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MEXICO VIOLENCE
Thousands disappear Since 2007, Tamaulipas has seen more than 5,000 people go missing By JASON BUCH SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico — Members of a special state police force grabbed Billy Martinez last year as he left home to visit his girlfriend, and he never was seen again, his sister said. That same police force dragged Victor Manuel Guajardo Rios, 37, out of his house in 2013, then denied ever arresting him, Guajardo’s mother said. And 11 members of the Tapia de la Garza family, including five children ages 12 to 19, disappeared from their house in 2012 after a birthday party for the youngest, relatives said. This border city, across the Rio Grande from Eagle
Pass, has seen an epidemic of forced abductions that human rights advocates say are just as often carried out by criminals as they are by the heavily armed police unit sent here to fight the drug cartels. “The government knows all about this; the press, too,” said María Hortensia Rivas Rodríguez, Guajardo’s mother and the president of a group that advocates on behalf of the families of the disappeared. “They know what’s happening, but they don’t do anything to stop it. There’s no security in Piedras Negras.” Disappearances at the hands of drug traffickers and authorities, and sometimes the two acting in
Photo by Jerry Lara | San Antonio Express-News
Luis Ruben Izquirdo Franco, 8 years old, holds a photo of his father, Luis Alejandro, in Piedras Negras, Mexico, on Aug. 30. concert, are a problem across Mexico. The border states of Tamaulipas, Nue-
vo León, Chihuahua and Coahuila, where Piedras Negras is located, are
among the worst in the country, Mexico’s Ministry of Government reports. Coahuila authorities said municipal police officers aided traffickers in a mass abduction from a town near here, and the state government has blamed local officials for disappearances in southern Mexican states. Of the more 25,000 people the Mexican government says have gone missing since 2007, more than 5,000 — the most of any state — are from Tamaulipas, which borders Texas from Laredo to the Gulf of Mexico. In Coahuila, which stretches along the Rio Grande from just west of Laredo to the Big Bend, 1,400 people are missing, the federal government’s
SIX-DAY VISIT TO US
database of missing persons shows. Ariana García, a human rights lawyer who works with Rivas’s group, said the numbers are likely much higher. Families are afraid to come forward, she said, and those that do often face roadblocks to reporting disappearances. Across the country, families are in limbo, wondering what happened to their loved ones and unable to grieve and move on with their lives. In Piedras Negras, Rivas said about 190 families have come forward and joined her group Families United in the Search and Discovery of Disappeared Persons, or Familias Uni-
See TAMAULIPAS PAGE 9A
ZAPATA COUNTY
POPE FRANCIS ARRIVES
The Zapata Times file photo
A volunteer places medication into a safe container to be destroyed later during a pill take back event in Laredo in 2013.
Photo by Andrew Harnik | AP
President Barack Obama walks across the tarmac with Pope Francis upon his arrival at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Tuesday.
Pontiff faces a nation polarized over inequality By NICOLE WINFIELD AND RACHEL ZOLL ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Pope Francis arrived Tuesday on the first visit of his life to the United States, bringing his humble manner and his
“church of the poor” to a rich and powerful nation polarized over economic inequality, immigration and equal justice. According a rare honor to the pontiff, President Barack Obama and his wife and daughters met Francis at the
bottom of the stairs on the red-carpeted tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland after the pope’s chartered plane touched down from Cuba. Presidents usually make important visitors come to them at the White House.
Emerging from the plane to boisterous cheers from a crowd of hundreds, the smiling 78-year-old pontiff removed his skullcap in the windy weather and made his way down the steps in his
See POPE FRANCIS PAGE 9A
US BORDER PATROL
Man arrested for smuggling By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A man from Zapata was arrested near Laredo for human smuggling, according to court records obtained this week. Hugo Jaquez Ramos was charged with transporting undocumented immigrants. A criminal complaint filed Sept. 18 alleges that Ramos was driving three immigrants from Honduras and
El Salvador. In court statements, Ramos told agents he was transporting immigrants from Rio Grande City from Laredo for financial gain. “He was to get paid $400 … per person and they were to be dropped near Guadalupe (Street) next to Church’s Chicken,” records state. Ramos then invoked his right to an attorney. U.S. Border Patrol agents
encountered Ramos on Sept. 15 while performing their duties on Zapata Highway near Laredo. Agents said they conducted an immigration inspection on the occupants of a 2014 Dodge Ram. Identified as the driver, Ramos allegedly had his children and three adults as passengers. Ramos was then referred to secondary inspection. Agents said they discov-
ered that the three adults did not have legal documentation to be in the country. They were citizens from Honduras and El Salvador, records allege. “The passengers in the (pickup) all stated they were picked up at a house by Hugo Jaquez Ramos and were going to be taken to Laredo …” states the complaint. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
Upcoming health clinic, pill drive By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Zapata County residents are encouraged to take advantage of the services that will be offered Saturday. Hands & Feet Medical Missions by Baptist Student Ministries and the University of Texas Medical Branch Health will provide a free health care clinic on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Zapata County Pavilion at 23rd Avenue and Glenn Street. For appointments, call 956-728-0210. The clinic will offer pediatric and adult physician consultations, occupational and physical therapy consultations, vision consultations and free eye glasses, medications, blood pressure screenings and glucose screenings. Free gun locks will al-
so be available through Project Child Safe, an initiative whose purpose is to promote safe firearms handling and storage practices among all firearms owners, states the project’s website. In addition, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office will be collecting unwanted, prescribed medication as part of the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. Joe Peña, a Sheriff ’s Office representative, encouraged the community to bring their unwanted medication to avoid the misuse of the prescribed drugs. “The reason why this is so significant is because we’ve been able to link the abuse of these prescription drugs to heroin use,” Assistant DEA
See HEALTH CARE PAGE 9A
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
Thursday, September 24
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Spanish Book Club meets from 6-8 p.m. at the public library on Calton Road. Call Sylvia Reash at 7631810. TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows. 6 p.m.: Extreme Planets; 7 p.m.: Stars of the Pharaohs. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).
Today is Wednesday, September 23, the 266th day of 2015. There are 99 days left in the year. Autumn arrives at 4:21 a.m. Eastern time. Today’s Highlight in History: On September 23, 1952, in what became known as the “Checkers” speech, Sen. Richard M. Nixon, R-Calif., salvaged his vice-presidential nomination by appearing live on television to refute allegations of improper campaign fundraising. On this date: ard sank two days later. In 1780, British spy John Andre was captured along with papers revealing Benedict Arnold’s plot to surrender West Point to the British. In 1806, the Lewis and Clark expedition returned to St. Louis more than two years after setting out for the Pacific Northwest. In 1846, Neptune was identified as a planet by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle. In 1939, Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, died in London at age 83. In 1955, a jury in Sumner, Mississippi, acquitted two white men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, of murdering black teenager Emmett Till. (The two men later admitted to the crime in an interview with Look magazine.) In 1957, nine black students who’d entered Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas were forced to withdraw because of a white mob outside. In 1962, “The Jetsons,” an animated cartoon series about a Space Age family, premiered as the ABC television network’s first program in color. In 1973, former Argentine president Juan Peron won a landslide election victory that returned him to power; his wife, Isabel, was elected vice president. In 1987, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., withdrew from the Democratic presidential race following questions about his use of borrowed quotations and the portrayal of his academic record. Ten years ago: Hurricane Rita, down to Category 3, steamed toward refinery towns along the Texas-Louisiana coast, creating havoc even before it arrived; levee breaks caused new flooding in New Orleans, and 23 people were killed when a bus carrying nursing-home evacuees caught fire in Texas. Five years ago: The U.S. delegation walked out of a U.N. speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after he said some in the world had speculated that the U.S. staged the September 11, 2001 attacks in an attempt to assure Israel’s survival. One year ago: In the first international test for his climate-change strategy, President Barack Obama pressed world leaders at the United Nations to follow the United States’ lead on the issue. Today’s Birthdays: Singer Julio Iglesias is 72. Rock star Bruce Springsteen is 66. Actress Rosalind Chao is 58. Golfer Larry Mize is 57. Actor Jason Alexander is 56. Recording executive Jermaine Dupri is 43. Actor Kip Pardue is 39. Tennis player Melanie Oudin is 24. Thought for Today: “I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house.” — Nathaniel Hawthorne, American author (1804-1864).
Saturday, September 26 Free Health Care Clinic. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Zapata County Pavilion, 23rd Avenue at Glenn Street, Zapata. Appointments: 728-0210. TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows. 2 p.m.: Accidental Astronaut; 3 p.m.: Cosmic Adventures; 4 p.m.: Extreme Planets; 5 p.m.: Led Zeppelin. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Matinee Shows are $1 less. Call 956-326-DOME (3663). LCC’s 2nd annual Rio Grande Arts Festival at the Winners Showcase. From 7:30 p.m. to midnight at the Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Fine Arts Center theater on West End Washington Street. Award-winning performances by this year’s Rio Grande Arts Festival Winners. General admission is $10. Senior citizens and students with a valid ID are $5. Spiritual Wisdom of Conquering Fear, 1–2:30 p.m., Room A. Laredo Public Library, 1120 E. Calton. Se habla español. For more info please call 210-831-7113 or go to www.EckankarTexas.org.
Sunday, September 27 All you can eat spaghetti lunch sponsored by the United Methodist Men, noon to 1:30 p.m. at Fellowship Hall, First United Methodist Church, 1000 Guadalupe at 1220 McClelland. No admission fee. Crochet Club of the First United Methodist Church will hold its annual pre-holiday sale from noon to 1:30 p.m., Fellowship Hall, FUMC. In conjunction with the Spaghetti Lunch. No admission fee; public invited.
Photo by Scott Dorsett/The Waxahachie Daily Light | AP
Workers walk around a house that exploded on Monday in Waxahachie. A statement Tuesday afternoon by Waxahachie city officials said that although the gas utility Atmos Energy had said there were no threats from gas leaks, other hazards continued to pose safety threats.
Explosion destroys house ASSOCIATED PRESS
WAXAHACHIE — Officials say an evacuation order remains in place for a North Texas neighborhood a day after an explosion destroyed a house and left a sister and brother hospitalized. A statement Tuesday afternoon by Waxahachie city officials said that although the gas utility Atmos Energy had said there were no threats from gas leaks, other hazards continued to pose safety threats. Atmos had said its inspection for possible natural gas leaks after the Monday morning explosion found evidence of third-party damage to a line near the home. Atmos did not elaborate and said the investigation continues to determine the cause of the blast. Adele Chavez and Jaymie Rodriguez were improving Tuesday at Parkland Memorial
Hospital in Dallas. A spokesman says Chavez was in fair condition and Rodriguez was in good condition. Photos and video from the scene showed all that appeared intact in the tangled mound of debris was a garage with a car inside. Mosie Mallard, who lives a few doors down from the blast site, said he was in his house when it happened. “I opened up my back door. Debris was falling. I could see from where I was standing at my back door that there was somebody sitting in the debris,” Mallard told the Waxahachie Daily Light. “I ran out, jumped over my fence, ran over and helped the guy up,” he said. Neighbors rounded up fire extinguishers to attack flames that were starting to take hold on the shattered timbers of the house.
Monday, September 28 Chess Club meets at the LBV– Inner City Branch Library from 4–6 p.m. Free for all ages and skill levels. Basic instruction is offered. Call John at 795-2400, x2521.
