legend is that Moms Back Then — when moms made up about a third of the labor force and a fraction of the professional world — spent all their waking hours nurturing their precious children. Ha! Moms back in 1965 didn’t hover. The phrase "helicopter parent" was not in their vocabulary. They spent more time cleaning their homes, experimenting with aspic loaf recipes, and playing bridge than they did bonding with their brood. This was the heyday of the Peanuts gang, when adults were a wha-whawha voice in the background, and kids, Snoopy and a weird bird went on adventures together without any parents present. An analysis by the American Time Use Survey cited by a recent Pew Research Center study showed that American moms in 1965 spent a full 10 hours a week with their children and that dads devoted just 2.5 hours a week to caring for their kids. Seriously? Yup. So what’s going on now, when about 75 percent of mothers are in the workforce, including those in boardrooms, courtrooms, newsrooms, laboratories, legislatures
and law firms, engineering a supposed social catastrophe that makes traditionalists fret? Why are they spending time chasing their careers and not bonding with their kids? Today’s moms spend — wait for it — 14 hours a week with their kids. That’s more than their non-working, 1965 counterparts. And dads are spending up to seven hours a week with their sons and daughters. So that means today’s kids are getting nearly twice the face time with parents than the kids from the Peanuts gangera ever got. Our overparenting is nothing to brag about, as any free-range parent would tell you. We ought to be modeling ourselves on the mothers of 50 years ago, whose best child-rearing trick was telling their kids to go outside to play until dinner. And in that parentfree time, when the kids followed the weird bird or searched for the Great Pumpkin, they became imaginative, resilient, independent, clever little people fueled by boredom, necessity and grit. There are two huge takeaways from the new research. The first: Those extra four hours that we squeeze out of our stonecold days to be more present than those 1965 moms are not necessarily helping our kids become awesome humans. They’re just making us exhausted. And crazy. I am Exhibit A of this, jamming museum visits and park adventures with my kids into every waking moment that I am not at work. Yet I know they get more out of their own game of lacrockey — their hockey/lacrosse hybrid invention — in our alley than yet another guided tour of the U.S. National Arboretum azaleas by me. The second point so often forgotten in our never-ending mommy wars: Yay Dad! Many men have really stepped up in the lives of their children, which ought to be relieving pressure on women. But our guilt remains unrelenting. And it’s built around a myth, a mom that never existed, and it’s fueled by a deep fear and loathing of women in the workforce. Stop. Parents — let it go. And let them go. Being the sun around which your child must constantly orbit isn’t unconditional love, it’s narcissism. Whether kids have us for 10 hours, 14 hours or 20 hours a week, extreme helicoptering and extreme absenteeism are the obvious things to avoid. Anything in between — especially if it is high-quality and possibly includes a weird bird — will help our kids turn out all right. Our guts — and now data — tell us so.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY The Zapata Times does not publish anonymous letters. To be published, letters must include the writer’s first and last names as well as a phone number to verify identity. The phone number IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication. We want to assure our
readers that a letter is written by the person who signs the letter. The Zapata Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms. Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility. No name-calling or gratuitous abuse is allowed. Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.
COLUMN
Chair reminds me of family There is a simple wooden, ladderback chair that sits fairly unobtrusively in our home that most people probably look at as some sort of odd decoration. It marks a spot at the beginning of the hallway to the bedrooms in our little retirement home. No one sits in the chair. It holds a decorative cushion about dogs with a clear plastic pocket for a photo. It is used to display one of the most prized members of our household, Sawyer, The Famous River Wonder Dog. However, the chair really has nothing to do with Sawyer or dogs. It is a symbol of times long past through at least four, and likely more, generations of my family. The chair is probably not structurally sound enough for my weight. My mother painted the chair with an enamel white in an old country method to preserve it. At one time that “finish” contrasted dramatically with the then-haircovered cowhide seat. And, true to the times, the cowhide came straight from the cow via some simple
“curing.” Several generations of posteriors wore the hair off so that now the seat is oldbone-colored and no one would consider it a “fashionable piece.” But, it is certainly noticeable. It came to me from my mother via her mom, who in turn received it from her parents. That chair was used in those three homes, and I think but cannot complete the trace to fifth family level. However, it is certainly filled with memories and stories of those generations of my mother’s family. Typical of its usage in those earlier times was for it to be moved from inside the house to the front porch to accommodate visitors to my forebears’ homes. Air-conditioning was non-existent and visiting in warm weather was done on the front porch, not only for comfort, but also for hidying passersby
and/or visitors arriving. And, those old farmersranchers style of usage probably forced the replacement of some pieces several times. One would find an unpainted post that ran from the floor to the ceiling on the large porch. Then, they would sit in the chair and lean it back against one of the posts so that the top cross piece rested against the post as the user sat with his feet on the bottom rung of support pieces between the chair’s legs. Of course, the unfinished top rung of the ladderback took a little extra wear and tear that way as did the bottom front rungs between the chair’s legs where a usually exhausted user placed his feet. Of course, the methods of use reflected the tenor of the times — bone-tired folks who had probably put in a 12- or 14-hour day tending livestock, working the fields, moving supplies around in the barn — well, you get the idea. I figured out at an early age that I wanted no part of physical labor if I could help it; I certainly didn’t
want anything to do with farming or raising cattle or anything else remotely agricultural. My parents worked extremely hard as did thousands of people who “came up” in those times. While Mother finished high school (11 grades in Texas in those days), Dad’s raising was limited since his father died when Dad was three and his mother when he was 11. He finished eight grades before making a living eliminated schooling from his schedule. In my childhood and teenage years, both parents continuously reminded me of the importance of an education and not having to do manual labor to earn a living. They made lots of sacrifices to see that my three brothers and I had the chance to make the most of those opportunities. And, that well-placed chair in my home serves as a reminder of those sacrifices. Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor-publisher of more than 50 years experience. He can be reached by email at wwebb1937@att.net.
COLUMN
States need to be less squeamish By CHRISTOPHER INGRAHAM THE WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON — A drug-related HIV outbreak in rural Indiana has prompted Indiana Gov. Mike Pence to declare a public health emergency and take the unusual step of instituting a 30-day needle exchange program in the hardest-hit area. Needle exchanges allow intravenous drug users to trade in used needles for sterile ones. There’s widespread evidence going back decades that such programs
are effective at preventing the spread of HIV and other blood-borne diseases, that they encourage drug users to seek treatment for their addictions, and that they do not promote or encourage drug use overall. Still, Pence, R, is no fan of these programs. "In response to a public health emergency, I’m prepared to make an exception to my long-standing opposition to needle exchange programs," he said. In the span of one extraordinary sentence, Pence both acknowledged the programs’
efficacy and reiterated his opposition to them. But Pence is hardly alone on the issue. According to law professor Scott Burris of Temple University, 24 states — mostly red ones — don’t allow the practice. Federal funding for needle exchanges has been banned since 1980. Congress lifted the ban in 2009, but House Republicans reinserted it into a 2012 spending bill, and it has remained in place. Critics of needle exchange programs maintain that the programs "encour-
age drug use," but, if anything, such programs do the exact opposite. They allow contact between public health officials and communities of addicted people who are otherwise nearly impossible to reach. If you can get IV drug users to come in to exchange needles, you can also talk to them about resources available to help them quit using altogether. With any luck, after 30 days pass without the sky falling in, Pence may be inspired to reconsider his opposition to the programs.
CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
Nation
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Indiana governor wants changes By TOM DAVIES AND ANDREW DEMILLO ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Manuel Balce Ceneta | AP
Makenzie Vasquez, of Santa Cruz, Calif., poses for a picture in Washington, Monday.
Student loan recipients strike By KIMBERLY HEFLING ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Pamela Hunt is so overwhelmed by her $56,000 in student loans for what she considers a worthless criminal justice master’s degree that she’s joined others on a “debt strike” and refusing to pay back the money. On Tuesday, she walked out of a meeting with officials from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Education Department she and other former students from for-profit colleges attended on behalf of the “Corinthian 100” feeling cautiously optimistic about the burden being eased. “I think it can go either way,” said Hunt, 55, who works in home health care in Ledyard, Connecticut. She obtained her degree online through Everest College. The group’s name comes from troubled Corinthian Colleges, Inc., which operated Everest College, Heald College and WyoTech before agreeing last summer to sell or close its 100-plus campuses. About 100 current and former students are refusing to pay back their loans, according to the Debt Collective group behind the strike. The former students argue that the department should have done a better
job regulating the schools and informing students that they were under investigation. “I know they heard us but I don’t know if they actually understand the significance of what a lot of us are going through,” said Hunt, describing former students unable to take out car loans and on the verge of going homeless. By not paying back their loans, the former Corinthian students potentially face a host of financial problems, such as poor credit ratings and greater debt because of interest accrued. Already, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has asked the courts to grant relief to Corinthian students who collectively have taken out more than $500 million in private student loans. Officials from the bureau agreed to the meeting Tuesday that included Ted Mitchell, the Education Department’s undersecretary. The Education Department is the former students’ main target because they want the department to discharge their loans. In a statement after the meeting, Denise Horn, a department spokeswoman said what these students have experienced is “troubling” and it will will review every claim.
