Judge rules in Pinochet-era case of murdered singer

Reuters: [2008-05-15 23:56:00]

By Pav Jordan

SANTIAGO, May 15 (Reuters) - A judge closed the book on Thursday on the brutal murder of one of Chile's most emblematic folk singers, Victor Jara, but the family protested because only one officer from the 17-year dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet was convicted.

Judge Juan Eduardo Fuentes ruled that Jara was killed 35 years ago by retired coronel Mario Manriquez Bravo. But Jara's family's legal team say the Army is protecting a circle of others also involved in the murder.

Jara, a Chilean socialist and singer-songwriter often evoked by international music superstars, was tortured and machine-gunned to death in the early days of the coup that launched Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship.

Pinochet died in December 2006 without ever facing trial for crimes during his rule, in which 3,000 people died, 28,000 were tortured and about 200,000 fled into exile.

"This is incredible, I was not expecting this," Joan Jara, Victor Jara's widow, told local radio. "I am very concerned that a case so emblematic should be closed like this. What happens to the other cases from the Chile Stadium?"

Jara was reportedly taken along with thousands of others to the Chile Stadium in Santiago on Sept. 12 1973, the day after the military coup began against the socialist government of Salvador Allende.

Witnesses say coup enforcers broke the bones in his hands and then told him to play guitar for them.

He is said to have responded by singing a socialist song to them before being tortured further and eventually machine-gunned to death.

"This has been a complicated investigation, looking at several theories, and finally all avenues of investigation have been exhausted and as such I have decreed the case be closed," Judge Juan Eduardo Fuentes told reporters on Thursday.

Fuentes had the responsibility of ruling who was responsible for the murder.

Jara's legal team said it would appeal the ruling, and said other officials in the Pinochet regime were also involved in the murder but were being shielded by the Army.

"We know there was a large circle of army officals involved," said Nelson Caucoto.

Manriquez Bravo, who was chief of security at Chile Stadium as the coup was carried out, is under house arrest and will be sentenced at a later date. The ruling can be appealed.

Chile has long grappled with bringing to justice the perpetrators of crimes committed in the Pinochet era.

The former head of Pinochet's secret service is in jail, along with some two dozen other security agents convicted of rights crimes. Hundreds of other former members of his security forces are under investigation and victims and their families say justice is dragging its feet in still other cases.

The memory of Jara, whose best-known song is "I remember you Amanda" -- which has been revived in Chile in a reggae version -- still brings tears to the eyes of Chileans who lived through the dictatorship.

(Additional reporting by Antonio de la Jara and Erik Lopez; Editing by Frances Kerry) ((pav.jordan@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: pawel.jordan.reuters.com@reuters.net; 562 370 4252)) Keywords: CHILE PINOCHET/JARA

UPDATE 1-Panama consumer prices rise 0.4 pct in April

Reuters: [2008-05-15 23:43:00]

(Recasts; adds detail, quote)

PANAMA CITY, May 15 (Reuters) - Panama's inflation rate slowed in April for the first time this year on lower costs for utilities, but the pace of price increases was still three times faster than during the same month of 2007.

Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in April from the previous month, while 12-month inflation at the end of the month was 8.5 percent, the Comptroller General's office said.

An increase in food prices, transport costs and other household expenditures was offset by a 0.9 percent drop in utility costs like water, gas and electricity.

Prices had risen 1.2 percent in March, pushing annual inflation up to 8.8 percent that month. Inflation in Panama gained steadily throughout 2007, and 12-month inflation in April of that year was clocked at just 2.7 percent.

Panama, which uses the dollar as national currency and used to enjoy lower rates of inflation than those in the United States, has suffered from the rising price of food and oil.

The cheaper dollar also has made imports more costly.

According to Standard & Poor's analyst, Roberto Sifon, Panama is struggling against dual pressures, internal and external.

