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The Murder of Minors
Continues in Honduras
After a
significant drop in the numbers of murders of
children and youth in Honduras in the month of July,
during August the numbers shot up again, with a
total of 64 children and youth under the age of 23
murdered, close to half of them children.
The most violent city
was, once again, San Pedro Sula where 29 (44%)
children and youth were murdered, closely followed
by Tegucigalpa with 31% (20) of the murders. In El
Progreso there were four murders, three in Choloma
and one each in Tela, Puerto Cortez, Bonito Oriental
Catacamas; Talanga; Yoro and Choluteca.
Seventy eight percent
of the victims were males. More than 80% of the
cases still have no identified killer whereas 16%
are attributed to gang members and 5% to agents of
public security.
This month, the
children of Casa Alianza commemorated the child and
youth victim number 2,000 since January 1998 - one
of seven children and five adults who were killed
during bloody confrontations on public buses on
August 31st.
It is thought that
these actions were taken by gang members in response
to the government's "Operation Liberty"
police action to crack down on gang activity
utilizing new laws that were recently passed by the
Honduran Congress.
Changes in the Penal
Code that came into effect on August 15th, 2003
include a jail term of 10-12 years and a fine of
between US$ 500 and US$ 11,500 for being the head of
a gang and a third of these sentences for being a
member of a gang. In Honduras it is considered to be
a crime of "illicit association" to be a
member of a gang.
Seventy eight percent
of the August victims were males and firearms killed
84% of them.
None of the cases
where the police are suspected of murdering children
-which are supposedly being investigated by the
group, "Special Unit for Child Deaths" -
has resulted in a conviction since the group was
formed almost one year ago.
"To say we are
extremely frustrated is an understatement",
commented Bruce Harris, the Regional Director for
Casa Alianza's Latin American Programs.
"Forming commissions is not the response we are
willing to accept anymore. We want convictions of
the murderers no matter who they are".
Harris, who is
currently in Berlin, briefed key members of the
Human Rights Commission of the Bundestag today
regarding the child and youth murders as well as
members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who will
travel to Central America next week.
A total of 2,002
children and youth have been murdered in Honduras
between January 1998 and the end of August 2003.
American Berenson Married in Peru Prison
Lori Berenson, an American serving a 20-year sentence for aiding leftist rebels, married a former inmate Thursday in a prison ceremony the groom was barred from attending because he is on parole.
Anibal Apari confirmed his marriage to Berenson, 33, after receiving a phone call from his bride. His father stood in for him during the nuptials in the Andean town of Cajamarca, 350 miles north of Lima.
"I'm married. Twenty minutes ago Lori called me and confirmed that we're husband and wife," Apari said.
The groom, 41, met Berenson while both were serving sentences for involvement with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.
Apari was released from prison in June after serving 12 1/2 years of a 15-year sentence, but was prohibited from leaving the capital, Lima, by the terms of his parole. A judge has allowed him to visit his new wife in prison next week, he said.
He has not seen Berenson since October 1998, when she was transferred to a different prison.
The wedding is Berenson's second. She was briefly married to a former Salvadoran leftist rebel when she lived in El Salvador
in the early 1990s.
Berenson was convicted by a secret military court in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison for being a Tupac Amaru leader and plotting a thwarted attack on Peru's Congress.
That decision was overturned in 2000, and the following year she was convicted in a civilian court on the lesser charge of terrorist collaboration and sentenced to 20 years in prison, including time served. Berenson denies the charges.
Berenson, a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology
student, is hoping her conviction will be overturned by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica sometime next year.
"We're used to swimming against the tide. We met each other and our relationship developed in the midst of adversity and in the midst of adversity we continue," Apari said.
"People understand that Lori and I are human beings and like everybody else we have every right to make a life, to find happiness and love."
Laura Furst, the Washington-based national organizer for the Committee to Free Lori Berenson, said she had not yet received confirmation of the wedding.
Boat Bomb explosion leaves two injured in Colombia
A boat bomb explosion near a major oil-pipeline in Colombia's Arauca region injured two people and nine other bombs in the same region were deactivated, the military reported Thursday.
The boat bomb exploded Wednesday near the Cano
Limon-Covenas oil-pipeline in Arauca, a region bordering Venezuela. The oil-pipeline has been the target of nearly 1,000 bomb attacks by guerrilla groups since 1986.
One serviceman and one civilian were injured in the explosion, Army Commander General Carlos Ospina said.
The authorities blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC), the largest guerrilla group in the country, for the attack.
Series of bomb attacks by the FARC have left 100 people dead over the past 13 months.
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