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Cleveland Daily Banner—Sunday, January 3, 2016—15
INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS
Mexico mayor slain a
day after taking office
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The
mayor of a city south of Mexico’s
capital was shot to death on
Saturday, less than a day after
taking office, officials said.
Gunmen burst into the house of
Mayor Gisela Mota in the city of
Temixco and killed her, said the
government of Morelos state,
where Temixco is located. Two
presumed assailants were killed
and two others detained, said
Morelos Gov. Graco Ramirez in
the government statement.
Officials attributed her killing to
organized crime.
Mota’s leftist Democratic
Revolution Party released a statement describing her as “a strong
and brave woman who on taking
office as mayor, declared that her
fight against crime would be
frontal and direct.”
Temixco is a city of about
100,000 people neighboring
Cuernavaca, a resort and industrial city which has been suffering
kidnappings and extortion linked
to organized crime groups.
Though Cuernavaca is the state
capital of Morelos, Temixco is the
seat of several state institutions
including the Public Security
Commission, which coordinates
state and local police forces.
Morelos also neighbors drug cartel-plagued Guerrero state.
Mota, who had been a federal
congresswoman, was sworn into
office on New Year’s Day. She was
killed the following day.
Morelos Gov. Ramirez vowed
there “would be no impunity” in
her killing and promised that
state officials would not cede to
the challenge presented by organized crime.
Federal and state forces are
deployed in Cuernavaca and
municipalities near the Guerrero
state border in what is called
“Operation Delta.”
Local mayors and officials in
Mexico have often been targeted
by drug cartels.
Italy confirms higher cancer,
death rates from mob dumping
ROME (AP) — An Italian parliament-mandated health survey has
confirmed higher-than-normal
incidents of death and cancer
among residents in and around
Naples, thanks to decades of toxic
waste dumping by the local
Camorra mob.
The report by the National
Institute of Health said it was
“critical” to address the rates of
babies in the provinces of Naples
and Caserta who are being hospitalized in the first year of life for
“excessive” instances of tumors,
especially brain tumors.
The report, which updated an
initial one in 2014, blamed the
higher-than-usual rates on
“ascertained or suspected exposure to a combination of environmental contaminants that can be
emitted or released from illegal
hazardous waste dump sites
and/or the uncontrolled burning
of both urban and hazardous
waste.”
Residents have long complained
about adverse health effects from
the dumping, which has poisoned
the underground wells that irrigate the farmland which provides
vegetables for much of Italy’s center and south. Over the years,
police have sequestered dozens of
fields because their irrigation
wells contained high levels of lead,
arsenic and the industrial solvent
tetrachloride.
Authorities say the contamination is due to the Camorra’s multibillion-dollar racket in disposing
of toxic waste, mainly from industries in Italy’s wealthy north that
ask no questions about where the
garbage goes as long as it’s taken
off their hands — for a fraction of
the cost of legal disposal. In recent
years, Camorra turncoats have
revealed how the mafia racket
works, directing police to specific
sites where toxic garbage was
dumped.
New Year’s homicide
toll rises in El Salvador
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador
(AP) — The Central American
nation of El Salvador is off to a
bloody start to the new year after
a shockingly violent 2015.
Officials say at least 29 people
were slain on the first day of 2016.
Prosecutors say the worst
attack came when armed men in
military-type uniforms raided an
evening party of suspected gang
members and killed s