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Gov. Mike Pence asked lawmakers Tuesday to send him a clarification of the state’s new religiousfreedom law later this week, while Arkansas legislators passed a similar measure, despite criticism that it is a thinly disguised attempt to permit discrimination against gays. The Arkansas proposal now goes to Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who has said he will sign it. Pence defended the Indiana law as a vehicle to protect religious liberty but said he has been meeting with lawmakers “around the clock” to address concerns that it would allow businesses to deny services to gay customers. The governor said he does not believe “for a minute” that lawmakers intended “to create a license to discriminate.” “It certainly wasn’t my intent,” said Pence, who signed the law last week. But, he said, he “can appreciate that that’s become the perception, not just here in Indiana but all across the country. We need to confront that.” The Indiana law prohibits any laws that “substantially burden” a person’s ability to follow his or her religious beliefs. The definition of “person” includes religious institutions, businesses and associations. Although the legal language does not specifically mention gays and lesbians, critics say the law is designed to shield businesses and individuals who do not want to serve gays and lesbians, such as florists or caterers who might be hired for a same-sex wedding. In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Indiana officials appeared to be in “damage-control mode” following the uproar over the
Photo by Danny Johnston | AP
Barbara Hall, far right, cheers with about 200 other demonstrators on the steps of the Arkansas state Capitol Tuesday. law. Earnest also took issue with Pence’s claim that Indiana’s law was rooted in a 1993 federal law. He said the Indiana measure marked a “significant expansion” over that law because it applies to private transactions beyond those involving the federal government. The federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act arose from a case related to the use of peyote in a Native American ritual. But in 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal law did not apply to the states. So states began enacting their own laws. Twenty now have them on the books. Businesses and organizations including Apple and the NCAA have voiced concern over Indiana’s law, and some states have barred government-funded travel to the state. Democratic legislative leaders said a clarification would not be enough. “To say anything less than a repeal is going to fix it is incorrect,” House Minority Leader Scott Pelath said. Republican Senate President Pro Tem David Long said lawmakers were negotiating a clarification proposal that he hoped would be ready for public release on Wednesday, followed by a vote Thursday before sending the package to the governor.
“We have a sense that we need to move quickly out here and be pretty nimble,” Long said. “But right now, we don’t have consensus on the language.” Also Tuesday, the Indianapolis Star urged state lawmakers in a front-page editorial to respond to widespread criticism of the law by protecting the rights of gays and lesbians. The Star’s editorial, headlined “FIX THIS NOW,” covered the newspaper’s entire front page. It called for lawmakers to enact a law that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The newspaper says the uproar sparked by the law has “done enormous harm” to the state and potentially to its economic future. In Little Rock, hundreds of people filled the Arkansas Capitol for a second day to protest the measure, holding signs that read “Hate is Not Holy” and “We are Open for Business for All Arkansans.” If enacted, the Arkansas proposal would prohibit state and local governments from infringing on a person’s religious beliefs without a “compelling” reason. The proposal was given final approval in a series of votes after the Republican-led House rejected efforts to send the bill back to committee to change it.
“The reality is what we’re doing here is really not that remarkable,” Republican Bob Ballinger, the lawmaker behind Arkansas’ measure, told reporters. “I do understand it’s kind of taken on a life of its own.” Similar proposals have been introduced this year in more than a dozen states. Democrats said they had hoped to amend the proposal to make it clear the measure could not be used to deny services to someone based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. “In Indiana, they can say we were not prepared for the backlash,” said Democratic Rep. Clarke Tucker, who opposed the bill. “We don’t really have that luxury in Arkansas because we’ve had a realtime preview of what we’re up against because of what has happened in Indiana over the last week.” Arkansas-based retail giant Wal-Mart, which has previously said the bill sends the wrong message about its home state, called on Hutchinson to veto the bill. “Today’s passage of HB1228 threatens to undermine the spirit of inclusion present throughout the state of Arkansas and does not reflect the values we proudly uphold,” Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon said in a statement Tuesday. In a letter also released Tuesday, Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola urged Hutchinson to veto the proposal, which he said would hurt the state’s economic-development efforts by sending “the message that some members of our community will have fewer protections than others. Our city and our state cannot be limited to only certain segments of society.” The Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce also opposed the measure, calling it bad for business.
Nation
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015
Prisoner escapes, chase ensues By MATTHEW BARAKAT ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — An inmate hospitalized after a suicide attempt overpowered a guard, took her gun, escaped and carjacked two vehicles Tuesday, setting off a frenzied nine-hour search that ended with his capture as he got off a bus in the nation’s capital. Wossen Assaye, 42, was charged earlier this month as the “Bicycle Bandit” — accused of robbing a dozen banks in northern Virginia and sometimes fleeing on two wheels. Assaye had tried to kill himself in jail and was taken to Inova Fairfax
Photo by John Walker/The Fresno Bee | AP
Medical personnel comfort each other after being evacuated by Fresno Police at the scene of a shooting at a medical clinic Tuesday.
Two found dead in office shooting By SCOTT SMITH ASSOCIATED PRESS
FRESNO, Calif. — A man and a woman were found dead after the man stormed a medical office building in downtown Fresno and shot the mother of his five children at close range, police in central California said Tuesday. In a chaotic scene, people hid in bathrooms at the Eye Medical Clinic and were seen climbing from the windows of the ground level building as police arrived. Officers heard one gunshot as they arrived, Fresno police Lt. Joe Gomez said. To help people inside the building get out, police smashed windows and helped people climb to safety, Gomez said. Fresno Deputy Police Chief Pat Farmer said there are two businesses in the building — a pediatric clinic and an eye clinic. There were 16 employees and patients inside both businesses. “Several people were running out of the building frantically,” Farmer said. No other injuries were reported, Gomez said. Investigators found a shotgun inside the clinic, Gomez said. Gomez identified the shooter as 43-year-old Neng Moua of Clovis. The victim is a 33-yearold woman, but her name was not released. Farmer said the woman was shot multiple times at close range. The exact nature of their current relationship was not immediately clear. Fresno Deputy Police Chief Pat Farmer said the couple did not live together but have five children
together. The woman also had two other children. The ages of the children were not released. They are all fine. Russ Spidston, Moua’s neighbor, said he was a hardworking roofer who was friendly and outgoing and who would have parties his children attended. “To find out what he did, it just doesn’t meet his character,” Spidson said, adding that he never saw or heard any problems. A motive in the murdersuicide was not immediately known but a custody dispute could have sparked the shooting, Farmer said. He said police had one prior domestic dispute contact with Neng 11 years ago. On Tuesday, the call came in as a domestic disturbance shortly before 11 a.m., police said. Police said officers surrounded the building and ordered people to evacuate. Believing they had an active shooter on the loose, police called in SWAT members who entered the building. They heard a woman with three children, call out and told her to stay put. Another woman, Raquel Castillo, a 31-year-old caregiver said she heard shots while inside with a patient visiting the clinic. “I heard him shoot three times and I heard people screaming,” Castillo said. A short search of the building led to the bodies. Several nearby businesses and Fresno City Hall were evacuated during the search, but people have since returned to those buildings. “This is a tragedy and we are grateful no one else was hurt during this incident,” Farmer said.
Hospital in northern Virginia on Friday, authorities said. He had been under the supervision of two contract guards. Police say that about 3 a.m. Tuesday, Assaye overpowered a female guard when the other guard left to use the restroom. He took her gun and used her as a shield. He then fled down a stairwell, wearing only his hospital gown. The other guard fired one shot in the encounter. No one was hit, and nobody at the hospital was injured. Outside the hospital, Assaye fled on foot and hid in the trunk of a car. Police were unsure whether As-
NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday introduced President Barack Obama’s blueprint for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by nearly a third over the next decade. Obama’s plan, part of a formal written submission to the United Nations ahead of efforts to forge a global climate change accord in
Paris in December, detailed the United States’ part of an ambitious joint pledge made by Obama and President Xi Jinping of China. The United States and China are the world’s two largest greenhouse gas polluters. Obama said the United States would cut its emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2025, while Xi said that China’s emissions would drop after 2030. Obama’s new blueprint brings together several do-
pital — not far from the site of the carjacking. Assaye then carjacked a second vehicle, police said. By 10 a.m., officers were searching Annandale neighborhoods with a helicopter overhead and heavily armed officers on the ground. In one neighborhood, Spence Limbocker said he heard the copter, went outside and saw a massive police presence, including officers armed with assault rifles searching homes and nearby woods. “They told me to get back in the house and lock all my doors. ... It was a little scary,” Limbocker said.