"You have external pressure from global high commodity prices, which Panama is dependent on, particularly oil. At the same time you have high domestic growth causing a demand shock," he told Reuters on Thursday. ((Editing by Diane Craft; jason.lange@reuters.com ; 52 55 5282 7153; Reuters Messaging: jason.lange.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: PANAMA ECONOMY/

UPDATE 2-Interpol says Colombia FARC laptop files authentic

Reuters: [2008-05-15 23:41:00]

(Adds analysts' reactions, details, background)

By Patrick Markey

BOGOTA, May 15 (Reuters) - Colombian guerrilla computer documents that Bogota says are proof Venezuela and Ecuador supported the Marxist rebels are authentic and show no evidence of tampering, Interpol said on Thursday.

The international police agency's conclusion reinforces Colombian and U.S. officials' charges that the files show Venezuela backed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

But Interpol said it did not verify the files' contents, leaving open to debate whether they tie Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Latin America's oldest insurgency.

"Interpol concludes there was no tampering with any data," Interpol chief Richard Noble said through an interpreter in a Bogota. "We are absolutely certain that the computer discs our experts examined came from a FARC terrorist camp."

Chavez and Ecuadorean leader Rafael Correa, whose government has also been implicated in the scandal, say the charges are false and part of a U.S.-backed campaign to discredit their left-leaning governments.

Colombia, which along with the United States labels the FARC terrorists, seized the laptops in a March raid on a rebel camp inside Ecuador that killed a guerrilla leader.

Accusations based on the files from three laptops, hard drives and computer data keys are fueling tensions in the Andean region, where Colombia is Washington's closest ally and Venezuela and Ecuador are fierce U.S. critics.

40 MILLION PAGES

Ties have been strained since the March raid in which Colombian forces killed rebel commander Raul Reyes, sparking a diplomatic crisis and fears of a regional war.

Colombia asked Interpol to carry out tests to guarantee it had not manipulated the rebel material.

Dozens of Interpol agents scoured what Noble said were the equivalent of 40 million Microsoft Word pages, including videos, photographs, data spreadsheets and nearly 1,000 encrypted files.

Colombian police claim the archives showed Chavez offered financial aid to the rebels and Correa allowed them to hide out in Ecuador. U.S. officials say documents reveal the rebels' deep ties to Venezuela's government.

"There are serious allegations about Venezuela supplying arms and support to a terrorist organization," U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Handing Interpol the evidence was meant to add credibility to the charges, said Phillip McLean, an ex-U.S. diplomat with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"But the computers give only one side of a conversation, i.e.: the FARC's. Intel analysts will find it fascinating, but it would be hard to call what comes out 'proof,'" he said.

U.S. officials often portray Chavez as a threat to regional stability as he pushes his socialist revolution. The former soldier says the United States is plotting with Colombia to oust him.

Chavez and Correa say contacts with rebels were only part of mediation efforts to free hostages held by the guerrillas.

The documents have prompted calls in the U.S. Congress for sanctions against Venezuela, a major U.S. oil supplier.

"Today's developments once again show the need for the State Department to fully recognize the very real threat that Chavez and his allies pose," Republican Rep. Connie Mack of Florida said.

But with oil prices hovering around record highs in a presidential election year, Washington is not expected to take a tougher line or apply sanctions without more evidence against Chavez, analysts said.

"The U.S. is unlikely to label Venezuela as a state sponsor of terrorism and impose sanctions unless they can substantiate the FARC's first-hand, cryptic accounts with hard proof," said Patrick Esteruelas at the Eurasia Group in New York. (Reporting by Patrick Markey in Bogota; Editing by Saul Hudson and Xavier Briand) ((pat.markey@reuters.com, +57-1-634-4090, Reuters messaging: pat.markey.reuters.net@reuters.com)) Keywords: COLOMBIA ANDES/

Venezuela offers $365 mln for food, medical aid

Reuters: [2008-05-15 23:33:00]

CARACAS, May 15 (Reuters) - Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez on Thursday offered to spend $365 million of the OPEC nation's oil income each year on a fund to help poor countries buy food and medicine.

