Assassins of archbishop
convicted in Colombia
Two
men involved in the 2002 murder
of the Roman Catholic archbishop
of Cali have been sentenced to
35and 36 years in jail
respectively, judicial sources
said Tuesday.
A criminal court judge in the
Cali district sentenced
Alexander Zapata, alias El
Cortico, to 36 years in jail,
and John Jimenez, alias Basilio,
to 35 years, for participating
in the killing of Cali
archbishop Isaias Duarte on
March 16, 2002.
The judge also ordered the
criminals to pay 82,000 US
dollars in moral damage caused
by the murder.
Duarte was assassinated after
delivering mass in a poor
neighborhood in Cali, capital of
the southwestern Valle del Cauca
department. Another person
accompanying the priest was
injured.
According to the verdict,
Basilio hired El Cortico to kill
the archbishop and the latter
carried out the assassination.
Although the assassins have been
convicted, the mastermind and
the motive behind the crime have
not been determined. The
authorities suspected drug
traffickers were involved in the
slaying of the 63-year-old
archbishop, a tough critic of
both drug lords and guerrillas.
False tsunami alarm causes panic
in Chile
There were still thousands of
Chileans who lived outdoors in
the city of Concepcion overnight
due to a false tsunami alarm
refusing to heed local
authorities' order to go back
home Tuesday, local press said.
Regional authorities helped by
armed police and firemen tried
to convince the nearly 3,000
people camping on hills that the
tsunami alarm Monday was false
and no tidal waves like the one
hitting South and Southeast
Asian countries are imminent.
But the residents still refused
to go back home. The Asian
tsunami on Dec. 26 left 168,000
people dead.
At least 18,000 people in
Concepcion fled the town Monday
after several fishermen reported
that the sea appeared to retreat
-- a sign that a tidal wave is
gathering.
In the mass exodus, a
68-year-old woman died of a
heart attack while scores of
residents were hospitalized for
nervous breakdowns, fractures by
trampling and other
complications.
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Mexican firm to provide armor
cars for US in Iraq, Afghanistan
The
Mexican company Abate has sealed
a contract to provide
bullet-proof cars for US
government officials,
telecommunications firms and
construction contractors in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
It plans to armor 30 vehicles
imported from the United States
each month and then sent them on
to Iraq and Afghanistan, the
company was quoted as saying on
Tuesday.
These vehicles will be armored
to level six out of a
seven-level armor system, which
is sufficient to shield against
grenades launched at the speed
of a bullet, land mines and
assault rifles like the AK-47
Kalashnikov.
The shielding uses stainless
steel, Aramid fiber and a
special resin-based ceramic, at
a cost of 120,000 US dollars
each vehicle on top of the price
of the car.
The latest insurgent attacks on
US-led coalition showed that
some of the heaviest armor in
the US inventory can not protect
the soldiers inside. Powerful
bombs had destroyed at least two
Bradley Fighting Vehicles and
caused heavy casualties.
Earlier this month, the US Army
said it plans to spend 84
million dollars to armor over
700 troop carriers currently in
service in Iraq and Kuwait.
The carriers, first fielded in
1960, would receive heavy armor
to protect them from
rocket-propelled grenades, mines
and other heavy weapons. US
mechanics will be sent to Kuwait
to assist in welding armor to
vehicles.
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