Man killed by NSA police By MEREDITH SOMERS ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT MEADE, Md. — Two cross-dressing men who were fired upon by National Security Agency police when they disobeyed orders at a heavily guarded gate had just stolen a car from a man who had picked them up and checked into a motel, police said Tuesday. The FBI said the driver, Ricky Shawatza Hall, 27, died at the scene, and his passenger remained hospitalized Tuesday with unspecified injuries. An NSA police officer was treated for minor injuries and released. NSA police opened fire on the stolen sports utility vehicle after Hall failed to follow instructions for leaving a restricted area, authorities said. As it turns out, Hall and his passenger had just driven off in the SUV of a 60year-old Baltimore man, who told investigators that he had picked up the two strangers in Baltimore and brought them to a Howard County motel. “We can’t confirm there was any sexual activity involved,” a Howard County Police spokeswoman, Mary Phelan, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The SUV’s owner, who has not been publicly identified, said they checked into a room at the Terrace Motel in Elkridge at about 7:30 a.m. Monday, and that he used the bathroom about an hour later. When he came out, the men were gone, along with his car keys. He called police to report the stolen car, and only minutes later, just before 9 a.m., the men took a highway exit that leads directly to a restricted area at the NSA entrance at Fort Meade. The two men were dressed as women, but “not in an attempt to disguise themselves from authorities,” FBI spokeswoman
Photo by Andrew Harnik | AP
ATF agents gather in a parking lot where media have been asked to gather, down the road from the entrance to Ft. Meade after a vehicle rammed a gate to the National Security Agency, Monday. Amy Thoreson said. Hall has a lengthy criminal record that includes assault and robbery charges. In 2013, Hall was charged after he assaulted a woman and stole a bottle of methadone from her pocket. Court papers show that Hall had been wearing a yellow dress at the time of the assault and was mistaken for a woman. In 2014, Hall was charged with robbery after stealing a vest and skirt from a Baltimore clothing store. The FBI has ruled out terrorism, and no one has explained yet why the men ended up in a restricted NSA area. However, the new timeline suggests they may have simply taken a wrong turn while fleeing the motel, about 12 minutes away. Once so secretive that it was known as “No Such Agency,” the NSA is now in some ways just another part of the suburban sprawl between Baltimore and Washington. Thousands of daily commuters who traverse the BaltimoreWashington Parkway pass its heavily secured campus at Fort Meade each day. About 11,000 military personnel and about 29,000 civilian employees with security clearances work inside the barbed wire. Similarly, the CIA head-
Obama reveals climate change plan By CORAL DAVENPORT
saye had left the hospital complex. They locked the hospital down and conducted a room-by-room search. While Assaye hid in the trunk, the woman who owned the car entered it and began driving. Assaye kicked out the trunk and carjacked the startled woman, who suffered slight injuries, said Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler. Assaye later abandoned that car and left the guard’s weapon there, police said. Witnesses reported seeing Assaye on foot in an Annandale neighborhood a few miles from the hos-
mestic initiatives that were already in the works, including freezing construction of new coal-fired power plants, increasing the fuel economy of vehicles and plugging methane leaks from oil and gas production. It is meant to describe how the United States will meet its pledge for cutting emissions. But the plan’s reliance on executive authority is an acknowledgment that any proposal to pass climate change legislation would be blocked
by the Republican-controlled Congress. At the heart of the plan are ambitious but politically contentious Environmental Protection Agency regulations meant to drastically cut planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions from the nation’s cars and coal-fired power plants. The plan also relies on a speedy timetable, which assumes that Obama’s administration will issue and begin enacting all such regulations before he leaves office.
quarters in Langley, Virginia, is less than a mile from the George Washington Parkway, a heavily-traveled link between downtown Washington and the Capital Beltway. The CIA also has a training facility known as “The Farm” at Camp Peary, also conveniently located along Interstate 64 in Williamsburg, Virginia. The NSA is Maryland’s largest employer, and Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, whose district includes the NSA campus, said its convenient location is critical. He also said the NSA gate is far enough removed from the highway that it’s easy to avoid ending up there by mistake. “I drive by there every day, when I come from Baltimore to go to the Capitol. There’s plenty of signage there,” he said. “If you follow the signs that say ’prohibited,’ you can very easily get off. When you break the law, you break the law everywhere.” But it’s not uncommon for drivers to take the wrong exit and end up at the tightly secured gates. Most drivers then carefully follow the orders of heavily armed federal officers and turn around without getting into more trouble. In this case, authorities say the men ignored instructions on how to leave,
and ended up stuck behind barriers. Police ordered them to stop, and then things escalated quickly. “The driver failed to obey an NSA Police officer’s routine instructions for safely exiting the secure campus,” Jonathan Freed, an NSA spokesman, said in a statement. The vehicle failed to stop, then “accelerated toward an NSA Police vehicle blocking the road. NSA Police fired at the vehicle when it refused to stop. The unauthorized vehicle crashed into the NSA Police vehicle.” The FBI declined to comment on the conditions of the surviving suspect and officer, except to say they were being treated at a local hospital. They also haven’t said how the man driving the stolen car died. It’s not the first time someone has disobeyed orders at an NSA gate. In July, a man failed to obey an NSA officer’s command to stop as he approached a checkpoint. That man drove away, injuring an NSA officer and nearly striking a barricade. He was later arrested and is awaiting trial on federal charges. The FBI is investigating and working with the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland to determine if federal charges are warranted.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors INTERNATIONAL SOCCER: UNITED STATES 1, SWITZERLAND 1
US draws at Switzerland By GRAHAM DUNBAR ASSOCIATED PRESS
ZURICH — The United States held on for 1-1 draw with Switzerland in an international friendly on Tuesday after veteran forward Jozy Altidore was sent off. Brek Shea’s curling freekick gave the Americans a deserved goal on the stroke of halftime, and yet another lead to take into a second period. But the trend of coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s team to concede late goals continued after Altidore got a straight red card in the 68th minute for verbal abuse directed at Italian referee Luca Banti. Altidore reacted on being shown a yellow card for a foul. “It is unfortunate, but it happened,” said Klinsmann, who played for Inter Milan. He said he reminded his players at halftime “never joke with an Italian referee.” Swiss pressure paid off in the 80th when substitute Valentin Stocker scored from just two meters (yards) past debutant goalkeeper William Yarbrough. The U.S. has now been outscored 12-1 in the second half of matches since the World Cup. “It could be a theme but
Photo by Ennio Leanza | AP
Brek Shea scores the first goal of the game for the United States in a 1-1 draw in an international friendly against Switzerland on Tuesday at Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich. it’s not a problem,” Klinsmann said. “Overall it was a very good team performance. I saw a lot of, lot of good stuff from the players.” A leveler had seemed increasingly inevitable, and five minutes earlier another Swiss substitute, Pajtim Kasami, header over an open goal from close range. The U.S. also escaped in
the 79th when an attempted clearance by defender John Brooks rolled just wide of his own goal. Stocker struck when the ball dropped to his feet after two U.S. defenders challenged for a left-wing cross, leaving him unmarked in front of goal. The Americans never threatened Switzerland’s goal after Altidore’s rush of
blood midway through the second half, first fouling left-back Francois Moubandje. Earlier, Shea’s strike was out of character with a first half of miscues in front of goal. Though the U.S. was the better side, Switzerland was responsible for the best chance and most glaring miss in the 39th.
Xherdan Shaqiri was freed down the left wing by a raking, diagonal pass from Fabian Frei and the playmaker’s pass across the goalmouth was met with an air kick by Admir Mehmedi from four meters (yards). All the Americans’ best work involved Alejandro Bedoya exploiting Moubandje, playing just his third international match.
Twice Bedoya crossed invitingly from the right, but Gyasi Zardes blazed a leftfoot volley high and wide in the 15th and Michael Bradley fired well over in the 26th when the Nantes winger cut the ball back from the byline. Bedoya drew a rare save from Swiss goalkeeper Roman Buerki in the 32nd, darting in front of Moubandje to loop a header toward goal from Shea’s bouncing cross. Swiss star Shaqiri mostly drifted out of the game and blazed a long-range shot too high after collecting goalkeeper Nick Rimando’s poor clearance in the 17th. “(Shaqiri) can hurt you badly in a second so we closed him down,” Klinsmann said. Buerki’s footwork was unimpressive for Shea’s goal and the ’keeper was at fault again in the 49th, failing to challenge Zardes for a header which bounced wide of the goal. At the other end, Yarborough made his international debut as a halftime substitute. Teenager Breel Embolo came on in the 55th for his Switzerland debut after the Cameroon-born forward got FIFA clearance last week to play for the country where he grew up.
PÁGINA 8A
Zfrontera
Ribereña en Breve ARRESTOS Catorce presuntos operadores de alto nivel dentro de dos grupos delincuenciales que operan en Tamaulipas, fueron detenidos por las fuerzas de seguridad estatales y federales, anunciaron autoridades tamaulipecas el martes. Con estos arrestos se suman 136 en poco más de 10 meses de aplicación de la segunda fase de la Estrategia de Seguridad implementada por el Gobierno de la República y el Gobierno del Estado, sostiene información revelada tras una reunión del Grupo de Coordinación Tamaulipas, celebrada el lunes. Estos son algunos de los supuestos delincuentes detenidos del 20 al 28 de marzo del presente año: Luis Manuel Kadour Ponce, supuesto cabecilla delincuencial en Tampico, México; Joel Geovanny Campos Ayala, presunto cabecilla delincuencial en Reynosa, México; José Guadalupe Soto Cabrales y Manuela Guadalupe Pérez Méndez, alegados cabecillas delincuenciales en Reynosa; Gerardo Arias Hernández, presunto escolta del jefe de plaza en la zona de la Frontera Chica y acusado de ser encargado de adiestrar a las células de la región en el uso de armamento; Gregorio Antonio Villafranca, alegado cabecilla delincuencial en San Fernando, México; Carlos Roberto Hernández, Humberto Eleuterio Gutiérrez Martínez, Luis Rolando Caudillo Garza y Daniel Israel Peña de la Rosa, presuntos escoltas de Ramiro Pérez Moreno, uno de los cabecillas delincuenciales en Nuevo Laredo, México; y Julio Santiago Collazo Pérez, acusado de ser cabecilla delincuencial en Cd. Victoria.
