26 die in Peru rehab fire

(CNN) -- Twenty-six people were killed and 15 were rescued from a fire at a rehabilitation center in Lima, Peru, the state-run Andina news agency reported.

The fire was controlled by firefighters by Saturday afternoon.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, the fire department said, though witnesses said a mattress was set on fire during a melee inside the building.

The victims were trapped inside the building and died from asphyxiation, Peru's fire chief, Antonio Zavala said.

The building may have been a clandestine rehabilitation center, and many people were concentrated on the first floor, which lacked escape routes, Zavala said.

Some 40 people were housed in a small space with only one exit that was locked with a chain. Bypassing the heavy metal door was the biggest challenge in the rescue, he said.

January 28, 2012 - CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/28/world/americas/peru-rehab-fire/index.html

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Woman's body found in wrecked Italy cruise ship

Rome (CNN) -- A woman's body was found Saturday in the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship, Italian officials said, taking the number of people confirmed dead to 17.

Rescuers have been searching the site since the massive liner struck rocks and rolled onto its side in shallow waters off an island on Italy's Tuscan coast on January 13, leading to a panicked overnight evacuation. At least 15 people remain missing.

Efforts to remove 2,400 tons of fuel from the liner's tanks have been postponed until at least Tuesday because of bad weather conditions, Italy's civil protection agency said. The operation had been expected to begin Saturday or Sunday.

Franco Gabrielli, who is heading the rescue operation for the civil protection agency, said Friday that 14 of the bodies found had been identified.

The discovery of a 17th body came a day after a handful of surviving passengers of the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship filed a lawsuit against the cruise line.

Lawsuit filed in deadly cruise crash Training for maritime disasters Concordia captain admits 'mistake' Couple filmed chaos on cruise ship. Earlier, Costa had announced it was offering each of about 3,200 passengers who'd been aboard the vessel a lump sum of 11,000 euros ($14,400), in compensation for their loss of property and emotional distress, as well as a refund of costs associated with the cruise.

January 28, 2012 - CNN

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/28/world/europe/italy-cruise-ship/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

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Uruguay to Pay $513,000 Settlement in Rights Case

Uruguay's president has approved a $513,000 payment to Macarena Gelman, who was illegally adopted during the dictatorship after her mother was tortured and disappeared.

The payment complies with an Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling that accuses Uruguay of delaying justice for crimes committed by its dictatorship in the 1970s, according to a brief statement posted Tuesday on the presidency's website.

Gelman's parents were kidnapped in Argentina and taken to a torture center notorious for being a nexus of Operation Condor, the effort by South America's U.S.-supported dictatorships to combine forces and eliminate opponents in each other's countries.

Her father was then killed and her pregnant mother spirited to Uruguay, where she disappeared after giving birth in a military hospital.

Decades passed before Macarena Gelman learned her true identity, as the granddaughter of renowned Argentine poet Juan Gelman.

Macarena Gelman now works for Argentina's human rights agency. She declined to comment Tuesday on recieving the award from President Jose Mujica, and said she doesn't know if an ongoing study of human remains found inside an Uruguayan military facility has turned up any links to her missing mother.

About 30 people disappeared in Uruguay under the 1973-1985 dictatorship. In neighboring Argentina, more than 150 Uruguayans were killed as part of Operation Condor. Leftist Tupamaro guerrillas also had committed violent crimes, including 57 killings, according to a military tally, after taking up arms in 1963 against democratically elected governments. Many of the guerrillas died in confrontations or served long prison terms, including Mujica, a former Tupamaro who spent more than a decade behind bars.

Juan Gelman won the 2007 Cervantes Prize, the most prestigious award for Spanish-language literature. A journalist and left-wing political activist as well as a poet, he broke with the Communist Party and later with Argentina's Montoneros guerrillas over their violent tactics.