Tuesday, September 29 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows. 6 p.m.: Extreme Planets; 7 p.m.: Stars of the Pharaohs. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663). The Elysian Social Club members will celebrate its 75th anniversary at the International Bank of Commerce, 1200 San Bernardo Ave. 6–9 p.m. Take the challenge and climb the Rock Wall. Free. All participants must bring ID and sign release form. 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at LBV–Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Call 795-2400, x2520.
Wednesday, September 30 Laredo A&M Mothers’ Club monthly meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Los Patios, 4653 Casa Blanca Rd. Mothers who have children at Texas A&M in College Station are invited to attend.
Sunday, October 4 6th Annual “Blessing of All Animals” from 4 to 5 p.m. at St. Peter’s Plaza. All animals should be on a leash, harness or in a cage. St. Francis of Assisi medals and T-shirts will be available for a donation. All donations received will go toward projects to protect community cats including a Trap, Neuter, and Return Program for Laredo. Call Birdie at 286-7866.
Monday, October 5 Chess Club meets at the LBV– Inner City Branch Library from 4–6 p.m. Free for all ages and skill levels. Basic instruction is offered. Call John at 795-2400, x2521.
Tuesday, October 6 Take the challenge and climb the Rock Wall. Free. All participants must bring ID and sign release form. 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at LBV–Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Call 795-2400, x2520.
2 Del Rio officers resign, 7 suspended in shooting
Trooper fatally shoots Officials: Grizzly bear man near hospital in Paris euthanized at Houston Zoo
DEL RIO — An internal affairs investigation into a fatal shooting by Del Rio police has led to the resignation of two probationary officers and the suspension of seven police officers. According to court documents, 50-year-old Pedro Saldivar was fatally shot after his semitrailer moved toward Del Rio police officers and members of the Val Verde County Sheriff ’s Office.
PARIS — A trooper in Northeast Texas has fatally shot a combative man during a fight that left the officer hurt. The trooper saw a man sitting on the concrete barrier in the center of U.S. 82. The trooper tried to check on 21-year-old Steven McKenney of Austin, but the suspect became belligerent. The trooper feared for his life and opened fire.
HOUSTON — The Houston Zoo has said goodbye to its last grizzly bear that officials say was euthanized due to complications from arthritis. Bailey was euthanized Monday morning. Officials said he was suffering from chronic arthritis and had been receiving treatment for his condition since he arrived at the zoo with his brother, Boomer, in 2007.
Father, son get prison over marijuana farm
Woman arrested with runaway boy, 14
Longview police investigating death
BROWNSVILLE — A father and son from Mexico have been sentenced to prison in the U.S. for running a marijuana farm with about 9,000 plants. Miguel Echevarria Zuniga and his son, Miguel Echevarria Guizar, in April pleaded guilty to manufacturing marijuana. The 51-year-old father was sentenced Tuesday to 3 1⁄2 years in federal prison.
DALLAS — Prosecutors say a Wisconsin woman has been accused of meeting a 14-year-old Texas boy through online gaming and having sex with him. His parents reported him missing Sept. 12. That’s when Jennifer Lynn Dougherty flew to Dallas, she and the boy had sex at a hotel then both flew to Wisconsin where they continued sexual relations.
LONGVIEW — East Texas police say they are investigating the case of a man’s body found lying by a road in a neighborhood as a homicide. Longview police arrived at the scene early Sunday morning after a witness reported seeing the body. His body has been sent for an autopsy. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Brian Williams returns to TV for pope coverage NEW YORK — Brian Williams returned to the airwaves of MSNBC to anchor coverage of the visit of Pope Francis to the United States on Tuesday, his first day back at work following his suspension from NBC News and demotion for misleading viewers about his role in news stories. Dressed in a suit and blue striped tie, Williams made no mention of his absence. He anchored the network’s coverage from 2 to 4 p.m. CDT, stationed in a Manhattan studio. All business at first, Williams seemed to loosen up as his twohour shift moved along.
$1 million lottery ticket found among old mail KENTWOOD, Mich. — A Michigan woman who won a $1 million lottery prize didn’t know
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 Copy Editor, Nick Georgiou ....................... 728-2565 Sports Editor, Zach Davis ..........................728-2578 Spanish Editor, Melva Lavin-Castillo............ 728-2569 Photo by Brad Barket/Invision | AP file
In this Nov. 5, 2014 file photo, Brian Williams speaks at the 8th Annual Stand Up For Heroes, presented by New York Comedy Festival and The Bob Woodruff Foundation in New York. about it for months, after leaving the ticket in a pile of mail. Lottery officials say Linda Tuttle of Kentwood stepped forward Tuesday with a winning ticket from the May 26 Mega Millions drawing. Tuttle told officials she recently found the tick-
et at home among some old mail. She didn’t search until a clerk at a local store mentioned that it had sold a $1 million winner in May. Tuttle plans to use some money to visit former exchange students in China. — 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
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
Local & State
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Boy withdraws from school over clock Museum ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — The family of a 14-year-old Muslim student who got in trouble over a homemade clock mistaken for a possible bomb withdrew the boy Monday from his suburban Dallas high school. Ahmed Mohamed’s father, Mohamed El-Hassan Mohamed, said he has pulled all of his children from their Irving Independent School District schools. Mohamed said the family is still deciding where to send the
children to school. Ahmed has said he brought the clock he made to MacArthur High School in Irving last week to show a teacher. Officials say he was arrested after another teacher saw it and became concerned. Ahmed wasn’t charged, but he was suspended from school for three days. “Ahmed said, ‘I don’t want to go to MacArthur,”’ Ahmed’s father told The Dallas Morning News. “These kids aren’t going to be happy there.”
Photo by LM Otero | AP file
In this Sept. 17 file photo, Ahmed Mohamed gestures as he arrives at his family’s home in Irving, Texas. News of the arrest sparked an outpouring of
support for Ahmed, including from President Barack Obama. The turmoil surrounding Ahmed’s case has had a harmful effect on the teen, Mohamed said, adding that his son has lost his appetite and is not sleeping well. “It’s torn the family and makes us very confused,” Mohamed said. Numerous schools have offered to enroll Ahmed, his father said. But Mohamed said he wants to give his son a breather before making a decision.
He said his entire family plans to fly to New York on Wednesday, where United Nations dignitaries want to meet his son. Then, if the appropriate visas can be obtained, Mohamed wants to take his son on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. “I ask Allah to bless this time. After that, we’ll see,” Mohamed said. When they return, a visit to the White House and a meeting with Obama is in the works, he said.
Top staffers got big, frequent bonuses By WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — Top staffers at the Texas General Land Office routinely collected cash bonuses worth tens of thousands of dollars despite earning annual salaries exceeding $100,000 under its former commissioner — and many remained in powerful posts until a major staff shakeup in recent weeks, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Such “one-time merit increase” bonuses are common throughout Texas government, but in other agencies are often small pay bumps for employees who aren’t otherwise highly compensated. Beginning when Jerry Patterson became land commissioner in January 2003 through fiscal year 2015, his office paid more than $6.5 million in onetime merit bonuses, according to data obtained via open records requests. That included more than $1.2 million just in Patterson’s final months, after he ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor. “We used it quite a bit to
give people essentially bonuses for a good job as opposed to a pay raise since that raise stays there the following year, when they may not do such a good job,” Patterson said. His successor, George P. Bush, whose grandfather and uncle were president and whose father is campaigning for the White House, took office Jan. 2 and has led an agency “reboot,” vowing to impose fiscal conservativism. More than 100 staff members have been fired or voluntarily left since then, 26 of whom accepted $15,000 payments to retire early. General Land Office spokeswoman Brittany Eck said Sunday that “the majority if not all” of the staffers receiving large previous bonuses under Patterson had left the agency after the latest round of dismissals, retirements or transfers that occurred just in the last two weeks. Bush has nonetheless paid about $200,000 in bonuses this fiscal year, but the agency says most were honoring Patterson’s agreements. “Incentives should be limited and awarded only
in cases of exceptional work,” Bush told the AP in a statement. He also noted that he’s instituting zerobased budgeting, requiring each part of the agency to justify its funding every cycle. The General Land Office’s many duties include leasing public land for oil and natural gas exploration, meaning it generates more state revenue than it spends. The Legislature nonetheless distributes funding by “strategy,” or based on the different programs each agency sector tackles. Section managers then have discretion on how that money is spent, including on hiring more employees or bonuses for existing ones. That makes it difficult to show funding for bonuses not otherwise going to efforts like battling erosion on public beaches. Patterson noted that, during his tenure, the agency brought in $8.1 billion in revenue for the Permanent School Fund, which covers some public education costs — more than the combined $7.9 billion the office deposited in the fund during the previ-
ous nearly 130 years. He acknowledged that rising oil prices helped, but said his key lieutenants also grew state revenue in other ways, including via smart investments of public funds. “I’m proud of the fact that we were leading in giving people bonuses,” Patterson said. “My regret is I wish I could’ve paid them more.” Patterson added that Bush’s agency downsizing will ultimately mean generating less state revenue, calling his successor a “formulaic conservative.” “He wants to able to tell people, ’I cut 20 percent of X,” Patterson said “without describing, ’Ok, how did that impact my revenues.”’ According to Texas Comptroller data, all state agencies spent a combined around $230 million on onetime merit increases between fiscal years 2006 and 2014. But that’s inflated by buyouts offered to employees who agreed to retire early. The land commissioner’s office bonus totals don’t include retirement buyouts. The largest bonus recipients at the General Land
Office and elsewhere were officials who handle investments of state funds and got extra pay for generating positive returns. Many agencies also spent more on bonuses than the land office under Patterson and Bush, including the Attorney General’s Office and the Health and Human Services Commission. But those are far larger than the land commissioner’s office, which is capped at around 650 employees and falling to less than 600 under Bush. The comptroller data also showed that merit bonuses across Texas state government are often worth $2,000 or less and paid sparingly to non-managers. Many of the largest General Land Office bonuses were worth $20,000-plus apiece, and went repeatedly to officials who worked closely with Patterson, including at least a dozen of his deputy commissioners. Patterson’s No. 2, Deputy Land Commissioner and Chief Clerk Larry Laine, collected nearly $125,000 in bonuses between 2003 and 2014, despite an annual salary topping out at $220,000plus.
