Paraguay's supermarket owner
jailed
The owner of a Paraguayan
supermarket destroyed by fire
was held in preventive detention
with his son on Tuesday as the
Attorney General's office
ordered, reports from Paraguay's
capital Asuncion said.
Juan Pio Paiva and his son Victor Daniel Paiva were accused of
manslaughter and may face sentences of up to 25 years in prison.
Prosecutor for the case, Edgar Sanchez, said several eyewitnesses
said Victor Daniel Paiva ordered supermarket guards to close gates
to prevent people from leaving without paying.
Sanchez also issued an order to confiscate Paiva's assets worth12
million US dollars.
Lawyer Enrique Bachetta has abstained from defending Paiva, saying
that he could not do it for ethical reasons as many of his friends
and relatives were victims of the flames.
Paiva denied again on Monday that any order was issued to prevent
people from escaping fire.
When people "inside the building were about to leave, a roof
collapsed and completely blocked the entrance. So people could not
leave and became trapped inside," Paiva told the press.
The businessman added, "What happened is that the doors can only be
open inwards, and those trapped were pushing them outwards."
The Attorney General's office also filed charges against security
guards Daniel Areco, Ever Sanchez, Jorge Penayo and Ismael Alcaraz
who obeyed the order and locked the exits of the supermarket after
the blaze broke out.
The fire broke out when the supermarket was crowded with Sunday
midday shoppers. Reports said nearly 1,000 people had been inside
the shopping center, which is part of the complex that also houses
offices and an underground parking lot.
The death toll soared to 464 on Tuesday . It may rise further as
firemen, rescue worker and police agents worked to remove the
debris.
Cuba sends
doctors to help Paraguayan people
Cuban leader Fidel Castro sent a letter of condolence Tuesday to his
Paraguayan counterpart Nicanor Duarte, expressing his sympathy to
Paraguayans killed in Sunday's supermarket catastrophe in Asuncion,
capital of the South American country.
Local press quoted Castro as saying he would send a group of medical
specialists and medicines to help those people.
According to information released in Havana, the Cuban doctors to be
sent to the South American country will cooperate with local health
authorities with blood donation to help the survivors.
Pinochet's wife interrogated on offshore accounts
The wife of former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet Ugarte was
questioned by the judge Tuesday as part of an investigation into the
offshore accounts owned by the couple, local media reported.
Lucia Hiriart, wife of Pinochet, was questioned for three hours by
Judge Sergio Munoz of the Santiago Appeals Court on the
multi-million dollar accounts owned by the couple at the
Washington-based Riggs Bank.
The interrogation would try to determine whether Hiriart was aware
of where the money in the accounts came from.
Pinochet's family members and advisers have said the money may come
from supporters' donations, but some analysts said the money was not
in accordance with his tax declarations.
Pinochet's eldest son will appear before the judge on Wednesday for
interrogation, and his two other children will follow suit.
Pinochet, 88, who took control of Chile by ousting constitutional
President Salvador Allende in 1973, faces hundreds of charges of
homicide, kidnapping and torture in Chile but none of corruption.
There have been several failed attempts to probe his finances by
journalists or lawmakers since the 1980s.
The trial of Pinochet was suspended in 2001 when he was diagnosed as
mentally incompetent.
7 Colombian
policemen killed in car bombing
A car bombing left at least seven policemen dead, six
missing and one injured in southwestern Colombia Tuesday, said
police sources.
The act aimed to attack a police patrol in the rural area of El
Tablazo, the Valle del Cauca state.
According to the authorities, the car bombing was related to the
members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the
country's oldest and biggest rebel organization with 17,000
combatants.
The police embarked on a search and rescue operation to find the
missing and get after the FARC.
Colombia has been plagued by a four-decade-long civil war, in which
leftist rebels, far-right paramilitary and government troops fight
each other with an average of 3,500 people killed every year.
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