By RAUL O. GARCES
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay January 25, 2012 (AP)

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/uruguay-pay-513000-settlement-rights-case-15432535#.TyNM0bEaNBh

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Unidentified bodies at police depot

SEVERAL graves of unidentified people have been discovered at Ntabazinduna Police Training Depot in Matabeleland North.Police said yesterday they were making efforts to identify the remains with the view of locating relatives. They said they were not sure of the number of graves at the two sites at the training depot since some were not visible.

Some of the graves were first discovered in 2004 when the ZRP took over the area from the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture (now the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment).

It was still not clear whether some parts of the sites have mass graves.
Speaking to the Governor for Matabeleland North Thokozile Mathuthu, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, Chief Neville Ndondo and acting Chief Ndiweni, the depot assistant commandant Superintendent Ben Chabata said they decided to protect the graves by fencing the two sites.
"As a cultured organisation, we decided that the areas be fenced to protect them from people and animals which graze in the area," he said.
"As of now we don't know how many graves there are."

Supt Chabata said they wanted to work with local leaders and the community to help in identifying the people buried in the graves.

He said they decided to plant trees near the graves to provide shade.Governor Mathuthu said people buried at the sites should be identified. She applauded the police for protecting the graves. "I feel very proud that we have a team of leaders. We want to thank them," she said.

Saturday, 28 January 2012 00:00
Freeman Razemba

http://www.herald.co.zw/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32545:unidentified-bodies-at-police-depot&catid=46:crime-a-courts&Itemid=138

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Mass graves discovered in ZRP training centres

MASS graves have been identified in police training centers, it has been reported. The camps were previously used for national youth service.

The development was revealed by Matabeleland North governor Thokozile Mathuthu at a police pass-out parade in Ntabazinduna Police Training Depot, 32km north east of Bulawayo, on Thursday.

Superintendent Ben Chabata, the second in command at the training centre, asked the governor for resources to help identify who lies in the graves. He did not say when the discovery was made.

Superintendent Chabata said they had identified two mass graves, which they had fenced off, but said police had no idea how many people were buried there. Police also had no means of determining how old the graves were.

“After the discovery of the graves, and in an effort to build relations with the local community, we invited the local chief to come and view the place after we fenced it off,” Sup. Chataba said.

“It is our wish as the Zimbabwe Republic Police to identify who lies in these graves and resources permitting we can put name tags on the graves.”

The ZRP opened the training centre in 2004, taking over the site from the Ministry of Youth Development which was using it as a base for a controversial national youth service programme.

The youth service programme was condemned by opposition parties and human rights groups who accused President Robert Mugabe’s government of brainwashing youths, training them in torture and then unleashing them to brutalise opponents during election campaigns.

Appearing slightly shaken, governor Mathuthu ordered the district administrator, Ennety Sithole, to chair a meeting between the police, traditional leaders and medical experts to work out a programme of exhuming and identifying the remains.

She told Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri: “I am very grateful to you and your local commanders for fencing these graves off, and providing shade. That shows an appreciation for our culture and respect for the dead.”

The Matabeleland region has hundreds of mass graves from the post-independence military crackdown by President Robert Mugabe, ostensibly to flush out a dozen armed dissident supporters of ZAPU leader, Joshua Nkomo.

Human rights groups say a special army unit called the 5 Brigade, trained by North Korea and reporting directly to Mugabe, indiscriminately killed civilians between 1983 and 1987, leaving more than 20,000 people dead and thousands more wounded or displaced.

In October last year, authorities at a school in Lupane reported finding a large grave with up to 60 skeletal remains of people feared killed during the crackdown known as Gukurahundi.

Shocked pupils saw bones sticking out of the ground when a football pitch caved in. The school was used by the 5 Brigade as a detention centre during its reign of terror.

THURSDAY, 26 JANUARY 2012
http://www.zimdiaspora.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7587:mass-graves-discovered-in-police-training-centres&catid=38:travel-tips&Itemid=18

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