to host October events SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
The Zapata County Museum of History will be hosting two major events this October. On Oct. 9 the museum will participate in the 36th Annual Texas State Hispanic Genealogical and Historical Conference by hosting a tour of the museum. On Oct. 30 they will be hosting the District 1 Texas Retired Teachers Association Fall Convention. Both events will bring approximately 100 people to Zapata from throughout the state, plus local members. The museum is preparing welcome bags for visitors to introduce them to the community. The museum extends an offer to local businesses to include their promotional items. Any contributions are greatly appreciated. Larger items will be used to create gift baskets as door prizes for these and future events. Please let Amparo Montes Gutiérrez, curator at the Zapata County Museum of History, know when she can come by to pick up these items. Businesses that will be delivering their items may drop them off at the Zapata County Museum of History any day during regular hours of operation, which are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The museum is located at 805 N. U.S. Hwy 83. Feel free to contact Montes for more information at 956-765-8983.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Pope’s visit a spiritual, cultural event One of Pope Francis’ favorite novels is “The Betrothed” by Alessandro Manzoni. It is about two lovers whose longing to marry is thwarted by a cowardly and morally mediocre priest and a grasping nobleman. A good simple friar shelters the suffering couple. Then a plague hits the country, reminding everyone of their mortality and vulnerability, and also bringing about a moral reckoning. As the doctors serve in hospitals for the body, the good people in the church serve in hospitals for the soul. One cardinal remonstrates the cowardly priest. “You should have loved, my son; loved and prayed. Then you would have seen that the forces of iniquity have power to threaten and to wound, but no power to command.” In the end there are heart-wrenching scenes of confession, forgiveness, reconciliation and marriage. I mention Francis’ favorite novel, which he’s read four times, because we in the media are about to over-politicize his visit to America. We’re comfortable talking about our ideological disputes, so we’ll closely follow and cover whatever hints he drops on abortion, gay marriage, global warming and divorce. But this visit is also a spiritual and cultural event. Millions of Americans will display their faith in public. Francis will offer doctrinal instruction for Catholics. But the great gift is the man himself — his manner, the way he carries himself. Specifically, Francis offers a model on two great questions: How do you deeply listen and learn? How do you uphold certain moral standards, while still being loving and merciful to those you befriend? Throughout his life Francis’ core message has been anti-ideological. As Austen Ivereigh notes in his biography “The Great Reformer,” Francis has consistently criticized abstract intellectual systems that speak in crude generalities, instrumentalize the poor and ignore the rich idiosyncratic nature of each soul and situation. He has written that many of our political debates are so abstract, you can’t smell the sweat of real life. They reduce everything to “tired, gray cartoon-book narratives.” Francis’ great gift, by contrast, is learning through intimacy, not just to study poverty but to live among the poor and feel it as a personal experience from the inside. “I see the church as a field hospital after battle,” Francis told the interviewer Father Antonio Spadaro. “The thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. … Heal the wounds, heal the wounds. … And you
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DAVID BROOKS
have to start from the ground up.” That closeness teaches you granular details but also arouses a sense of respect. “I see the sanctity of God’s people, this daily sanctity,” Francis has said. “I see the holiness in the patience of the people of God: a woman who is raising children, a man who works to bring home the bread, the sick, the elderly priests who have so many wounds but have a smile on their faces.” We practice moral and intellectual elitism, looking upward for status and specialized and de-spiritualized knowledge. Francis emphasizes that different kinds of knowledge come from different quarters. As he put it, “This is how it is with Mary: If you want to know who she is, you ask the theologians; if you want to know how to love her, you have to ask the people.” These days some religious people believe they need to cut themselves off from the corruptions of a decadent modern culture. But Francis argues that you need to throw yourself in the world’s diverse living cultures to see God in his full glory and you need faith to see people in their full depth. He is fond of quoting Dostoyevsky’s line from “The Brothers Karamazov,” “Whoever does not believe in God will not believe in the people of God. … Only the people and their future spiritual power will convert our atheists, who have severed themselves from their own land.” Francis’ whole approach is personal, intimate and situation-specific. If you are too rigorous and just apply abstract rules, he argues, you are washing your hands of your responsibility to a person. But if you are too lax, and just try to be kind to everybody, you are ignoring the truth of sin and the need to correct it. Only by being immersed in the specificity of that person and that mysterious soul can you strike the right balance between rigor and compassion. Only by being intimate and loving can you match the authority that comes from church teaching with the democratic wisdom that bubbles from each individual’s common sense. Francis is an extraordinary learner, listener and self-doubter. The best part of this week will be watching him relate to people, how he listens deeply and learns from them, how he sees them both in their great sinfulness but also with endless mercy and self-emptying love.
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 namecalling 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
Being a traveling man is no fun Traveling for a living was never any fun for me. As a very young man, I spent the better part of two years on a magazine job traveling around Texas writing about towns and the business and industry within that city. While it was educational, this small town boy didn’t like driving all over the state in order to accomplish it. That’s right, driving, except once. I was assigned to do an issue on El Paso and was told I didn’t have to drive. Yea! But … I couldn’t fly, I had to go by train. Not bad, I thought, dreaming of a room with a bed, meals and such. Wrong. Coach car. A 17hour trip. The seat wouldn’t recline. Groan. Pack a lunch or buy sandwiches to be eaten, of course, sitting in that miserable coach seat … that wouldn’t recline. And, upon arriving, I had to not only gather the material from which to do the story, including a cover photo, drawing or painting of some kind, but sell the
ads and design many of them as well. But, I wasn’t allowed to “woo” the big advertisers with lunch or dinner or anything that cost money. I was expected to “hold” my own meal expense to a minimum, which meant a lot of sandwiches or burgers. No steaks and certainly no relaxing libation of any kind. Oh, and room accommodations meant some hotel that was desperate enough for business to trade out ad space in the magazine to pay for the cheesy room. In Wichita Falls, the hotel was pretty run down. A bellman helped me carry my luggage to the room and as we got on the elevator I suppose my long face communicated my misery. He said, “Lonesome, huh?” I told him I was. He smiled then got me situated in my room. In a few minutes, there was a knock at my door. I
opened it to find a reasonably attractive but cheap woman in a much-too-tight skirt and an equally “close” sweater displaying items that beauty queens and swim suit models would die for. As she leaned against the door jamb, popping her chewing gum, she said, “I understand you’re lonely.” “Yeah, but not that lonely,” as I quickly closed the door. The next morning I noticed the bellman wasn’t smiling. Missed a commission, I suspect. I was required to not only wear a suit and tie during business hours at the home office and on the road, but carry an attaché case, an umbrella and wear a hat. When I left work each day and when I was on the road, the hat and umbrella went into the trunk of the car and I appeared the normal human being I craved to be. In analyzing why my editor required those items, I concluded that she was living in 1930s and ‘40s mov-
ies where the businessman was attired in just that manner. Really cool Madison Avenue stuff. Hmph. While hurrying home one Friday night from a business trip, the hood of my 1960 Morris Minor was apparently loose and the wind bent it up over my windshield. A sympathetic older man stopped when he saw my plight, helped me get the hood down to where he could take some hay-baling wire from his car and tie down my greatly damaged hood so I could drive safely. After two years of such misery, I returned to the relatively safe climes of small towns to edit and publish community newspapers. I knew I was not cut out to be a traveling man. Well, maybe for pleasure, in an airplane or on a boat but never as a way to make a living. Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor-publisher of more than 50 years experience. He can be reached at wwebb1937@att.net.
COLUMN
A lesson learned the hard way: Walker suspends campaign By JENNIFER RUBIN THE WASHINGTON POST
On Monday, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced that he is suspending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. Readers of this column know this comes as no surprise to me. Walker’s failure to master policy issues beyond his state, his uninspiring speaking style, his frequent flip-flops (likely born of indecision about policies he did not know well), his mistaken effort to race to the right to catch Donald
Trump and his declining fortunes in must-win Iowa contributed to a flop comparable to former Texas governor Rick Perry’s 2008 effort. Unlike Perry, however, Walker did not have one iconic, horrible moment forever preserved on video. He can go back to Wisconsin, complete his term, work hard for the party and perhaps give it another try down the road. That said, one can learn policy but it is hard to rewire one’s personality. In this race, Walker was sort of the un-Carly Fiorina. She has been serious,
strong, witty and aggressive, delivering splendid debate performances. Walker was none of those things. He seemed small, skittish and out of his depth. Viewers could see it. Not every governor of a small Midwest state has what it takes to be president, particularly at a young age. And some people never are able to project that largeness of spirit and sense of command. In this case Walker’s problems were heightened by an underwhelming campaign team, which fell in love with early, largely ir-
DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
relevant polls numbers and spent too much money early on, sent its candidate out when he was not ready (e.g. his trip to London, where he punted on evolution and other matters), and telegraphed its strategy, making him seem about as authentic as Hillary Clinton. It is a warning to others: Be ready before you run. Get the best staff. Have policy objectives and goals firmly in mind. And if you don’t have what it takes, stay home. That’s one lesson Walker seemed to finally figure out.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS
Cowboys moving on Dallas tries to stay afloat without Tony Romo and Dez Bryant By SCHUYLER DIXON ASSOCIATED PRESS
IRVING — Tony Romo won’t be back for at least two months because of a broken left collarbone, and maybe closer to three with the way the schedule falls for the Dallas Cowboys. His All-Pro receiver, Dez Bryant, will be sidelined perhaps through the end of October because of a broken right foot. The defending NFC East champions are alone atop the division at 2-0 after a 20-10 victory at Philadelphia that cost them their quarterback a week after Bryant’s injury in the opener. And yet the biggest question is whether they’ll still be in contention by the time Romo and Bryant are on the field together again. The first start-to-finish test without both star players is Sunday at home against Atlanta (2-0). “There is pressure on everyone in this organization,” said Brandon Weeden, the backup responsible for keeping the Cowboys afloat while their four-time
Photo by Matt Rourke | AP
Dallas quarterback Tony Romo is expected to be sidelined eight weeks with a broken left collarbone. Pro Bowl quarterback is out. “So I am not going to put any added pressure on myself. I know what is at stake. I know we have a good team. So hopefully we can all rally and keep this going in the right di-
rection.” Coach Jason Garrett said Monday that tests revealed no ligament damage for Romo after the second broken collarbone of his career. The other was in 2010, when he missed the final 10 games of the
season. However, Dallas was out of playoff contention before he could have returned. The most optimistic time frame for Romo’s return is during a two-game Florida swing on Nov. 15 (Tampa Bay) and Nov. 22
(Miami). If he goes on the injured list with the option of returning, the visit to the Dolphins would be the first possible return date. And if he’s not ready for either of those games, Romo’s absence could approach three months if he
skips a short week for the Thanksgiving home game against Carolina and returns Dec. 7 at Washington. Owner Jerry Jones has said Bryant’s broken foot, sustained in the fourth quarter against the New York Giants, will need six weeks to heal. That would put his earliest return date at Nov. 1 at home against defending NFC champion Seattle. And he will miss a visit from Super Bowl champion New England on Oct. 11. “We have a lot of weapons, a lot of good weapons,” Weeden said. “So my job is to make it easy on those guys, let them do their jobs, get them those one-on-one matchups, and let them do what they do best.” Weeden threw a clinching 42-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Williams in the fourth quarter against the Eagles after replacing Romo. But the 31-year-old has lost his past eight games as a starter, including Arizona last year when Romo was out with a back injury.
National
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
Deputy saves 2 kids
PEACE OF MIND FOR SENIORS WITH A MORTGAGE:
Many seniors are escaping their monthly mortgage burden and cashing in on their home equity taxfree with a Reverse Mortgage loan… while still owning their home!