MIÉRCOLES 1 DE ABRIL DE 2015
CASO SAN FERNANDO
Ecos de masacre POR ALBERTO ARCE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO — Uno de los presuntos responsables de una masacre de migrantes cometida en el estado de Tamaulipas fue detenido y enviado a prisión el martes. José Guadalupe Reyes Rivera fue arrestado por la policía federal en un taller mecánico a las afueras de Ciudad Victoria, capital del estado de Tamaulipas, e inmediatamente enviado a un penal ubicado en la ciudad de Matamoros, según un comunicado de la policía que no detalló el grado de participación ni responsabilidad que el detenido tuvo en los hechos. La masacre de la que se lo acusa tuvo lugar en agosto de 2010 en la localidad de San Fernando y fue una de las más sangrientas de las que existe registro en el país. En esa ocasión 72 inmigrantes
centroamericanos aparecieron muertos a tiros en un galpón. El único superviviente contó que el motivo del crimen masivo fue que se negaron a formar parte de Los Zetas, una organización criminal que trafica desde drogas hasta personas, pasando por armas y petróleo. La masacre de San Fernando no fue un hecho aislado. Miles de migrantes centroamericanos han muerto en su camino hacia Estados Unidos. Muchos han sido víctimas de secuestros extorsivos por parte de organizaciones criminales como Los Zetas que los encierran y exigen dinero a sus familias a cambio de no asesinarlos. Los Zetas, una agrupación creada por antiguos militares de élite, compiten por el control de los negocios ilegales con el Cártel del Golfo, una organización rival de la que fueron brazo armado y
se escindieron. Se ha informado también que Los Zetas han detenido autobuses que transportan migrantes y trabajadores desde el sur de México y, ante la sospecha de que entre ellos podrían infiltrarse refuerzos para el cártel rival, los obligaban a descender y los forzaban a luchar entre ellos hasta la muerte. Entre abril y mayo de 2011 aparecieron 193 cuerpos en 47 fosas clandestinas en San Fernando y en mayo de 2012 aparecieron 49 en Cadereyta, en el vecino estado de Nuevo León. Muchas veces en México las organizaciones criminales se benefician de la cooperación de autoridades corruptas. Según la fiscalía mexicana la policía municipal de San Fernando estuvo involucrada en la matanza deteniendo a los migrantes y entregándolos a Los Zetas. La Procuraduría General de la
ZCISD
FRONTERA
OLIMPIADAS ESPECIALES
Baja índice de arrestos ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARRERA CONTRA AUTISMO El 4 de abril tendrá lugar la Primera Carrera para Concientizar sobre el Autismo del Condado de Zapata. La carrera comenzará a las 8 a.m. en el Palacio de Justicia del Condado de Zapata. La preinscripción tiene un costo de 10 dólares en active.com o en la Cámara de Comercio del Condado de Zapata en 800 de North Hwy 83 Zapata. El costo de inscripción el día del evento será de 20 dólares. Las categorías para la carrera de 5K son: 14 años y menores; de 15 años a 19 años; de 20 a 29 años; de 30 a 39 años; de 40 a 49 años; de 50 a 59 años; y de 60 en adelante.
BRAVO FEST MIGUEL ALEMÁN— Se estará realizando el “Bravo Fest”, evento que tendrá lugar el 3, 4 y 5 de abril, en el Parque del Río Bravo, debajo del Puente Internacional. El evento, que tiene como objetivo llegar a todas las familias de la región, contará con música en vivo por parte de artistas locales, música de DJ, competencias de baile, competencias de voleibol playero y campo de gotcha. Asimismo habrá puestos de comida y bebidas. El festival es gratuito y abierto al público.
CAMPAÑA MÉDICO-ASISTENCIAL MIGUEL ALEMAN — Se implementará la primer campaña médico asistencial propuesta por miembros de los ministerios nacionales “Betel” el 11 de junio, de 8 a.m. a 5 p.m. El grupo de 15 personas, entre médicos y enfermeros, estarán representados por la misionera Deana Gatlin. Además traerán consigo ropa, medicamentos y despensas. El Presidente Municipal, Ramiro Cortez, informó que los misioneros evangélicos viajarán a las comunidades rurales del sur de Miguel Alemán el 13 de junio.
República junto con la Fundación para la Justicia, el Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense y otras organizaciones firmaron en septiembre de 2013 un convenio para identificar y buscar la causa de muerte de los 314 migrantes muertos en el norte de México en las tres masacres mencionadas. En mayo de 2014 cerca de 200 restos permanecían sin identificar y las organizaciones civiles acumulaban denuncias contra la actuación de las autoridades que en ocasiones erraron en las identificaciones y entregaron cuerpos confundidos e incluso no evitaron que algunos cadáveres fueran incinerados. La Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, en un informe presentado en agosto de 2014, dijo que la respuesta del Estado mexicano ante estas atrocidades "osciló entre la indiferencia y la opacidad".
Foto de cortesía | ZCISD
Durante el fin de semana se realizaron las Olimpiadas Especiales 2015 del Zapata County Independent School District, donde estudiantes participaron y se divirtieron al lado de sus familiares y amigos. En la imagen algunos de los participantes al lado de sus seres queridos.
POLICÍA
Arrestan a 3 supuestos agresores TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Elementos policiales detuvieron a tres presuntos agresores responsables de la muerte de agente y agresiones contra otros dos, dijo el Grupo de Coordinación Tamaulipas el fin de semana. La Policía Ministerial detuvo a Carlos Eduardo del Ángel Avilés, de 31 años de edad; Jorge Saldaña Muñiz, de 31 años y Antonio Rodríguez Ortega, de 24 años, el jueves 26 de marzo, en el municipio de San Fernando, México, a bordo de un automóvil Chrysler Cirrus modelo 1998, color negro, supues-
tamente el mismo vehículo que tripulaban durante la agresión armada contra tres policías ministeriales. Tras el arresto, presuntamente, los tres aceptaron trabajar para un grupo delincuencial, del que no se especifica nombre, que opera en San Fernando y que ejecuta secuestros, extorsiones y robos diversos, señala un comunicado de prensa. Al momento de su detención los acompañaba un menor de edad, quien fue remitido a la Agencia Especializada en Conductas Cometidas por Adolescentes, señalan las autori-
dades. Durante el arresto también se confiscó un arma larga AK-47. Los tres sospechosos enfrentan cargos por homicidio calificado, homicidio calificado en grado de tentativa, delitos cometidos contra servidores públicos y asociación delictuosa.
Incidente El 18 de marzo, los hombres se toparon con tres agentes de la Policía Ministerial que se desplazaban en una camioneta oficial de la Procuraduría
General de Justicia del Estado, cuando Saldaña Muñiz, quien presuntamente dijo ser jefe de “halcones” en ese municipio para el grupo delincuencial, disparó en varias ocasiones contra la patrulla de los policías ministeriales y luego se dieron a la fuga, señalan declaraciones mencionadas en un comunicado de prensa del Gobierno. Tras el incidente, Lorenzo Alejandro Oviedo Alvarado, oficial ministerial, resultó con heridas graves. Fue transportado al Hospital General de San Fernando, donde murió horas después.
COLUMNA
Narra supresión de pena mortal Nota del editor: Esta es la primera parte de dos donde el autor narra como Tamaulipas ha implementado y erradicado la pena de muerte, a través de su historia.
POR RAÚL SINENCIO ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Sin mucho tiempo en ejecución, México suprime la pena de muerte en 2005. La constitución la contemplaba para delitos extremos. Entre tanto Tamaulipas sigue su propia ruta, que reúne aspectos interesantes: La Constitución de 1857 introduce matriz precursora. Para abolir “la pena de muerte—señala el artículo 23— queda a cargo del poder administrativo […] establecer a la mayor brevedad el régimen peniten-
ciario”, impidiendo que se aplicara por delitos políticos y constriñéndola a faltas gravísimas de naturaleza civil o castrense. Al reformar en 1901 el referido precepto, las autoridades porfirianas meten sutil y artera reversa. Porque suprimen justo la parte relativa al proyecto abolicionista, refrendándose los contendidos restantes. O sea que con independencia de existir instituciones penitenciarias, bajo determinadas hipótesis el castigo se puede aplicar, teniendo la posibilidad de erradicarlo. En la carta magna de 1917 retome las enmiendas porfirianas, el tercer párrafo del artículo 22 señala: “Queda […] prohibida la pena de muerte por delitos políticos, en cuanto a los demás, sólo podrá imponerse al traidor a la patria en
guerra extranjera, al parricida, al homicida con alevosía, premeditación o ventaja, al incendiario, al plagiario, al salteador de caminos, al pirata, al violador y a los reos de delitos graves del orden militar”.
Idea “Queda abolida […] la pena de muerte y los tribunales impondrán la mayor extraordinaria en los casos que debieran aplicar aquélla”, dicta el congreso de Tamaulipas en 1873. Influido por la constitución mexicana –en pro entonces del abolicionismo—Al año siguiente se revierte, anulándose sus efectos. (Publicado con permiso del autor, conforme aparece en La Razón, Tampico, Mx.)
