1/3 of Latin American women
victims of sex abuse
One in
every three women in Latin
America aged between 16 and 49
are victims of sex violence, an
ongoing forum on domestic
violence was told Tuesday.
In Ecuador, two thirds of women
were subjected to sex abuses,
while 7.9 percent of women were
once victims of sex harassment,
and as many as 22 percent of
women were victims of daily
domestic violence, said Rosalia
Arteaga, former president of
Ecuador.
She suggested violence against
women should be stopped through
legislation, adding that it is
necessary to raise awareness
among women to protect there own
rights through legal means.
Uruguayan president-elect to
launch oil exploration
Uruguayan President-elect Tabare
Vazquez intended to reach
agreements with other South
American countries on oil
exploration in the territorial
sea of the country, a lawmaker
said Tuesday.
Crude oil has been discovered
off the Brazilian and Argentine
coasts. Therefore, oil field
could also be found in Uruguay
due to its location in the
middle of the region and it is
important to continue
exploration, re-elected
left-wing coalition lawmaker
Martin Ponce de Leon said.
He said oil exploration will
help develop the energy sector.
Ponce de Leon is considered as
the possible energy minister in
the coming administration of
Vazquez who was elected
Uruguay's first leftist
president in the Oct. 31
elections
Guerrilla leader killed in clash
with Colombian army
A leader of the rebel
Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC) was killed along
with four of his men in a clash
with the army in the southeast,
the military said.
The clash occurred in a rural
area of San Vicente del Caguan,
northwest of Caqueta department.
The death of Humberto Valbuena,
leader of FARC's Teofilo
Forerounit, was a heavy blow to
the rebel force as he was
leading operations of
kidnappings and recruitment,
said General Carlos Fracica,
commander of Monday's offensive.
Humberto, alias Hierbas, was
captured in 1999 but escaped in
the middle of that year.
FARC, with 20,000 combatants, is
the country's largest and oldest
rebel organization and allegedly
finances itself through drug
trafficking and kidnappings.
Colombia has been plagued by a
four-decade civil war, in which
leftist rebels, far-right
paramilitaries and government
troops fight each other, killing
about 3,500 people every year.
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15 people murdered in north
Guatemala
Gunmen opened fire to residents
of a community in north
Guatemala, and set two houses on
fire early Tuesday, killing at
least 15 people, including
several children, news reaching
here from Guatemala City said.
There is preliminary information
that the number of fatalities
amounts to at least 15 people
and the majority are children, a
spokesman for fire fighters was
quoted by local radio as saying.
But a spokesman for the National
Civil Police said only four
people have been confirmed dead,
including two children. Two more
people were injured, and several
others were missing, he added.
The slaughter occurred at the
community of Cumbre Fria in
Izabal department, 350 km north
of the capital at around 4 p.m.
local time (1200 GMT), the
spokesman said.
Two female survivors said a
group of heavily armed men
opened fire, tossing
fragmentation grenades and then
setting ablaze two houses, where
scorched corpses were found.
So far, neither the identity of
the gunmen nor the motive for
the attack is known |
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