By EMERY P. DALESIO ASSOCIATED PRESS
DURHAM, N.C. — A North Carolina sheriff’s deputy says he heard wailing in the darkness and plunged into an apartment complex’s pond at night to rescue two young girls who, police say, had been thrown there to drown by their father. Durham County Sheriff’s Deputy David Earp was off duty and says he rushed out with little more than his department T-shirt, EARP badge and flashlight after the apartment manager called him at home around 9 p.m. Sunday to report some kind of trouble. “I heard something about children, that they might possibly be in trouble,” Earp said in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. “And after I was informed that there were kids involved, instinct took over just to go out there and rescue them.” Earp, who lives around the corner from the pond, spotted the girls in the dark with his flashlight and saw a 5-year-old floating and crying. Her 3-year-old sister was fully submerged. Earp says he charged into water about 5 feet deep and scooped them up, holding one in each arm. He took no notice of the girls’ father, Alan Tysheen Eugene Lassiter, 29, of Raleigh — the man who was later charged with trying to drown his kids. In the heat of the moment, Earp was focused on just one thing: trying to save the girls’ lives. Earp said they were about 10 feet from the bank, which slopes sharply down to the pond that stretches about the length of a football field. After pulling the girls to land, Earp said he took the 5-year-old to a nearby gazebo and asked the property manager and her son to watch over her. “I knew she was terrified and I just took her off and didn’t want her to be around her sister,” Earp said. The 5-year veteran of the sheriff’s department said he and the arriving officers from the Durham police department performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the 3-year-old for about 15 minutes until medical help arrived. Police said the younger girl was in critical condition Tuesday and the older girl in good condition. According to authorities, Lassiter threw the girls into the pond surrounded by apartment buildings. Lassiter said so himself, during a 911 call Sunday night. Between expletive-laden rage and distraught sobs, he told a dispatcher that officials had tried to take away his children as he dealt with a personal problem. He can be heard on the call telling the complex’s property manager, “I just drowned my two daughters in the lake back there.” Sylvia Scott, the property manager for five years, said she called Earp after a tenant reported a man walking around the complex looking for a son he said had been kidnapped. Scott quickly found Lassiter talking on the phone with the 911 dispatcher. Lassiter also told Scott his missing son had been kidnapped. In fact, the boy had run away from his father and was seeking help, police said. Earp, who frequently drives through the complex in his marked patrol car, arrived seconds later. As the deputy retrieved the girls, Lassiter was standing nearby smoking a cigarette, then became distraught, saying “what have I done?” and started crying, Scott said. Lassiter did not live at the apartment complex, and Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez said he apparently went there at random. Lassiter was charged with three counts of attempted murder.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
Photo by Pat Druckenmiller/The Washington Post | AP
Scientists have discovered some 10,000 bones from the duckbilled dinosaur in Alaska.
New dinosaur found in Alaska By DAN JOLING ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Fossils from a unique plant-eating dinosaur found in the high Arctic of Alaska may change how scientists view dinosaur physiology, say Alaska and Florida university researchers. A paper published Tuesday concluded that fossilized bones found along Alaska’s Colville River were from a distinct species of hadrosaur, a duckbilled dinosaur not connected to hadrosaurs previously identified in Canada and Lower 48 states. It’s the fourth species unique to northern Alaska. It supports a theory of Arctic-adapted dinosaurs that lived 69 million years ago in temperatures far cooler than the tropical or equatorial temperatures most people associate with dinosaurs, said Gregory Erickson, professor of biological science at Florida State. “Basically a lost world of dinosaurs that we didn’t realize existed,” he said. The northern hadrosaurs would have endured months of winter darkness and probably snow. “It was certainly not like the Arctic today up there — probably in the 40s was the mean annual temperature,” Erickson said. “Probably a good analogy is thinking about British Columbia.” The next step in the research program will be to try to figure out how they survived, he said. Mark Norell, curator of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, said by email that it was plausible the animals lived in the high Arctic yearround, just like muskoxen and caribou do now. It’s hard to imagine, he said, that the small, juvenile dinosaurs were physically capable of long-distance seasonal migration. “Furthermore, the climate was much less harsh in the Late Cretaceous than it is today, making sustainability easier,” he said. Most of the fossils were found in the Liscomb Bone Bed more than 300 miles northwest of Fairbanks and a little more than 100 miles south of the Arctic Ocean. The bed is named for geologist Robert Liscomb, who found the
first dinosaur bones in Alaska in 1961 while mapping for Shell Oil Co. Liscomb thought they came from mammals. They remained in storage for about two decades until someone identified the fossils as dinosaur bones, said Pat Druckenmiller, earth sciences curator at the University of Alaska Museum. Researchers over the next 25 years excavated and catalogued more than 6,000 hadrosaur bones, far more than any other Alaska dinosaur. Most were from small juveniles estimated to have been about 9 feet long and 3 feet tall at the hips. “It appears that a herd of young animals was killed suddenly, wiping out mostly one similar-aged population to create this deposit,” Druckenmiller said. They initially were thought to be Edmontosaurus, a hadrosaur wellknown in Canada and the U.S., including Montana and South Dakota. The formal study of the Alaska dinosaur, however, revealed differences in skull and mouth features that made it a different species, Druckenmiller said. Researchers have dubbed the creature Ugrunaaluk kuukpikensis (ooGROO’-nah-luk KOOK’pik-en-sis). The name means “ancient grazer” and was chosen by scientists with assistance from speakers of Inupiaq, the language of Alaska Inupiat Eskimos. The dinosaurs grew up to 30 feet long. Hundreds of teeth helped them chew coarse vegetation, researchers said. They probably walked primarily on their hind legs, but they could walk on four legs, Druckenmiller said. The Liscomb Bone Bed during the Cretaceous Period was hundreds of miles farther north in what’s now the Arctic Ocean, Druckenmiller said. University of Alaska Fairbanks graduate student Hirotsugu Mori over five years completed his doctoral work on the species. The findings were published Tuesday in “Acta Palaeontologica Polonica,” an international paleontology quarterly journal. Researchers are working to name other Alaska dinosaurs.
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Some people mistakenly perceive reverse mortgages as “scams” due to rumors they’ve heard. As a result, many senior homeowners who could benefit from a cashrich reverse mortgage don’t even get the information they need to make an informed decision. Seniors who: t May be struggling to make their mortgage payments t Need cash to make needed home repairs t Would like more money to travel and enjoy retirement ... are perfect candidates for a reverse mortgage. Today, reverse mortgages are helping over a million seniors enjoy a more secure retirement. A recent survey by American Advisors Group (AAG), the nation’s number one reverse mortgage lender, found that 97% of their clients were satisfied with their reverse mortgages. While Reverse Mortgages are relatively simple in nature, it is best to be well-informed before making a decision. That’s why AAG has created a FREE information kit with 3 booklets and a CD narrated by former U.S. Senator, Fred Thompson.
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These materials are not from HUD or FHA and were not approved by HUD or a government agency.
National
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
Government shutdown looms By ANDREW TAYLOR AND ALAN FRAM ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats thwarted a Republican effort to ban late-term abortions on Tuesday as GOP leaders strained to avoid a government shutdown in eight days over the dispute — all against a tangled backdrop of presidential politics. Up next, in the first of a series of choreographed steps, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., set up a showdown vote for Thursday on stopgap legislation that would keep the government operating through Dec. 11. But it would also block Planned Parenthood’s federal funds for a year, and Democrats are expected to block that measure, too, setting up subsequent votes on must-pass bills to keep the government open free of the dispute over Planned Parenthood and abortion. Abortion politics is roiling Congress and the White House campaign as well. A number of Republicans, outraged over Planned Parenthood’s procurement of fetal tissue for scientific research, are demanding definitive action from GOP leaders. “If Senate Republicans cannot defund Planned Parenthood right now, there is no point in calling them Republicans,” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a candidate for the GOP nomination, tweeted last week. President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats stand as the chief obstacles, with Democrats repeatedly blocking any legislation that undermines abortion rights. “I just don’t think that there are 60 votes in the Senate for that approach, which will then say to the House that we really need a clean (funding bill) if we’re going to avoid a shutdown,” said moderate GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. On Tuesday, Senate Democrats blocked a GOP measure to prohibit most late-term abortions. The Senate voted 54-42 to move ahead on the legislation, but that fell six votes short of the 60 needed to crack a filibuster mostly led by Democrats. Tuesday’s vote was the second time since this summer’s release of videos involving Planned Parenthood that Senate Democrats have derailed an abortion-related drive by the GOP. It was held less than 48 hours before a first-ever papal address to Congress by Pope Francis, who leads a Roman Catholic Church that rejects abortion.
Bush condemns multiculturalism By THOMAS BEAUMONT ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Jacquelyn Martin | AP
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., center, speaks to the media with members of the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Tuesday. Some Republicans were unwilling to back down in the face of the Democratic opposition. “We should stand for our principles, and our principles should not be surrendering to the Democrats,” another presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, said Tuesday. But some other Republicans insisted that an abortion fight that leads to a government shutdown would make no sense. “I’m tired of the people on my side of the aisle who have been pushing this strategy, even though they know they don’t have the votes,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte, RN.H., up for re-election in a state Obama carried twice. “Therefore, they can’t answer the question, ‘What’s the endgame for success here?”’ Ultimately, McConnell’s moves appeared aimed at delivering a temporary government-wide funding bill to the House, where abortion politics seems to have GOP leaders flummoxed. GOP leaders in the House have staged several votes on anti-abortion legislation, but the moves haven’t satisfied a handful of GOP hardliners who are insisting that the must-pass budget measure include language stripping taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. McConnell has promised that a federal shutdown — which Republican leaders fear that voters would blame on the GOP — will not happen. The showdown is reminiscent of a failed Cruz-led attempt two years ago to use a must-pass stopgap measure to try to block implementation of the health care law. That led to a 16-day partial shutdown that GOP leaders are keen to avoid this time, especially as
the presidential election draws closer. Hanging over it all is the weakened political standing of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who is under fire from some tea party conservatives who say he is not tough enough in battling Obama. Some Republicans, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have called on Senate Republicans to change Senate rules to make it easier to move legislation past Democratic filibusters. “We appreciate all the good advice we’re getting from members of the House of Representatives and candidates for president about how to run the Senate,” McConnell said icily. “That will obviously be a decision we make ourselves.” Another issue, little noticed so far, is that delivery of food stamp benefits to the poor could be cut off next month. That’s a change from shutdowns in 2013 and 1995. Abortion foes say videos show Planned Parenthood has violated federal prohibitions against profiting from fetal tissue sales or changing some abortion procedures to maximize the harvesting of fetus organs. Planned Parenthood says it’s broken no laws and says the videos were manipulated to distort the recorded conversations. In Tuesday’s debate, McConnell described human features visible in fetal sonograms and said scientists say that fetuses can feel pain 20 weeks into development. Democrats have noted that the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said fetal pain is unlikely until a pregnancy’s third trimester. That begins several weeks after the 20-week mark.
Clinton touts drug plan By MATTHEW PERRONE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton’s plan to rein in prescription drug prices by reshaping how drugmakers do business is being met by skepticism within the industry. Pharmaceutical experts are mostly shrugging off the proposal from the Democratic presidential candidate, which she outlined Tuesday at a forum in Iowa. They point out that some of the ideas have been rejected repeatedly by Congress over the last 20 years. The Clinton plan includes a combination of proposals long pursued by Democrats, such as cheaper drug imports from abroad and permitting Medicare to negotiate drug prices with companies. It adds some newer ideas, including re-
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
CLINTON quiring drugmakers to invest a set portion of profits into research, rather than TV and print advertisements. The announcement comes amid growing consumer worries about prescription medication costs, which grew an estimated 12.6 percent last year, according to the federal government. More than 70 percent of Americans think drug costs are unreasonable and favor
limiting what drug companies can charge for medicines that treat serious illnesses, according to a recent poll from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. But even with broad public support, industry experts say price restrictions are unlikely to make their way through Congress, which is expected to remain in Republican hands. “You have to look at this as a rhetorical statement because these are proposals that have been roundly rejected by the Congress repeatedly,” said Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere health consultants, who served in the Clinton White House during the 1990s. Other industry watchers said the plan appeared aimed at neutralizing competition from Clinton’s chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders.