AUSTIN — Agencias de policía estatales están haciendo menos arrestos y menos detenciones de tráfico, en comparación al mismo periodo de hace un año, una bajada que los funcionarios locales atribuyen a enviar cientos de soldados para ayudar a asegurar la frontera entre Texas y México. The Dallas Morning News informó que los citatorios de Patrulla de Carreteras han bajado en un 14 por ciento respecto al año anterior, mientras que nuevas investigaciones iniciadas por la división de investigaciones criminales del Estado han caído en un 13 por ciento y las detenciones de Texas Rangers disminuyeron en un 25 por ciento. El Departamento de Seguridad Pública de Texas (DPS, por sus siglas en inglés) reconoce que tomó a agentes de otras partes del estado para patrullar la frontera como parte de una misión de seguridad que comenzó el año pasado. Oficiales de condados en todo el estado señalan que están viendo un número menor de soldados que les asistan. Denis Simons, juez del condado en el Condado de Jackson, al suroeste de Houston, dijo que el número de soldados a veces va de tres o cuatro a uno solo para su condado y otros cercanos. “Se pone un poco más de peso para nuestro policía local”, dijo. DPS, dijo a través de un comunicado que es sabido que algunos de los soldados que están en la frontera vendrían de otras partes del estado”, “y que trabajaremos para minimizar el impacto en otras áreas o servicios”. El ex gobernador Rick Perry envió cientos de soldados y miembros de la Guardia Nacional a la frontera con la misión de reforzar la vigilancia. Mientras que altos funcionarios del Estado han dicho que el aumento ha mejorado la seguridad en los cruces fronterizos, algunos legisladores se muestran escépticos o preocupados por el impacto del aumento en otros lugares. “La verdad es que el resto de Texas es sólo un poco de poco menos seguro”, dijo el representante estatal. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, en una audiencia de la Cámara de Texas este mes. Bonnen ha presentado proyectos de ley que permitirían a DPS ofrecer salarios más altos para reforzar el reclutamiento y llenar las vacantes actuales. Los funcionarios estatales también quieren extender el turno diario de los oficiales a 10 horas, a través del pago de horas extras.
International
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
Nigeria’s presidential incumbent outed ASSOCIATED PRESS
ABUJA, Nigeria — Amid anger over an Islamist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives, Nigerians returned a 72year-old former military dictator to power Tuesday in the most hotly contested election in the country’s history. Incumbent Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat to Muhammadu Buhari, paving the way for an unprecedented peaceful transfer of power in Africa’s most populous nation. “Nobody’s ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian,” Jonathan said in a statement. “I promised the country free and fair elections. I have kept my word.” It will be the first time in Nigeria’s history that an opposition party has democratically taken control of the country from the ruling party — a sign of the West African nation’s maturing young democracy. Jonathan’s party has governed since decades of military dictatorship ended in 1999. Celebrations erupted all over Buhari’s strongholds in northern Nigeria and around his campaign headquarters in Abuja. Cars honked and people waved brooms in the air — a symbol of Buhari’s campaign promise to sweep out Nigeria’s endemic corruption. Jonathan’s concession came before the final announcement of election results by the Independent National Electoral Commission and as Buhari prepared to address the nation. Results of all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory showed Buhari, a former general who ruled with an iron hand during a brief tenure in the 1980s, dealing a crushing defeat to Jonathan. He won overwhelmingly in the final state to report results, northeastern Borno, the birthplace of the brutal Islamic insurgent group, Boko Haram, and the one that has endured the worst suffering from the Islamic uprising that has swept through villages and towns in the north, killing thousands of civilians and kidnapping many more, including hundreds of schoolgirls. An Associated Press count of the final results showed Buhari winning more than 15.3 million votes to Jonathan’s 12.9 million. Buhari won 19 states to Jona-
Photo by Ben Curtis | AP
Supporters of opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari riding on top of a car celebrate an anticipated win for their candidate, in Kano, Nigeria Tuesday. President Goodluck Jonathan has called challenger Muhammadu Buhari to concede. than’s 17 states and the small Federal Capital Territory. Final official results were expected to be announced late Tuesday. Besides dominating, as expected, in his northern strongholods, Buhari crucially carried Lagos state, Nigeria’s commercial hub with the largest number of voters, though fewer than one-third of eligible voters participated. He also took other critical competitive states in the country’s southwest. The victorious candidate must take more than half of all votes and at least 25 percent of votes in two-thirds of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory at Abuja. Spontaneous celebrations sprang up across cities in northern Nigeria, where Buhari is almost revered. Young men on motor scooters performed wheelies as hundreds of youths chanted, “Change! Change! Change!” and cars honked their horns in support. In Kano state, Buhari delivered a crushing defeat to Jonathan, winning 1.9 million votes to Jonathan’s 215,800. Outside Buhari’s party headquarters in Abuja, women chanted songs and used grass brooms to elaborately sweep the way
ahead of arriving dignitaries in flamboyant robes. “This election is not about Buhari or Jonathan, it’s about Nigeria, it’s about freedom, it’s about change, it’s about unity,” Aisha Birma said. She said Jonathan lost because he failed to provide security for Nigerians. “What we have gone through, the Boko Haram insurgency for the past six years in Borno. ... You, Jonathan, were responsible for our lives and property. When you don’t protect our lives and property, you can’t talk about infrastructure, education ... Security is paramount,” she said. The austere and strict Buhari has described himself as a belated convert to democracy, promising that if elected, he would stamp out the insurgency in the north waged by Boko Haram, the homegrown Islamic extremist group that has pledged fealty to the Islamic State group. Critics and supporters alike agree that Buhari is the one leader who did not treat the country’s treasury as a personal piggy bank. During his brief 1983-1985 dictatorship he ruled with an iron fist, jailing people even for littering, and ordering civil ser-
No nuke agreement By MATTHEW LEE AND GEORGE JAHN ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — With stubborn disputes unresolved, nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers went past a self-imposed deadline and into overtime as negotiators renewed efforts to hammer out the outline of an agreement. Enough progress had been made to warrant the extension past midnight Tuesday, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, although there still were “several difficult issues” to bridge. Secretary of State John Kerry, who had planned to leave the talks Tuesday, was remaining. And an Iranian negotiator said his team could stay “as long as necessary” to clear the remaining hurdles. The decision came after six days of marathon efforts to reach a preliminary understanding by midnight Tuesday, drawing in foreign ministers from all seven nations at the table — Iran, the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. After more than a decade of diplomatic efforts to limit Tehran’s nuclear advances, the present talks already had been extended twice, demonstrating the difficulties of reaching an agreement that meets the demands of both sides. The U.S. and its negotiating partners demand curbs on Iranian nuclear activities that could be used to make weapons, and they say any agreement must extend the time Tehran would need to produce a weapon from the present several months to at least a year. The Iranians deny such military intentions, but they are negotiating with the aim that a deal will end sanctions on their economy. In Washington, White House press secretary Josh Earnest suggested that talks meant to produce an outline that would allow the sides
vants who arrived late to work to do squats. He gagged the press and jailed journalists to cover up a deepening economic crisis as prices tumbled for the oil on which Nigeria’s economy depends. He eventually was overthrown by his own soldiers. Nigeria’s 170 million people are divided almost equally between Christians mainly in the south and Muslims, like Buhari, who dominate the north. In this election Buhari for the first time won states in the southwest and even took one-third of votes in a southeastern state — an unprecedented development that many say was more a reflection of voter antipathy toward Jonathan than pro-Buhari sentiment. Buhari’s showing in his fourth bid to become president was boosted by the formation of a coalition of major opposition parties two years ago. Its choice of Buhari as a single candidate presented the first real opportunity in the history of Nigeria to oust a sitting president. Buhari also was able to count on considerable voter dissatisfaction with the performance of Jonathan, who has been president since 2010. “If indeed Buhari becomes
president, it sends a clear message to the people in government that you cannot take the people of Nigeria for granted and that Nigerian democracy is maturing,” said journalist and political analyst Kadaria Ahmed. She cited Jonathan’s perceived insensitivity to the suffering of citizens caught up in the mayhem of Boko Haram’s uprising, in which some 10,000 people were killed last year and more than 1.5 million people have been driven from their homes, as stoking opposition to his re-election. “Boko Haram was a factor both as a security threat to Nigeria, but also because it became emblematic of a broader failure of the incumbent administration. It became the icon of its shortcomings,” said J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. The Nigerian military, with help from regional troops, forced Boko Haram out of areas the insurgents had taken in recent months as they formed their selfstyled “caliphate.” Nigerians praised Jonathan for his gracious concession of defeat that paved the way for a peaceful handover of power. “In the history of Nigeria, I think this is the first time where a contestant has called his rival to congratulate him,” retired Gen. Abdusalam Abubakar, a former head of state and head of a national peace committee, said after meeting Jonathan on Tuesday. “President Jonathan maintained a point that the blood of Nigerians is not worth his presidency, and by his action he has proved that.” In the war room where Jonathan’s campaign workers were crunching numbers, it became clear their candidate had lost on Monday night, according to a person who was there and asked for anonymity because the meeting was private. She said glum campaign workers explained the situation to Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who responded: “Democracy in Nigeria is strong. There’s no loss, only gain.” Because of decades of military dictatorship, Saturday’s vote was only the eighth election since the country won independence from Britain in 1960, and the fifth since democracy was restored in 1999.