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Tuesday that multiculturalism is bad for the United States, adding that immigrants who close themselves off from American culture deny themselves access to economic rewards. The former governor of Florida, who speaks fluent Spanish and often touts his success winning Latino votes in a party that badly needs them, addressed the issue in a packed northern Iowa diner as he met people in the crowd. A young woman approached the candidate and asked how the federal government could help refugees better incorporate into U.S. society. “We should not have a multicultural society,” Bush said, before beginning a longer explanation of his views of what comprises culture in the U.S. “When you create pockets of isolation — and in some places the process of assimilation has been retarded because they’ve slowed down — it’s wrong,” he added. “It limits people’s aspirations.” A multicultural society gives all cultures equal prominence, but they remain separate. Bush’s remarks appeared to conflict with the way he has presented himself throughout the campaign and hew toward other GOP presidential hopefuls who are hoping to appeal to the party’s core supporters. But Bush said later he viewed multiculturalism as not aspiring to an American ideal. “You have to have people assimilate into society. But that doesn’t mean we have a monolithic, homogeneous population. To the contrary,” he told The Associated Press before headlining a legislative fundraiser in Cedar Rapids. “The power of America is a set of shared values with a very diverse population embracing it.” Led by billionaire developer Donald Trump, other GOP presidential hopefuls have aired urged newcomers to assimilate. Some have suggested
it’s their duty. Recently, in South Carolina, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was interrupted by applause when he said legal status for immigrants should be determined by what they could contribute and “whether they want to live in America or whether they want to be American.” Trump has climbed to the top of national Republican preference polls in part by using stronger language. He’s described illegal immigrants often as violent, predatory criminals, BUSH vowing to deport them by the millions and proposing to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. The approach clashes with the Republican Party’s effort to attract support from the increasingly influential Hispanic community, which the GOP has named as critical to the party’s successes. The national GOP is hosting events across the country to mark Hispanic Heritage Month. Compared to most of his Republican rivals, Bush’s personal story gives his credibility with Latinos. His wife, Columba, is a Mexican native. Bush sometimes campaigns in Spanish and is fond of relating details that highlight the influence of Hispanic culture at home. “We eat Mexican food in the home. My children are Hispanic in many aspects. We don’t talk about it, but the Hispanic influence is an important part of my life,” Bush said in a July interview with Telemundo. Bush even took a shot at Trump on the issue, mocking the frontrunner’s credibility. “Mr. Trump says that I can’t speak Spanish,” Bush, speaking Spanish, told supporters recently in Miami. “Pobrecito” (poor guy). Yet Bush has used the term “anchor babies” to describe infants whose parents come to the United States specifically so the children are born in the United States and granted automatic citizenship. The term is considered offensive in the Hispanic community.
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Agenda en Breve FIT 2015 NUEVO GUERRERO — “Trova Son para Siempre” se presenta el 25 de septiembre a las 8 p.m. en la Plaza Principal; “Carro de Comedias de la UNAM” se presenta el 27 de septiembre a las 7 p.m. en el Parque de la Comisión; “Baúl Teatro” se presenta el 1 de octubre a las 7 p.m. en Plaza Ruíz Cortinez; “Colectivo Trueque” se presenta el 2 de octubre a la 1 p.m. en Secundaria # 61; “Juan Rogelio y Familia Ruiz” se presentan el 4 de octubre a las 7 p.m. en Teatro del Pueblo. Eventos gratuitos. CIUDAD MIER — “Tayer” se presenta el 24 de septiembre a las 8 p.m. en Plaza Juárez; “Tropa Cachivaches” se presenta el 25 de septiembre a las 7 p.m. en Plaza Juárez; “Grupo Marimbístico ‘Al Pie del Cañón’” se presenta el 25 de septiembre a las 8 p.m. en Plaza Juárez; “Carro de Comedias de la UNAM” se presenta el 26 de septiembre a las 8 p.m. en Plaza Juárez; “Artistas Independientes” se presentan el 27 de septiembre a las 8 p.m. en Plaza Juárez; “Baúl Teatro” se presenta el 28 de septiembre a las 11 a.m. en Escuela Club de Leones No. 1; “Artefactum Caravana Cultural” se presenta el 1 de octubre a las 8 p.m. en Plaza Juárez; “Ran Rataplán Teatro” se presenta el 4 de octubre a las 8 p.m. en Plaza Juárez. Eventos gratuitos. MIGUEL ALEMÁN — “Adelmar Moreno” se presenta el 24 de septiembre a las 2:33 p.m. en Casa de la Cultura; “Cerouno” se presenta el 24 de septiembre a las 5 p.m. en Plaza Principal; “Trova Son para Siempre” se presenta el 26 de septiembre a las 5 p.m. en Plaza Principal; “Gerardo Contreras” se presenta el 27 de septiembre a las 5 p.m. en Plaza Principal’ “Manuel Alaffita” se presenta el 2 de octubre a las 5 p.m. en Plaza Principal; y, “En Blanco y Negro” se presenta el 3 de octubre a las 5 p.m. en Plaza Principal.
CIERRE CONSULADOS El viernes 9 de octubre, debido a una actualización de los sistemas consulares, las operaciones consulares de la embajada de EU en la Ciudad de México y los nueve consulados en toda la República Mexicana, permanecerán cerrados al público. Ciudadanos estadounidenses que requieren asistencia de emergencia deben llamar al 867-7140512 extensión 3128 de 8 a.m. a 5 p.m., o al 867-7272797 después de horas de oficina.
DESFILE ROMA — El Roma Fest Parade, con el tema “250 Years of Culture and Heritage” será el domingo 11 de octubre a partir de las 3 p.m. La alineación de participantes será en Nix Street (detrás del Citizens State Bank). Los contingentes continuarán hasta US Hwy 83 (Garcia St.). Interesados en participar puede llamar al Ayuntamiento de la Ciudad de Roma en el (956) 849-1411. Entrada es de 10 dólares para empresas y gratis para organizaciones sin fines de lucro.
SEMANA DE LISTÓN ROJO En el marco del Mes de Prevención de Uso de Narcóticos a nivel Nacional, se celebrará el evento “Red Ribbon Week” del 23 al 31 de octubre. El evento representa un compromiso nacional para crear conciencia y evitar el uso de narcóticos, entre estudiantes.
MIÉRCOLES 23 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2015
CRUCES FRONTERIZOS
Sorpresa y preocupación POR ALICIA A. CALDWELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — La Patrulla Fronteriza efectuó en agosto casi 10.000 arrestos de niños solos y familias que cruzaron ilegalmente la frontera desde México, un incremento de 52% sobre el mismo mes del año anterior, según estadísticas difundidas el lunes por la agencia. Desde el comienzo del año fiscal en octubre, los agentes fronterizos han detenido a más de 35.000 menores que viajaban sin compañía y más de 34.500 migrantes que iban en familia, en su mayoría madres con hijos. La cifra total de arrestos en lo que va del año fiscal ha bajado casi 50% en comparación con el año pasado, aunque los agentes fronterizos informaron que desde julio aumentaron las detenciones. La Patrulla Fronteriza dijo que en agosto de 2014 arrestó a 6.424 personas, entre niños inmigrantes que viajaban solos y familias, en comparación con las 9.790 de agosto de 2015. El incremento de agosto se da un año después de que una oleada de más de 68.000 menores sin compañía entraron en Estados Unidos por la frontera con México. Mu-
“
“Este incremento quizá no sea permanente. Pero la tendencia es al alza”. ADAM ISACSON, EXPERTO EN TEMAS FRONTERIZOS Y ANALISTA DE LA OFICINA SOBRE AMÉRICA LATINA EN WASHINGTON
chos intentaban escapar de la violencia en Honduras, El Salvador o Guatemala. Durante los meses siguientes, el número de cruces ilegales por parte de familias y niños, había sido mucho menor con respecto al año pasado, hasta que se registró un incremento en julio y agosto. Se desconoce con exactitud por qué habían disminuido los arrestos fronterizos de familias y menores, sin embargo México ha intensificado la vigilancia en su frontera sur. El portavoz de la Casa Blanca, Josh Earnest, dijo que se trata de un “sorprendente incremento” y de una “preocupación” para el gobierno. Earnest no dio motivos para el aumento, pero recalcó que la cifra contrasta con el descenso de los cruces ilegales fronterizos que se registra generalmente en agos-
to. Adam Isacson, experto en temas fronterizos y analista de la Oficina sobre América Latina en Washington, dijo que la detención de 4.632 niños en agosto en la frontera constituye la cifra más alta para ese mes que la Patrulla Fronteriza ha registrado desde 2009. Isacson dijo que históricamente, los cruces fronterizos descienden después de la primavera boreal, cuando se tienen las cifras más altas. Sin embargo, en julio se incrementaron, y ahora la cifra de menores detenidos al cruzar solos a Estados Unidos en agosto se acerca bastante a las de principios y finales de esa marea humana en el año pasado. Isacson señaló que esto podría indicar el principio de otra oleada, porque también aumentó el mes pasado el número de personas de-
tenidas que viajaban en familia. “Este incremento quizá no sea permanente”, afirmó. “Pero la tendencia es al alza”. El gobierno se vio sorprendido por el repentino aumento en la llegada de menores y familias en 2014. La administración abrió centros para la detención de familias que pueden albergar a miles de personas en lo que esperan sus audiencias de deportación. Un juez federal en California determinó el mes pasado que la detención de familias por parte del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional violaba un añejo acuerdo legal que obliga a que no se retenga a menores migrantes en centros de detención que no cuentan con la autorización para atender niños. El gobierno apeló el viernes ese fallo y Jeh Johnson, secretario de Seguridad Nacional, dijo que los centros de detención comenzaron a convertirse en centros de procesamiento para entrevistas e investigación. Earnest dijo que Estados Unidos mantendrá su advertencia a las personas que consideren cruzar la frontera en forma ilegal o que pretendan ayudar a que sus hijos lo hagan, sobre los peligros que conlleva la travesía.
FRONTERA
DESARROLLO ECONÓMICO
Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas
IZQUIERDA: A través de los alcances que supone la Reforma Energética, autoridades planean que la región Ribereña de Tamaulipas se convierta en un polo de desarrollo económico al abrir nuevas oportunidades para la inversión. DERECHA: Un aumento en la expansión y empleos en los municipios de Guerrero, Mier, Miguel Alemán, Camargo y Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, México, serán una realidad tras las inversiones planteadas por la Agenda Energética de Tamaulipas, anunció el vecino Estado.
Aseguran habrá oportunidades de inversión en Ribereña TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Nuevas oportunidades de inversión en la región ribereña harán de ésta un polo de desarrollo económico, aseguró la titular de la Secretaria de Desarrollo Económico y Turismo. Dentro de los alcances de la Reforma Energética, planteados en la Agenda Energética de Tamaulipas, los municipios que se verán beneficiados con mayor crecimiento y empleo son Guerrero, Mier, Miguel Alemán, Camargo y Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. “Una de las visiones de esta Administración Estatal es diversificar el asentamiento industrial de la región norte de Tamaulipas”, aseguró
Mónica González García, Secretaria de Desarrollo Económico y Turismo. Por ejemplo, en Miguel Alemán se logró invertir 124 millones de pesos en el sector de confección, con la instalación de la planta T.T. Blues, una empresa especializada en la ropa para dama. T.T. Blues generará hasta 800 empleos directos, dijo González García. La región ribereña cuenta con 69.820 habitantes, y en Miguel Alemán se concentra 42 por ciento de la población, con un crecimiento poblacional anual de 1.7 por ciento. Su ubicación le permite una fácil conectividad que puede atraer más inversiones, siendo apoyo para el
crecimiento industrial en Nuevo Laredo y Reynosa, de acuerdo con el Gobierno de Tamaulipas. “La ribereña sin duda será un punto de atracción para los inversionistas ya que esta región de la frontera cuenta con cuatro cruces internacionales y se convierte en un punto de desahogo comercial”, sostuvo González García. “Además de ser una zona donde convergen las cuencas de Burgos y Sabinas, esta también colinda con la cuenca Eagle Ford en Texas, una cualidad que beneficiara aún más a estos municipios para una actividad industrial más activa”. Dentro de las características principales de la región destaca que cuenta con dos campos de gas de
PEMEX, uno en los municipios de Miguel Alemán y Mier, y el otro, en Camargo y Díaz Ordaz. Actualmente está en proceso la construcción de la primera fase Gaseoducto Los Ramones. Igualmente esta zona es la principal vía de distribución del gas de lutitas que se extraiga en la región. En la Ronda Cero, a PEMEX se le asignaron reservas por 425 millones de barriles de petróleo crudo, por lo que la zona se promueve para nuevos desarrollos con miras a un amplio crecimiento industrial a futuro, sostuvo González García. “El potencial de actividad industrial que se planea hoy para dejar las bases sólidas de forma ordenada”, concluyó.
SALUD
SEGURIDAD
Habrá clínicas de salud gratuitas
Deshabilitan más de 1.000 tomas ilegales
POR MALENA CHARUR TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Este fin de semana, el Consulado General de México en Estados Unidos en conjunto con la Comisión de Servicios de Salud y Humanos de Texas estará realizando clínicas de salud gratuitas en Zapata y en Laredo. Las clínicas de salud ofrecerán a los residentes de ambas ciudades consultas médicas para niños y adultos, tales como terapia física y ocupacional, exámenes de la vista y lentes en caso de ser necesarios. Además se proporcionarán
medicamentos, tomas de presión arterial y glucosa. Los servicios estarán disponibles tanto para niños como para adultos. El sábado la clínica de salud se instalará en Zapata County Pavilion, ubicado en la calle Fresno y la avenida 23 en la ciudad de Zapata en un horario de 10 a.m. a 4 p.m.; mientras que el domingo será en el Holding Institute Community Center, ubicado en 1102 de la avenida Santa María en Laredo, de 9 a.m. a 12 p.m. Los teléfonos para hacer cita son: Zapata (956) 7280210 y en Laredo al (956) 718-2070.
TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Más de 1.100 tomas clandestinas de hidrocarburos han logrado ser deshabilitadas por autoridades mexicanas en cinco municipios del estado de Tamaulipas. El combate al robo de carburantes forma parte de la segunda fase de la Estrategia de Seguridad que impulsa el Gobierno de México y el Gobierno del Estado. Según datos a conocer por el Grupo de Coordinación Tamaulipas, 1.119 tomas clandestinas de hi-
drocarburos han sido detectadas y deshabilitadas en un periodo de 19 meses, en los municipios de Altamira, González, Reynosa, Matamoros y Río Bravo. Del primero de enero al 31 de diciembre del 2014, se neutralizaron 588 tomas clandestinas; del primero de enero al 10 de septiembre del 2015, se hizo lo mismo con 531. De acuerdo a la Procuraduría General de la República han sido asegurados 7 millones 17.137 litros de hidrocarburo, de los cuales 4 millones 889.067
litros fueron asegurados en el 2014, mientras en lo que va del presente año el aseguramiento llega a 2 millones 128.070 litros de combustible. Igualmente han sido detenidos 301 probables responsables del delito de robo de hidrocarburos y han asegurado 197 tractocamiones, informó el Grupo de Coordinación Tamaulipas. También fueron asegurados 962 vehículos terrestres, se contabilizaron 298 autotanques; y se han confiscado 3.569 bidones (recipientes de plástico).
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
TAMAULIPAS Continued from Page 1A das. She thinks there are thousands more. On Aug. 30, the International Day of the Disappeared, about 50 relatives of the disappeared marched through Piedras Negras to call attention to the their loved ones. They carried pictures of the missing and chanted messages saying their children aren’t forgotten, and demanding justice from the government. The families, led by a municipal police escort, wound their way from City Hall to the river walk that runs between this city’s two international bridges. A priest there read the names of 120 disappeared. Before the march, Rivas turned her ire toward Coahuila’s government and the state’s Special Arms and Tactics Group, know by its Spanish acronym GATE, which she said took her son and has been accused of detaining without charges young people who subsequently disappear. “Here we are, demanding the authorities return to us our children,” she said. “Tell us where they are prisoners and if they committed an offense, why they are hidden, why they disappear. This is what we demand of the authorities.” A spokesman for the state of Coahuila didn’t respond to questions for this report. During an interview last year in the state capital of Saltillo, then-Secretary of State Armando Luna said Coahuila’s government was making an “unprecedented investment in security” that included hiring more than 1,000 new police officers a year. Among the state’s priorities, said Luna, who now is a congressman, is providing protection to the 50,000 U.S. residents who travel through Coahuila every Christmas to visit family for the holidays. The state reduced homicides by a third, he said. The government has created a special prosecutor to investigate forced disappearances and built a database of the missing, Luna said. He said investigators were in Piedras Negras last spring collecting DNA samples from victims’ family members. Last year, the disappearance of 43 students who were protesting in the southern state of Guerrero made international headlines. The Mexican government said they were kidnapped by local police then handed over to gangsters who executed them, an account that has been disputed. The students’ parents were better organized and better at drawing attention than those in Piedras Negras, Rivas said. Four years ago, Piedras Negras and its outlying communities were the scenes of a mass disappearance that, by some counts, involved several hundred people. Yet that massacre, carried out by members of the ruthless Zetas drug cartel, received scant attention for years.
Allende Massacre The trouble for Ana Maria Sandoval’s son started in early March 2011, when he was arrested by municipal police where they lived in the town of of Allende. Allende, population 22,000, along with Morelos, Nava, Villa Unión and Zaragoza, make up the Cinco Manantiales, or Five Springs region, in the brushland outside of Piedras Negras. Like
Photo by Jerry Lara | San Antonio Express-News
Yesenia Tapia holds a poster with the names and photos of 11 missing family members as families of missing persons gathered for a "Peace March," in Piedras Negras, Mexico, Aug. 30. The event was organized by Familias Unidas en la Busqueda y Localizacion de Personas Desaparecidas to commemorate the International Day of the Disappeared. many in the area, Sandoval and her family work at nearby industrial parks. Jose Willyvaldo Martinez Sandoval, known as “Willy,” was arrested on a public intoxication charge, which Sandoval said was just a pretext. The police held Willy for several days she said, then turned him over to a local organized crime leader known as “El Canelo.” When he finally showed up at their house, Sandoval said, her son was badly beaten and running a fever. “He told me the police officers allowed El Canelo to beat him up in prison,” Sandoval said earlier this year, standing outside her house in Allende. “Then they took him to work. He said, ‘They beat me and then they took me so I escaped.’” Sandoval said she slept by her son’s bedside that night, then went to work in the morning. When she returned that evening, Willy and another son, Luis Angel, were missing. Family members and neighbors described how El Canelo and two of his thugs beat Luis Angel with a pipe, grabbed hold of the delirious Willy and dragged them both away. The next day a police officer, a cousin of Sandoval’s, showed up with Luis Angel. He too was beaten, she said, and his feet had been burned. “I asked, ‘Where is my other son?’” she said. The cousin “didn’t answer me. My son told me, ‘Don’t bother looking for Willy. He’s already dead.’” Willy was killed during a period of extreme violence in Piedras Negras, Cinco Manantiales and even as far away as Melchor Múzquiz, a two-hour drive southwest. “My case is not the only one. I know somebody who had four (family members) disappeared,” Sandoval said. “It was the most difficult time that we’ve lived. There was no security. El Canelo was running the town and everyone was afraid of him. He had total control of the town.” Four years after the abductions, it’s still unclear what happened or how many were killed.
‘Lots of deaths’ In a report to the state legisla-
ture earlier this year, the Coahuila attorney general’s office said the killings happened over one day in mid-March 2011. The Zetas, working with the help of municipal police, kidnapped 28 people, the prosecutors said. During a 2013 money laundering trial in Austin, trafficker Mario Alfonso Cuellar and his lieutenant Hector Moreno described a much more gruesome sequence of events. The leaders of the ruthless drug gang the Zetas were upset about an unusually large number of drugs being seized, Moreno testified. “Lots of deaths,” Moreno said when a prosecutor asked him to describe the Zetas’ response. “They even started killing families in Allende and Piedras Negras and Múzquiz and Sabinas.” Moreno said he fled across the border with his family and turned himself in to U.S. authorities.” “Because of this, they killed (200 or) 300 people in Allende, Coahuila,” he testified. Cuellar, too, surrendered to U.S. authorities and pleaded guilty during a secret hearing in a North Texas courtroom. Word leaked back to the Zetas, he said, after U.S. anti-narcotics agents told their counterparts in Mexico. “They knocked everything down, just broke it into little pieces, the houses, the apartments,” Cuellar testified. “They stole my horses. Everything that I had, they took away from me. And they killed a lot of people.” The burned-out buildings, including one across the street from a grade school, still can be seen in Allende. In its presentation to the legislature, the Coahuila state prosecutors said they arrested one person and issued warrants for three others, including two former Allende police officers. Two other suspects have been killed. Of the 28 people who the state says went missing, 11 are confirmed dead. The whereabouts of the other 17 are unknown. State officials say they found more than 3,000 bone fragments as part of their investigation into the Allende Massacre, but could retrieve DNA from fewer than 500 of those. Only 30 families from the Cinco Manantiales area have come forward, said García, the civil
rights lawyer, but she believes there are others who are afraid to talk. Some families have fled to Eagle Pass and San Antonio. Piedras Negras has seen the same type of drug-related violence that has hit other border cities. The fighting peaked in 2012 with grenade attacks and street fighting so bad that on one occasion the international bridge with Eagle Pass was shut down. Since then, things have been more quiet, in part because of the heavily armed security forces patrolling the street. Because the state relies heavily on foreign investment in the manufacturing industry, the government has cracked down on the cartels. “But they’re doing it the wrong way,” García said. “They lost control of what they’re trying to do. They thought (the GATEs) would come here to clear the area, but in fact what they’re doing is creating the same organized crime that existed.”