Co-pilot previously disclosed depression By DAVID MCHUGH AND JOAN LOWY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Brendan Smialowski | AP
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, right, and European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini wait for the start of a meeting on Iran’s nuclear program with other officials in Lausanne, Switzerland Tuesday. to continue negotiations until the June 30 final deadline had not bridged all gaps. He said the sides were working to produce a text with few specifics, accompanied by documents outlining areas where further talks were needed. “If we are making progress toward the finish line, then we should keep going,” Earnest said. Officials had hoped to wrap up the current talks by Tuesday night with that joint general statement agreeing to start a new phase of negotiations to curb Iran’s nuclear program. That statement would be accompanied by more detailed documents that would include technical information on understandings of steps required on all sides to resolve outstanding concerns. Those documents would allow the sides to claim that the new phase of talks would not simply be a continuation of negotiations that have already been twice extended since an interim agreement between Iran and the so-called P5+1 nations was concluded in November 2013. President Barack Obama and other leaders have said they are not interested in simply a third extension. The softening of the language from a framework “agreement” to a frame-
work “understanding” appeared due in part to opposition to a two-stage agreement from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Earlier this year, he demanded only one deal that would nail down specifics and not permit the other side to “make things difficult” by giving it wiggle room on interpretations. But if the parties agree only to a broad framework that leaves key details unresolved, Obama can expect stiff opposition at home from members of Congress who want to move forward with new, stiffer Iran sanctions. Lawmakers had agreed to hold off on such a measure through March while the parties negotiated. The White House says new sanctions would scuttle further diplomatic efforts to contain Iran’s nuclear work and possibly lead Israel to act on threats to use military force to accomplish that goal. Critics will likely accuse the Obama administration of backing away from promises of a tougher March agreement. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Tuesday that extending the talks “proves once again that Iran is calling the shots.” He said the Obama administration has made “dangerous concessions” to the Iranians over the past week.
FRANKFURT, Germany — Lufthansa knew that the co-pilot of the passenger plane that crashed in the French Alps last week had suffered from an episode of “severe depression” before he finished his flight training with the German airline. The airline said Tuesday that it has found emails that Andreas Lubitz sent to the Lufthansa flight school in 2009 when he resumed his training in Bremen after an interruption of several months. In them, he informed the school that he had suffered a “previous episode of severe depression,” which had since subsided. The airline said Lubitz subsequently passed all medical checks and that it has provided the documents to prosecutors. It declined to make any further comment. French authorities say voice recordings indicate Lubitz, 27, locked the other pilot out of the cockpit and deliberately crashed the Airbus A320 in the French Alps on March 24. All 150 people aboard Flight 9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf died. The disclosure that Lubitz had told the airline he had suffered from depression before he was hired in September, 2013 at Lufthansa’s budget arm Germanwings is another blow to the company’s reputation. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr had said that Lubitz passed all tests and had been pronounced fit to fly. The revelation adds to questions about how much Lufthansa and its insurers will pay in damages for the passengers who died. It also underlines questions about how thoroughly the aviation industry and government regulators screen pilots for psycholog-
Photo by Claude Paris | AP
Patricia Willaert, center, the prefect in charge of regional law and safety, speaks during a press conference in Seyne, France, Tuesday. European investigators are focusing on the psychological state of a 27-year-old German co-pilot who crashed the plane. ical problems. German prosecutors say Lubitz received psychotherapy before obtaining his pilot’s license and that medical records from that time referred to “suicidal tendencies.” They have given no dates for his treatment, but said visits to doctors since then showed no record of any suicidal tendencies or aggression against others. They also have found torn-up sick notes from doctors, including one that would have kept Lubitz off work on the day of the crash. The latest disclosure “really does suggest a potential problem with the airline’s oversight of this aviator,” says Alan E. Diehl, a former air safety investigator with the NTSB and a former scientist for human performance at the Federal Aviation Administration. Diehl says the global shortage of pilots might be leading to lax hiring standards. Every week, there are nearly 30 new jets rolling off assembly lines. Each one requires airlines to hire and train at least 10 to 12 new pilots. “Maybe some of these carriers, not just Germanwings, are taking people that they wouldn’t nor-
mally take,” Diehl says. In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration in 2010 starting allowing some pilots who are taking medication for mild to moderate depression to continue flying on a caseby-case basis. Pilots taking drugs like Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa and Lexapro were allowed to fly if granted a special medical certificate. One prerequisite was the successful treatment on the medication for at least 12 months. Dr. Warren Silberman, manager of medical certification for the FAA until the end of 2011, said pilots in the U.S. can fly again even after having suicidal thoughts. “It really would depend on what the psychiatrist or psychologist that he saw wrote, and what his symptoms were,” Silberman said. “The minute he declares he is depressed, he is grounded. And if he goes on medication, he’s definitely grounded.” After treatment, “If you were doing better after the depressive episode and the (doctor’s) note was favorable, then the FAA would likely clear you,” he said. Admitting suicidal thoughts would probably mean a longer period of being grounded, he said.
PAGE 10A
Zentertainment
New ‘Daily Show’ host criticized
Who’s who in online music
By FRAZIER MOORE ASSOCIATED PRESS
By ANICK JESDANUN ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Since Apple shook up the music world with iTunes a little more than a decade ago, online music has exploded and become the central way many people enjoy and discover music. Internet services such as Pandora and Spotify have millions of users. Now, several high-profile musicians are behind what’s being billed as the first artistowned music-streaming service. Tidal isn’t new, but it’s getting a reboot from rapper Jay-Z, who bought the Scandinavian company behind it, Aspiro. Madonna, Rihanna and Beyonce are among the co-owners. That’s notable because many artists complain about how little payment they get from other music services, such as Spotify. As owners, artists could insist on better deals. There are now three main ways to get music, and many services offer a blend: Pay per song. Apple’s iTunes has made it easy to buy singles or albums. Many artists release new albums early through iTunes. Google and Amazon now compete, but the premise remains the same: Buy songs or albums to own forever. Unlimited listening. For a monthly subscription of about $10, you can listen to as many songs as you want on a variety of personal computers, phones, tablets and other devices. Many also let you download songs for offline playback. Once you stop paying, though, you lose all your songs, even ones you’ve already downloaded. Some offer free versions with ads and other restrictions, such as song selection only on PCs. Internet radio. You can’t choose specific songs or artists, as you can with the unlimited-listening services. But you can finetune your Internet stations by specifying a song, artist, genre or playlist. The station will then stream songs similar to your choices. You can personalize stations further by giving thumbs up or thumbs down to songs you hear. Music services typically have deals with all major recording companies, so they differ mainly in features rather than song selection. That said, Taylor Swift took her music off Spotify last fall in a dispute over fees. All but her most recent album are on Tidal, Rdio and Beats.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015
Photo by Gabe Hernandez/Corpus Christi Caller-Times | AP
Fans gather in front of the Selena Memorial Statue on Tuesday, in Corpus Christi, Texas, to remember the Latin pop star on the 20th anniversary of her death
Selena’s death marked By ENRIQUE LOPETEGUI ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO — Twenty years after Selena’s murder, the Latin world will remember “The Queen of Tejano” with concerts, lookalike contests, dances and a massive festival. But her father has mixed feelings about the celebrations. “Of course I’m happy that, today, people remember Selena more than ever,” Abraham Quintanilla Jr. said via phone from his office in Corpus Christi. “But, as Jehovah’s Witnesses, we don’t celebrate deaths or birthdays, and we don’t want people to think we’re behind all the festivities. “It’s crazy. It grows every day with events everywhere, but we’re not organizing them. Our family never got together every year on the day of her murder, because there’s nothing to celebrate, and this year won’t be the exception,” he added. “We remember our daughter every single day. We don’t need a special day to remember her.” Selena began performing as a child, singing in Los Dinos, a band formed by her father that featured her brother A.B. on bass
and sister Suzette on drums. She won a Best Mexican-American Album Grammy for “Live,” had several hits in the U.S. and was about to cross over to the English-language pop market when, on March 31, 1995, she was murdered by Yolanda Saldivar, the president of her fan club. Her posthumous album, “Dreaming of You,” which was mostly recorded in English, topped the Billboard 200 chart and stayed atop the Latin charts for nine months. Saldivar is serving a life sentence. Despite his reservations, Quintanilla has given his blessing to one event — the Festival de la Flor, featuring A.B. Quintanilla and the Kumbia King All Starz; Selena’s widower and former Los Dinos guitarist Chris Pérez; Little Joe & La Familia; Los Lobos and others. Corpus Christi’s Conventions and Visitors Bureau will host the festival April 17-18. Selena was born on April 16, 1971. Tickets will cost no more than $5 and the city expects attendance to hit 50,000. “It will be the first edition of an annual festival that will grow every year,” Quintanilla said. In addition, Corpus
Christi will host a Selena Tribute at Molina Veterans Park on March 31. But Selena’s celebrations don’t stop there. The Historical Museum of Lake Jackson — the city where Selena lived until age 9 — is showing an exhibition of Frank Herring photographs of the star, through April 18. In San Antonio, where Selena won nine consecutive Tejano Music Awards, Selena’s face graces the cover of the Current — a weekly English-language magazine. On Saturday, a public relations firm will shoot a tribute video featuring Selena lookalikes. And in April, the city will host a 5K “Bidi Bidi Fun Run” with all proceeds going to the Selena Foundation, which aims to help children in crisis. One of her hits was called, “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom.” California, Arizona, New York, Illinois, Colorado, Nevada and other states will play host to a variety of Selena commemorations, including concerts, lookalike contests, an exhibition, karaoke nights and a drag tribute show. The two main Spanish-language TV networks in the U.S. will air special Selena programming this weekend.