‘Dead while living’ Among those whose family members say they were taken by the GATEs are U.S. citizens. Juan Rios said his brother Salvador was one of the lucky ones — he’s in a prison in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit. In December, Salvador Rios, a resident of Eagle Pass, and several friends were arrested by the GATEs, Juan Rios said. They were taken to a ranch and beaten and then, while the others were released, the police tortured his brother, said Juan Rios, who thinks police targeted his brother because he was driving a nice pickup. His family made frantic calls to the U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo, trying to get out word about Salvador Rios’s arrest before he could disappear. He eventually was charged with possession of guns and drugs, allegations his family says are false. Since then, his brother has been held in inhumane conditions, Juan Rios said. Earlier this month, Salvador Rios went on trial. Now his family is waiting for the judge’s decision. “I can only imagine there are so many people that are not able to do anything because of their resources, or lack of,” Juan Rios said. “We’re fortunate enough to
have some people in Mexico who are family members, some here in the States (who can help). Without that, there’s no way you could lend any sort of help with that person who’s going through that.” Earlier this month, a U.S. State Department official told a congressional panel that last year, 146 U.S. citizens were kidnapped in Mexico and 100 killed. So far this year, 64 U.S. citizens have been reported kidnapped and 89 killed, said Sue Saarnio, the deputy assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs. When the GATEs detain someone in Piedras Negras, Familias Unidas puts the word out on social media and messenger apps. Members converge on the unit’s headquarters, hoping to publicize the arrest and force the police to make formal charges, much like the Rios family did. García said about 70 people have been released since 2013. The strategy doesn’t always work. Rivas, the group’s president, said she watched as a pickup carrying her son, his head flopping side-to-side as if he were unconscious, drove through the sally port at the GATEs headquarters the night he was taken from his home while his family watched in July 2013. The police denied ever having arrested him, and she hasn’t seen him since. “It’s like being dead while living,” Rivas said. “I don’t know if he’s alive or dead, or if he’s hungry, if he’s cold. And the hours pass, the despair, and you don’t know what’s happening. It’s the worst thing that can happen to a mother, to have a son disappear and the authorities won’t give you any information.” For some families, their main provider has disappeared. To address that issue, the Coahuila legislature last year passed a law that gives the state the ability to declare someone absent, but García said government officials often put up barriers and claim missing people actually are in hiding. For the families of the disappeared, their lives are put on hold. The new state law protects the rights of the disappeared, but can work against the people left behind, García said. “While they’re missing, they’re presumed to be alive,” she said. “Their spouses can’t divorce them or have them declared dead.” In most of Mexico, there’s no publicly available record of who’s been arrested, and most police don’t have cameras on their vehicles or GPS trackers showing where they’ve been, García said, creating a system rife for abuse. She said the government at all levels in Mexico needs to abandon the use of secretive special police forces, devote more resources to finding those who are missing, protect the rights not only of the disappeared but of their families and make create a safe, secure process for reporting disappearances. “The truth is, this is something very difficult for the families,” she said. “The government doesn’t listen when they go to make a report, the government doesn’t look for their disappeared. The government does not help them feed their children.” (Photographer Jerry Lara and Staff Writer Bill Lambrecht in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.)
HEALTH CARE Continued from Page 1A Special Agent in Charge James Reed told a group of people during a Webb
County Community Coalition meeting held Sept. 1. “Sometimes we have peo-
ple who start to experiment with these prescription drugs and (they) may
think, ‘It’s a pill. It’s legal. It has to be safe’ … Ultimately, they get to the point
where they become addicted to this relatively safe product.”
(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
POPE FRANCIS Continued from Page 1A white robes. He was welcomed by a military honor guard, chanting schoolchildren, politicians, and Roman Catholic clerics in black robes and vivid sashes of scarlet and purple. Joe Biden, the nation’s first Catholic vice president, and his wife were among those who greeted him. Eschewing a limousine, the pope climbed into the back of a small charcoal-gray Fiat and promptly rolled down the windows, enabling the cheering, whooping crowds to see him as his motorcade took him to the Vatican diplomatic mission in Washington, where he will stay while in the nation’s capital. The choice of car was in keeping with his simple habits and his anti-consumerism message. During his six-day, three-city visit to the U.S., the pope will meet with the president on Wednesday, address Congress on Thursday, speak at the United Nations in New York on Friday and take part in a Vatican-sponsored conference
on the family in Philadelphia over the weekend. The Argentine known as the “slum pope” for ministering to the downtrodden in his native Buenos Aires is expected to urge America to take better care of the environment and the poor and return to its founding ideals of religious liberty and open arms toward immigrants. During the flight, Francis defended himself against conservative criticism of his economic views. He told reporters on the plane that some explanations of his writings may have given the impression he is “a little bit more left-leaning.” But he said such explanations are wrong and added: “I am certain that I have never said anything beyond what is in the social doctrine of the church.” Joking about doubts in some quarters over whether he is truly Catholic, he said, “If I have to recite the Creed, I’m ready.” He is the fourth pope ever to visit the United States.
Francis’ enormous popularity, propensity for wading into crowds and insistence on using an opensided Jeep rather than a bulletproof popemobile have complicated things for U.S. law enforcement, which has mounted one of the biggest security operations in American history to keep him safe. The measures are unprecedented for a papal trip and could make it nearly impossible for many ordinary Americans to get anywhere close to Francis. For anyone hoping to get across town when the pope is around, good luck. For all the attention likely to be paid to Francis’ speeches, including the first address from a pope to Congress, his more personal gestures — visiting with immigrants, prisoners and the homeless — could yield some of the most memorable images of the trip. “What the pope does in the United States will be more important than what he says,” said Mat Schmalz, a religious studies professor at Holy Cross college in Worcester, Massachusetts. “There are a
lot of things he will say about capitalism and about wealth inequality, but many Americans and politicians have already made up their minds on these issues. What I would look for is a particular gesture, an unscripted act, that will move people.” In Cuba, Francis basked in the adulation of Cubans grateful to him for brokering the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the communist island. On the plane, though, he told reporters he will not use his speech to Congress to call specifically for the U.S. to lift the Cold War-era trade embargo against Cuba. He arrives at a moment of bitter infighting across the country over gay rights, immigration, abortion and race relations — issues that are always simmering in the U.S. but have boiled over in the heat of a presidential campaign. Capitol Hill is consumed by disputes over abortion and federal funding for Planned Parenthood after hidden-camera videos
showed its officials talking about the organization’s practice of sending tissue from aborted fetuses to medical researchers. While Francis has staunchly upheld church teaching against abortion, he has recently allowed ordinary priests, and not just bishops, to absolve women of the sin. Francis’ visit comes three months after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, putting U.S. bishops on the defensive and sharply dividing Americans over how much they should accommodate religious objectors. The pope has strongly upheld church teaching against same-sex marriage but adopted a welcoming tone toward gays themselves, saying, “Who am I to judge?” when asked about a supposedly gay priest. Americans are also wrestling anew with issues of racism. A series of deaths in recent years of unarmed black men at the hands of law enforcement has intensified debate over the American criminal justice system.
International
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
Burkina Faso coup leader to hand power back By BRAHIMA OUEDRAOGO AND BABA AHMED ASSOCIATED PRESS
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Burkina Faso’s coup leader is expected to hand power back on Wednesday to the transitional president he overthrew as regional leaders stepped up the pressure and soldiers opposed to the coup converged on the capital from around the country. The Economic Community of West African States also called on coup supporters to lay down their arms and for the military not to attack junta members as the regional bloc prepares to put the transitional leader, Michel Kafando, back into power. There was a tense standoff in the capital Tuesday after Burkina Faso’s coup leader, Gen. Gilbert Diendere, refused to heed a deadline for his men to lay down their arms even after
troops opposing the takeover poured into the capital Ouagadougou. Diendere instead said he would hand over power when requested by West African leaders of the regional economic bloc known as ECOWAS who met in Nigeria Tuesday. The heads of states of Senegal, Togo, Benin, Niger, Ghana and Nigeria are now expected in Ouagadougou on Wednesday, ECOWAS said after its summit. ECOWAS commission chairman Kadre Desire Ouedraogo and United Nations representative Mohamed Ibn Chambas will travel with the leaders, said the spokeswoman for Diendere’s office, Yolande Kalwoule. The regional body called on all parties to maintain order and to not take any actions that would upset the fragility of the situation in Burkina Faso. Soldiers from all over this West African nation
Photo by Theo Renaut | AP
In this photo taken Monday, a protestor holds a Burkina Faso national flag during a protest against a recent coup in Ouagadougou. arrived in Ouagadougou in a show of force to convince the troops backing the coup to lay down their arms. Residents cheered the troops’ arrival early Tuesday before they were asked to return to their homes. As the deadline set by the military for the presidential guard, which
EU ministers agree to relocate 120K refugees By MIKE CORDER AND DANICA KIRKA ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRUSSELS — Deeply divided European Union ministers agreed Tuesday to relocate 120,000 asylum-seekers to ease the strain on Greece and Italy, which are on the front line of the migrant flood. But a senior European leader conceded the move was only a small step toward resolving one of the worst crises ever faced by the 28-nation bloc. Four eastern European countries — the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary — voted against the plan, and it’s unclear if they will even implement it. Those nations have resisted accepting the forced resettlement of refugees on their territory. Slovakia would rather breach the measure “than accept such a dictate,” said Prime Minster Robert Fico. His Czech counterpart, Bohuslav Sobotka, added: “It’s a bad decision, and the Czech Republic did all it could to block it.” EU leaders will gather Wednesday evening in Brussels to try to adopt a unified approach to the crisis that has seen 477,906 people stream into Europe from the Middle East, Africa and Asia, according to estimates by the U.N. refugee agency. Some European countries have reinstated border controls to stem the flood, and Hungary has built a fence topped with razor wire on its frontier with Serbia. EU Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans insisted that all member states “respect the outcome” of the relocation plan, which he said showed the bloc is “capable of taking decisions even if, for some member states, these are very difficult decisions.” But even Timmermans conceded it was only a small step, and plenty more remains to be done. “In and by itself, the decision we took today is not going to solve the refugee crisis,” he said. “The refugee crisis can be brought under control, but make no mistake it will take a tremendous amount of effort, it will take a long time, and it will take many steps in many areas.” The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees urged the EU to quickly set up facilities in Greece, where tens of thousands have arrived after making the hazardous sea crossing from Turkey. This may be “the last opportunity for a coherent European response,” said Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR. Tuesday’s deal did not set mandatory quotas for each nation — one of the most contentious aspects of the proposed plan. It said that 66,000 asylum-seekers will be relocated from Greece and Italy, and 54,000 more in a year’s time. Amnesty International’s
Photo by Zoltan Balogh/MTI | AP
Croatian police officers control a crowd of migrants in front of a reception center close to Croatia’s border with Serbia on Tuesday. Europe Director, John Dalhuisen, cautioned that agreed-upon numbers “are still too low, given the immensity of the current crisis.” “At long last, this is a step in the right direction, but EU leaders need to be looking 10 steps ahead, not one,” he said. Timmermans said the EU has to do a better job of protecting its borders, registering arriving migrants, quickly returning those ineligible for asylum, and “providing hope and perspective” for those in conflict-torn countries. “Maybe something will change,” said Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who hoped that his country won’t be obliged to take in more than the 1,785 refugees it has offered to absorb. The Romanian news agency reported the country would have to take an extra 2,475 refugees. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, whose country is absorbing most of those pouring into Europe, said Germany would take more than 30,000 of the 120,000 asylum seekers. “We are doing this out of
solidarity and responsibility, but also in our own interest,” he said. “At the moment, something like 50 percent of those who are arriving in Greece are coming to Germany. With a quota of 26 percent, fewer of this group would come.” De Maiziere said the deal also aims to cut “secondary migration,” in which those seeking asylum move from one European country to another. “If people are distributed in Europe, then they can’t choose what country they go to. They have to stay in the country they were distributed to,” he said. Along the migrant trail through the Balkans in southeastern Europe, the crisis continued and drew old foes into a new dispute. Serbia gave Croatia an ultimatum to reopen its border, threatening unspecified countermeasures. Croatia shut all but one of its crossings with Serbia last week to block the migrant influx, which has reached 34,900 in just a few days. But the action has crippled the economy in Serbia, a conduit for cargo across Croatia to Europe.