NEW YORK — Trevor Noah, the newly announced host of “The Daily Show,” rejected the backlash over his graphic tweets targeting Jews and women as an unfair reflection of him and his comedy. “To reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn’t land is not a true reflection of my character, nor my evolution as a comedian,” Noah posted Tuesday on his Twitter account, the same one that included past tweets others deemed offensive. Comedy Central also came to his defense, calling Noah a “provocative” comedian who “spares no one, himself included.” “To judge him or his comedy based on a handful of jokes is unfair,” the network said in a statement, adding that he has “a bright future at Comedy Central.” Noah was announced as Jon Stewart’s successor Monday. The next day, he was a trending topic on Twitter as he drew fire for jokes described as tasteless, hateful — and unfunny. Roseanne Barr was among those calling out the 31-year-old South African comic, who has an international following and 2 million Twitter followers. “U should cease sexist & anti semitic ‘humor’ about jewish women & Israel,” she tweeted late Monday. Noah’s controversial tweets were posted between 2009 and 2014. In 2009 he wrote: “Almost bumped a Jewish kid crossing the road. He
didn’t look b4 crossing but I still would hav felt so bad in my german car!” NOAH A 2012 post derides “jewish chicks.” Another one from 2011 jokes about “a hot white woman.” In a post from 2011, he writes: “Oh yeah the weekend. People are gonna get drunk & think that I’m sexy!” He attributes the joke to “fat chicks everywhere.” He also slammed the United States’ midsection in a 2013 tweet, writing that “When flying over the middle of America the turbulence is so bad. It’s like all the ignorance is rising through the air.” The tweets showed a different side to Noah than the picture painted by Comedy Central and the comedian himself just a day earlier: In a phone interview Monday from Dubai, where Noah was traveling on a comedy tour, he likened himself to the New Yorkborn Stewart, saying, “One thing we both share: We are both progressives.” He added, “traveling the world I’ve learned that progressives, regardless of their locations, think in a global space.” Noah, the son of a black South African mother and white European father who speaks six languages, was being pitched by Comedy Central as reflecting a new age of global multiculturalism, “a citizen of the world,” in the words of Michele Ganeless, the network’s president.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
MRS. BEVERLY BUCHANAN CANTU Mrs. Beverly Buchanan Cantu passed away Friday, March 27, 2015, surrounded by her children. She was the beloved wife of Ben Cantu, Jr. Ben and Beverly were married Aug. 29, 1959 and were married for 50 years. She was born Sept. 14, 1939 to the late Lauren Lafayette Buchanan and Mildred Faye Cullum in San Antonio, Texas. Ben and Beverly moved to Laredo 35 years ago, where they established Border Beverage, the Miller Brewing and Import beer distributorship. Though Beverly lived in different areas of Texas, she proudly called Laredo her South Texas home. She worked to continually improve the cultural life of Laredo for all. She was a Board Member of several organizations, including the Laredo Art League, the Women’s City Club, and the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra Society. She had a deep belief in encouraging and helping South Texas’ youths with her patronage of the Zapata County Fair and Life Downs. Beverly had a passion for playing the game of bridge, and she was a life long player. She loved all games — Duplicate, Slam and Party Bridge. She loved teaching new bridge enthusiasts and took much pleasure seeing her friends improve and excel at the game. She was an approved Director of the ACBL of the Los Amigos Bridge Club for many years. She traveled Texas to play in competitive national bridge tournaments and was very close to attaining her Life Master status. Beverly was preceded in death by her husband, Ben Cantu, Jr. She is survived by her beloved brother, Barry Buchanan and his wife Yvonne of Medina, Texas and their children. She is also survived by her children, all of San
By MARK SHENK BLOOMBERG NEWS
Antonio — Traci C. Tracey and her husband Paul B. Tracey; Vince B. Cantu and his wife Elizabeth (Chooch) Cantu; Mark C. Cantu and his life companion, Chantal Papp; and Rick B. Cantu. Her pride and joy were her grandchildren, Lauren T. King and her husband Gregory M. J. King; John T. Tracey, Allegra R. Cantu, Castille C. Cantu, and Cullum B. Cantu. She also leaves behind her devoted and family caregiver of 20 years, Rosa Hernandez. The family would like to express their deepest appreciation to Dr. Leonides Cigarroa Jr. for his kind and caring manner towards both Ben and Beverly Cantu. Services were Sunday, March 29, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Fred Dickey Funeral and Cremation Services, 1320 Trey Dr. Laredo, TX 78041. Chapel service officiated at 4 p.m. Graveside services will be Wednesday, April 1, at 2 p.m. at Mission Burial Park North, 20900 W Interstate 10, San Antonio, Texas. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to Bethany House at 819 Hidalgo Street, Laredo, Texas 78040 or online at bethanyhouseoflaredo.org. For your convenience you may sign the guest book or leave your condolences to the family online at www.freddickey.com.
FOOD Continued from Page 1A lower pork prices due to a growing hog herd and cheaper feed prices,” Boening said. “Those lower grain prices, combined with decreased demand in foreign markets, also have turkey and chicken prices down during the first quarter.” Milk and milk products— like cheese and ice cream— are also down. Supply and demand comes into play for grapefruit and lettuce, which fell nearly 12.64 percent and 10.96 percent, respectively. As the spring and summer
Oil sees loss reminiscent of 2003
months continue with an increased supply, shoppers can expect the lower prices. Of the 16 items surveyed, white bread, corn flakes, rice, dried pinto beans and vanilla cake mix also saw a decrease in price. The TFB Grocery Price Watch is conducted quarterly by shoppers strategically located across the state of Texas. The current survey data was collected by 42 shoppers from March 12-19, 2015. TFB has monitored Texas food prices through its Grocery Price Watch survey since March 2009.
Oil fell, capping its longest series of quarterly losses in New York since 2003, as Iran and world powers worked toward a nuclear deal that may lead to the OPEC member increasing crude exports. West Texas Intermediate dropped 2.2 percent Tuesday, while Brent slipped 2.1 percent. Iran and the other six countries are closing in on an agreement detailing the main steps needed to resolve a 12-year standoff over the nation’s nuclear program, allowing three months to overcome remaining differences. The talks may last into Wednesday, U.S. and Russian officials said. WTI has slid 11 percent this year amid speculation the global surplus that cut prices by almost 50 percent in 2014 will persist. Iran may be hoarding 7 million
to as much as 35 million barrels, shipbrokers and government officials estimated, which Barclays Plc and Societe Generale SA predict would be sold abroad first should a nuclear pact be reached. “The trend is lower because the global market is oversupplied,” Gene McGillian, a senior analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut, said by phone. “The prospect of even more oil hitting the market in the next six months because of an agreement with Iran is going to put more pressure on prices.” WTI for May delivery fell $1.08 to settle at $47.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The volume of all futures traded was 27 percent below the 100-day average at 2:50 p.m. Prices declined 4.3 percent this month, capping their third straight quarterly decline.
Brent Movement Brent for May settlement dropped $1.18 to end the session at $55.11 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Volume was down 2.4 percent from the 100-day average. Prices declined 3.9 percent this quarter. The European benchmark crude traded at a $7.51 premium to WTI. Though any understanding is likely to fall short of the full resolution of every issue dogging the dispute, a statement may be released after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov returns to the talks this afternoon, according to two officials involved who spoke on condition they not be named in line with diplomatic protocol. The parties would then have until June 30 to draft a detailed technical accord. An agreement can be reached “as long as none of the participants at the talks
raise their stakes at the last moment,” Lavrov said at a press conference prior to returning to Lausanne, Switzerland, where the negotiations are taking place. One sticking point remained the lifting of United Nations sanctions as demanded by the Iranians, according to an official involved in the talks.
Nuclear Program The group of six powers — China, France, Germany, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. — is attempting to ensure Iran’s program is peaceful, amid charges over the years that the nation is seeking to obtain nuclear weapons. Iran denies the claims. Iran could raise crude exports by 1 million barrels a day if sanctions were lifted, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said March 16.
SURGE Continued from Page 1A nis Bonnen, R-Angelton, at a Texas House committee hearing this month.
Bonnen has introduced bills that would allow DPS to offer higher salaries to
bolster recruitment and fill current openings. State officials also want to ex-
tend most troopers’ days to 10 hours through overtime pay.