mounted the coup last week, to return to their barracks by 10 a.m. (1000 GMT) passed, the streets were deserted with fearful residents staying home. Diendere told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Tuesday that he was waiting for the results of talks on the crisis
being held in Nigeria’s capital by the ECOWAS leaders. “I will hand over power to a civilian on the date recommended by the ECOWAS summit. I do not want to play a particular role in the transition,” the former commander of the presidential guard said. “I do not want to be prime minister.” Diendere said he wants to avoid fighting between rival military units. “We will find a solution between brothers in arms to avoid confrontations,” he told a news conference on Tuesday. Government troops loyal to the transitional government had assembled around the national radio and television stations and around barracks. “I call on the population of Burkina Faso to remain calm and to have confidence in the National Armed Forces who have reaffirmed their unfailing
commitment to preserve the unity of the nation,” Gen. Pingrenoma Zagre said in a statement. The transitional government was installed after long-term President Blaise Compaore was ousted in a popular uprising last October. Elections were to have been held next month but Diendere, who led the presidential guard and was an adviser to Compaore, had said that’s too early. West African mediators want Kafando to be reinstalled until elections can be held. Kafando has sought shelter at the residence of the French ambassador in Ouagadougou. An electoral code passed earlier this year had banned members of Compaore’s party from taking part in the election. The former ruling Congress for Democracy and Progress party said one of its leaders, Achilles Tapsoba, was arrested in the south of the capital.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
Volkswagen CEO says he is ‘endlessly sorry’ By GEIR MOULSON AND PAN PYLAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
BERLIN — Volkswagen AG’s smog-test troubles escalated Tuesday as the company acknowledged putting stealth software in millions of vehicles worldwide. The scandal has now cost VW more than 24 billion euros ($26 billion) in market value. Volkwagen stunningly admitted that some 11 million of the German carmaker’s diesel vehicles contain software that evades emissions controls, far more than the 482,000 identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as violating the Clean Air Act. Volkswagen also warned that future profits could be affected, and set aside an initial 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) to cover the fallout. CEO Martin Winterkorn apologized for the deception under his leadership and pledged a fast and thorough investigation, but gave no indication that he might resign. “Millions of people across the world trust our brands, our cars and our technologies,” Winterkorn said Tuesday in a video message. “I am endlessly sorry that we have disappointed this trust. I apologize in every way to our customers, to authorities
and the whole public for the wrongdoing.” “We are asking, I am asking for your trust on our way forward,” he said. “We will clear this up.” VW has yet to explain who installed the software, under what direction, and why. “I do not have the answers to all the questions at this point myself, but we are in the process of clearing up the background relentlessly,” Winterkorn said. The damage to Volkswagen’s reputation was reflected in the market’s response. Volkswagen’s ordinary shares fell 20 percent Tuesday to close at 111.20 euros. They’re down 31 percent since the crisis began. The EPA said Friday that VW faces potential fines of $37,500 per vehicle, and that anyone found personally responsible is subject to $3,750 per violation. The U.S. Justice Department has joined the investigation, and on Tuesday, New York Attorney General Eric. T. Schneiderman announced that he’ll collaborate with other states to enforce consumer and environmental protections in the case. After blaming unrelated issues for more than a year, the company finally told U.S. regulators on Sept. 3 that it installed software
Photo by Julian Sratenschulte | AP
A woman watches a statement by Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn on the company’s website in Hanover, Germany, Tuesday. that switches engines to a cleaner mode during official emissions testing. The software then switches off again on the road, enabling cars to drive more powerfully while emitting as much as 40 times the legal pollution limit. “Let’s be clear about this. Our company was dishonest. With the EPA, and the California Air Resources Board, and with all of you. And in my German words, we have totally screwed up,” the head of Volkswagen’s U.S. division, Michael Horn, said Monday while unveiling a new Passat model in New York. “We must fix those cars to prevent this from ever happening again, and we have to make things right. With the government, the public, our customers, our employees, and very impor-
tantly, with our dealers.” The shockwaves were felt across the sector as traders wondered who else may get embroiled. Germany’s Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, was down 7 percent Tuesday, while BMW AG fell 6 percent. France’s Renault SA was 7.1 percent lower. “Brands are all about trust and it takes years and years to develop. But in the space of 24 hours, Volkswagen has gone from one people could trust to one people don’t know what to think of,” said Nigel Currie, an independent U.K.-based sponsorship and branding consultant. Volkswagen said the “discrepancies” related to vehicles with Type EA 189 engines actually involve some 11 million vehicles worldwide — more than the
10 million or so cars it sold last year. “Manipulation at Volkswagen must never happen again,” Winterkorn said in his video message. He said VW’s employees are “building the best vehicles for our customers,” and said “it would be wrong to place the hard and honest work of 600,000 people under general suspicion because of the grave mistakes of a few.” The company said the 6.5 billion euros it is setting aside this quarter will cover necessary service measures and “other efforts to win back the trust” of customers. Even these costs are “subject to revaluation,” it said, and 2015 earnings targets will be adjusted. It didn’t specify by how much. The statement didn’t mention possible fines or penalties. The violations described by the EPA could, in theory, total about $18 billion. Christian Stadler, professor of strategic management at the Warwick Business School said companies rarely pay maximum fines under U.S. regulations. “I don’t think this is a life-threatening event, but it’s clear it’s going to be very expensive,” he said. The company hasn’t revealed the results of inter-
nal investigations, although it has said that the software in question was installed in other vehicles with diesel engines, and asserted that in most cases, it “does not have any effect.” It also said new vehicles with EU 6 diesel engines currently on sale in the European Union comply with legal requirements and environmental standards. “I hope that the facts will be put on the table as quickly as possible,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin. Before the scandal, Winterkorn, CEO since 2007, was hoping to have his stewardship of the company extended at a board meeting Friday. Earlier this month, Volkswagen said it planned to give Winterkorn a two-year contract extension which would keep him in charge through the end of 2018. Other authorities looking into VW’s actions include Germany, where the transport minister announced a commission of inquiry to determine whether VW’s diesel vehicles comply with German and European rules; the French government, which demanded that its automakers “ensure that no such actions are taking place in France,” the South Korean government, and the European Commission.
US stocks drop as oil sinks Halliburton to pay By MATTHEW CRAFT ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Another bout of turbulence swung the U.S. stock market to a loss Tuesday as raw-material producers sank along with prices for oil and copper. The selling swept across every industry, with all 10 sectors of the S&P 500 taking a fall. JJ Kinahan, TD Ameritrade’s chief strategist, said lingering uncertainty over China’s slowdown and the timing of the Federal Reserve’s first interest-rate hike in nearly a decade has made investors skittish. “I think it’s really just the fact that nobody knows what to do,” Kinahan said. “When things are this uncertain, the reaction is sell first and see what happens later.” Without any big news to drive trading, the indexes slumped throughout the morning, bottomed out in the afternoon and then spent the rest of the day recovering their losses. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 24.23 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,942.74. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 179.72 points, or 1.1 percent, to 16,330.47, and the Nasdaq composite declined 72.73 points, or 1.5 percent, to 4,756.72. Mounting concerns about slowing growth in China and
around the world have battered financial markets throughout the summer. The S&P 500, the most widely used measure of U.S. investments, has lost more than 8 percent in three months. Investors will get another look at China’s economy on Wednesday when Caixin’s manufacturing index comes out. Last month, it hit a six-year low. Federal Reserve officials cited China’s slowdown as one reason it decided to delay raising interest rates last week. The scandal at Volkswagen AG, the world’s top-selling carmaker, deepened after it said some 11 million of its diesel vehicles worldwide were fitted with software to cheat U.S. emissions test. The company said it was setting aside around 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) to cover the fallout. Its U.S.-listed shares plunged $4.66, or 15 percent, to $25.44, extending Volkswagen’s losses to 30 percent over two days. In Europe, markets across the continent closed with big losses. Germany’s DAX dropped 3.8 percent, and France’s CAC-40 dropped 3.4 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 index closed with a loss of 2.8 percent. Major indexes in Asia ended higher, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 0.2 percent and mainland China’s Shanghai Compos-
ite Index up 0.9 percent. Markets in Japan remain closed for a three-day holiday. Back in the U.S., ConAgra Foods tumbled 7 percent after posting a $1.2 billion quarterly loss. Sales for the maker of Chef Boyardee, Hebrew National hot dogs and other packaged food also fell short of analysts’ forecasts. ConAgra’s stock sank $3 to $39.40. After the market closed on Monday, Mosaic said it would cut production of its fertilizers as falling prices for crops have hurt the company’s sales. Mosaic pointed to swings in currencies and financial markets as other culprits. Its stock lost $2.56, or 7 percent, to $33.88. U.S. government bond prices jumped, knocking the yield on the 10-year Treasury note down to 2.13 percent, from 2.20 percent late Monday. In commodity trading, most industrial and precious metals settled with steep losses. Copper lost 9 cents, or 4 percent, to finish at $2.30 a pound. Gold dropped an even $8 to $1,124.80 an ounce, and silver sank 47 cents to $14.76 an ounce. Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 85 cents to close at $45.83 a barrel in New York. Brent Crude, an international benchmark, rose 16 cents to close at $49.08 a barrel in London.
back $18.3 in wages By JIM MALEWITZ TEXAS TRIBUNE
A Texas-based oilfield service giant has agreed to pay nearly $18.3 million in back overtime wages to more than 1,000 U.S. employees, following a federal investigation. The U.S. Department of Labor announced Tuesday that Halliburton will pay up after investigators found the Houston-based company erroneously categorized workers in 28 positions as exempt from overtime, meaning that field service representatives, pipe recovery specialists, drilling tech advisers and others were not properly paid when they worked more than 40 hours in a week. The agency said those errors — and the company’s failure to keep accurate records of those employees’ hours — violated the 77-yearold Fair Labor Standards Act. More than 380 Texans will get more than $6.54 million in back wages, the agency said. “This settlement will put millions of dollars where they belong — in the pockets of hardworking people and their families,” U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez said in a statement. “Employers who don’t pay their employees the wages they have earned don’t just hurt their workers, they un-
Photo by David Zalubowski | AP file
In this April 15, 2009, file photo, an unidentified worker passes a truck owned by Halliburton in Rulison, Colo. dercut employers who play by the rules.” Halliburton discovered during a self-audit that some of its jobs were misclassified as exempt, a company spokeswoman said. “The company re-classified the identified positions, and throughout this process, Halliburton has worked earnestly and cooperatively with the U.S. Department of Labor to equitably resolve this situation,” the spokeswoman, Susie McMichael, wrote in an email. The government investigation was part of a larger federal effort to crack down on oil and gas companies who aren’t properly paying their workers — a common practice on the drilling fields of Texas and beyond.
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015