CRUZ Continued from Page 1A strated both the promise of his presidential candidacy and the potential hurdles facing his uphill campaign. The Council on Islamic Relations drew headlines for asking Cruz not to speak at the second event of three on his New Hampshire schedule Friday and Saturday because Robert Spencer, the co-founder of the group Stop Islamization of America, was also set to appear, though the two men were not scheduled to share the stage. Also drawing scrutiny: the fact that Cruz’s first appearance as a declared presidential candidate in Merrimack was organized by Jack Kimball, the provocative former head of the New Hampshire Republican Party who resigned in 2011 as the party’s executive committee tried to remove him from his position. Kimball introduced Cruz here. It’s a week that couldn’t have started on a higher note. Campus attendance requirements for the Liberty University convocation where Cruz personally announced his run Monday in Virginia guaranteed a cheering arena crowd of thousands, setting the optics bar high for the rest of the field. His team said they met their pre-announced first-week fundraising goal of $1 million within the first 24 hours of his campaign, bringing in
$2 million by the end of the week. Conservative talk show hosts raved about his rollout. But the missed opportunities showed up early, too. Instead of hitting the trail in key early voting states amid a wave of launch momentum Monday, Cruz’s first stops were closed-door fundraisers in New York, ahead of a planned 10-city fundraising swing in the next month. As an underdog contender, he’ll need to keep focusing much of his time and effort on his campaign war chest, which remains one of the biggest question marks surrounding his candidacy. Then, rather than heading to a Des Moines VFW or a New Hampshire breakfast event, Cruz last week found himself back in Washington for a string of budget votes, including a series of amendments sprung by Democrats as potential 2016 land mines for Republican candidates. His District swing drew fire from GOP primary season rival Rand Paul as well, with the Kentucky senator blasting his Hill colleagues in the field of presidential hopefuls for “reckless” and “irresponsible” budget votes. Finally, just ahead of his first post-announcement rally, Cruz seemed unprepared for the media firestorm that followed his ad-
mission that he and his family were likely to enroll in a plan under the Affordable Care Act – the law that he has dedicated his Senate career, and his campaign, to overturning. His team later said he was weighing other insurance options, but conceded that he was still likely to wind up signing up for coverage under President Obama’s signature health-care law. By the time he reached New Hampshire Friday, Cruz appeared to have settled on a frame to explain his insurance decision to potentially skeptical Republican primary voters. When asked by one brunch attendee about his decision to enroll in Obamacare, Cruz responded that his hands were tied. “Being a federal employee, our options are limited under this terrible law,” he said in Greenland. “There are all sorts of laws I oppose that I nonetheless follow. I support a flat tax, but that doesn’t mean I refuse to pay my taxes in the meantime.” The man seemed satisfied with Cruz’s answer. The Cruz team is hoping the rest of the state’s primary voters feel the same: Most polls have the senator hovering in the low single digits in New Hampshire – but his team says it plans to play hard in the state. The campaign, which just hired a state director, Eth-
an Zorfas, points to New Hampshire’s large Catholic population — about 38 percent of the state’s residents are Catholic, according to Gallup — and its independent streak. Cruz pressed a number of issues here that appeal to the state’s independent, libertarian-leaning GOP primary voters, including opposition to government data collection and support for the Second Amendment. In Greenland, Cruz talked about his plan for a flat tax, an issue he is hoping resonates in a state with no sales tax, income tax on dividends only and a very high property tax rate. He reminded the crowd that his presidential campaign announcement came on the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty, or give me death” speech. The timing, said Cruz, wasn’t an accident. “New Hampshire understands ‘Live Free or Die,’” he said, citing the state’s motto. Cruz may still be finding his campaign sea legs – but at least in his first swing, conservative crowds gave him an early thumbs-up. “He’s one of the only true conservative voices we have down in Washington, D.C.,” said John DeMello of Danbury, N.H., who came out to hear the senator Friday. “He says what he means and he means what he says.”
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015
Violent past haunt Peru dances By RODRIGO ABD AND FRANKLIN BRICENO ASSOCIATED PRESS
LIMA, Peru — They danced all day, until the sun set over Latin America’s oldest bullring. But these were not typical dances of Peru’s highlands. Each contained macabre reminders of the bitter conflict that these migrants from the Ayacucho region, or their parents, had endured. The region suffered some of Peru’s worst modern-day atrocities. A truth commission found that more than 8,000 people died violently there during the 1980-2000 conflict with Shining Path rebels. In Sunday’s dances, people of all ages, costumed as farmworkers, tigers, foxes, soldiers, police and members of citizen militias portrayed life as they know it, from the planting of corn and potatoes and their harvest to the political violence that
By MARK STEVENSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Rodrigo Abd | AP
In this Sunday photo, a dance troupe from La Mar district of Ayacucho performs during the Vencedores de Ayacucho dance festival, in the Acho bullring in Lima, Peru. afflicted their communities. The festival is traditionally held the last weekend in March in Andean communities, and is also celebrated in Peru’s capital because so many highlands people moved there fleeing violence. More than 9,000 spectators filled the stands of the Acho bullring, many
drinking a fermented corn drink that goes back to Inca times called chicha. There was singing in the native Quechua language and traditional music played on instruments including Andean pan pipes, harps and violins. Laughter echoed from the stands as dancers mimicked human foibles.
FREEDOM Continued from Page 1A team of 17 reporters who uncovered the existence of a mansion in Mexico City’s most exclusive neighborhood, custom-built for President Enrique Peña Nieto’s wife, Angélica Rivera, by a company that had won hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts. Aristegui’s departure "silences a voice," said Ricardo Raphael, a writer who coordinates the journalism program at CIDE, a Mexico City university. "We journalists received the message. Investigative journalism is not well regarded by the government — and even less so if it is used to investigate the conflicts of interest" between the president’s inner circle and private companies. The Aristegui team’s report on the mansion, which appeared in November, opened a national debate about corruption and conflicts of interest and helped strengthen anticorruption legislation working its way through Congress. The report also put Peña Nieto’s government further on the defensive; it was already reeling in the face of public anger over the disappearance of 43 rural college students in September, allegedly at the hands of a drug gang and a corrupt mayor. The president’s popularity and credibility have plummeted since, according to opinion polls. For decades, Peña Nieto’s party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, assured itself of a pliant news media through a combination of bribery and threats. Broadcasters and publishers knew that coverage that displeased the government could threaten a valuable concession, cut off newsprint supplies, bring on a tax audit or cost government advertising. After the PRI lost power in 2000, Mexico’s news media became more freewheeling. But, analysts argue, under Peña Nieto, the government has been trying to restore some of the old forms of control, using government advertising and its authority over broadcast concessions. A report by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers last year concluded that this kind of "soft censorship" was "an integral part of the country’s complicated media landscape." The researchers added that it was "a means to influence or even a tool to blackmail media owners and journalists."The effect, many analysts say, is to weaken critical news coverage. "Today the real estate scandals of the presidential family and their immediate circle are relegated to the inside pages, framed always by the official version," Jesus SilvaHerzog Márquez, a political analyst and professor at the School of Government at Tecnologico de Monterrey, wrote in the daily newspaper Reforma on Monday. Outside the capital, the situation is worse. Reporters face reprisals from organized crime and local officials, violence that has
At least 4 killed in Mexico clash
made Mexico one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist, according to the New Yorkbased Committee to Protect Journalists. A report released last week by Article 19, a media watchdog group based in London, found that in Mexico, a reporter is harassed, threatened or attacked somewhere almost every day. The frequency has risen under Peña Nieto’s government, the group said, and almost half of the attacks have been traced to government officials. Aristegui, in a conversation with foreign reporters last week, said that if privileged journalists like those in her team could be attacked, "imagine the level of vulnerability for other journalists in Mexico." Although there is no evidence that Aristegui was fired over the report on Rivera’s home, the perception that somebody in the federal government played a role in pressuring MVS has hardened. The company says that its disagreement with Aristegui is an internal issue. The cause the company cited was her involvement, along with several of the reporters in the investigative team, in a new website called Méxicoleaks, designed to encourage whistleblowers to come forward and that guaranteed their anonymity. Raphael said he thought that the government viewed Méxicoleaks with alarm because its investigations could uncover additional conflicts of interest. The site’s other collaborators are magazines and online newspapers with limited readership. But Aristegui’s large audience would have made investigations by Méxicoleaks national news. "They are going after Carmen because she would have been its main voice," Raphael said. MVS objected to the use of its name on Méxicoleaks without the company’s per-
mission, fired the two lead investigative reporters and issued a list of editorial guidelines. One of the guidelines makes all news coverage subject to periodic evaluations by "specialized companies" and gives MVS the right to insert content in news programs. After Aristegui refused to accept the guidelines, the company fired her and the entire investigative team on March 16. The guidelines would have created a "newscast that is malleable and subject to supervision, a newscast that wouldn’t have had the editorial freedom that it has had up to now," she said. That freedom was not absolute. Aristegui chose to publish the report about the Mexico City mansion, known as the White House, on her own website, instead of broadcasting it on her morning program. She said last week that in the period leading up to the report, she had met with MVS’ chairman, Joaquín Vargas, who told her that broadcasting the report on the radio would expose the company to too much risk. He asked for her "comprehension," she said. In an emailed statement, Vargas refused to comment on whether such a conversation took place, citing the likelihood of a lawsuit from Aristegui. "It’s false that we censored Carmen Aristegui from broadcasting the report of the White House on MVS," he said, pointing to "hundreds of hours" of news coverage over the last four months.
But the crowd fell silent when dancers clad as soldiers and rebels, wielding wooden and cardboard rifles, mimicked the killing of impoverished farmers. “The dance is a catharsis, a way for people to express feelings they cannot in other public spaces,” said Peruvian archaeologist Carmen Cazorla, who studies Andean rituals.
MEXICO CITY — A clash between two vigilante “selfdefense” groups in the troubled Mexican state of Guerrero killed at least four people and dozens more were taken prisoner by each side, a leader of one of the groups said Tuesday. Over the last two years vigilantes have brought some peace to the rural area between the resort of Acapulco and the Guerrero state capital of Chilpancingo, a region that had been overrun by bandits and drug gangs. But rivalries have formed between the oldest and largest vigilante group, known as UPOEG, and a smaller group that formed in the town of Tierra Colorada. UPOEG leader Bruno Placido said one of his group’s patrols was attacked Monday near Tierra Colora-
do, leaving four UPOEG vigilantes dead and 10 wounded. Placido said UPOEG had captured 32 members of the rival group, FUSDEG, and was willing to release them in return for 40 UPOEG members detained by the rivals. He said the two groups were negotiating a mutual exchange of prisoners. Cresencio Ramirez, a leader of FUSDEG, disputed Placido’s account. He told local media that UPOEG attacked a meeting at which some residents of an outlying hamlet were preparing to join his group. He did not give any details on casualties or prisoners. The “self-defense” groups, which rose up in early 2013 to confront the Knights Templar cartel, have been praised by many residents for curbing rampant drug gang violence, but some people now of abuses by the vigilantes.