He called on European and Latin American nations to contribute to the fund. (Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by John O'Callaghan) ((frank.daniel@reuters.com; +58 212 277 2656; Reuters Messaging: frank.daniel.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: VENEZUELA POVERTY/

WRAPUP 13-China says quake toll could rise above 50,000

Reuters: [2008-05-15 23:32:00]

* Quake death toll could rise above 50,000

* Tens of thousands left homeless

* Water supplies limited; concerns about dam safety

* Schools bear brunt of damage

(Adds premier's comments)

By Emma Graham-Harrison and Aly Song

YINGXIU, China, May 15 (Reuters) - The death toll from China's earthquake could soar to more than 50,000, state media reported on Thursday, as rescuers struggled to help survivors and hope faded for thousands buried under rubble.

Some 20,000 are confirmed dead after Monday's 7.9 magnitude quake and 25,000 were buried in areas rescuers have struggled to reach, battling landslides, buckled roads and collapsed bridges.

Half the epicentre town of Yingxiu, where corpses are lined along the river, has been flattened and 90 percent of the buildings remaining look unsafe.

Zhang Yuejiao, 18, ran out of her school as it collapsed. Some of the biggest casualties appear to have come from school buildings across Sichuan, a province as big as France.

"We have been waiting to try to find out what happened to my brother," she said calmly. "His school collapsed and we haven't been able to find him."

Helicopters arrived every 15 minutes to take the injured away and soldiers had walked in 40 km (24 miles) to help.

Premier Wen Jiabao, a geologist himself, said the rescue operation and disaster relief for victims of the quake were the country's top priority, Xinhua news agency reported.

Wen, who has toured the disaster zone urging on workers and comforting orphaned children, said the government would stick to its "people-first policy", the agency said.

"Saving lives is still our top priority, as long as hope of survival still exists," Wen said.

The Communist Party told officials to "ensure social stability" as the quake spawned rumours of chemical spills, fears of dam bursts and scenes of collective desperation.

Xinhua said 17 "malicious rumourmongers" had been punished for spreading "false information, sensational statements and sapping public confidence".

State media warned of rising risk of disease from unburied bodies and primitive sewage facilities, while calling for faster distribution of food, water, clothing and tents.

Rescuers in the city of Dujiangyan wrapped corpses dragged from the rubble in tarpaulins and sped them to mortuaries.

They were so busy that a notice outside one collapsed school asked parents to search for children at the mortuary in shifts.

About 130,000 army and paramilitary troops assisted the search and rescue effort in Sichuan, sifting through dozens of towns turned to rubble. Xinhua reported that a team of Japanese rescuers had arrived in Chengdu, part of an outpouring of international aid.

HOPES DIMMING

But three days after the quake, hopes of pulling survivors from the ruins dimmed and the waves of rescuers appear to be hampered by lack of specialised equipment.

Still, there were moments of joy and relief. "Thank you, thank you," one 22-year-old said after she was eventually pulled to safety, covering her face against the light in Dujiangyan. She had been trapped, unable to move, under the ruins of a hospital.

A teenage girl told Xinhua how she and her classmates sang pop songs together as they lay trapped and injured in the ruins of their high school.

A teenage girl was freed from the rubble of her school at the cost of an amputated leg, and a 3-year-old girl was rescued after being shielded from the rubble by her dead parents.

Tourists from Britain, the United States and France were airlifted from a panda reserve, but 893 foreigners are still trapped. Victims include a German, the Foreign Ministry said.

The strain from tens of thousands of homeless was growing.

"There is enough food but not enough water. We have only had bottled mineral water the past few days, nothing to cook with," said Wang Yujie, a teacher whose school withstood the quake.

More aid was arriving and efforts at coordination were also improving, with Sichuan setting up a hotline for victims and ambulances with Beijing licence plates on the roads.

More than 12.5 tonnes of relief goods had been airdropped and scores of helicopters were flying in rescuers and aid.

Officials said quilts, tents, food and satellite phones were needed most. The Health Ministry said medical needs ranged from basics like bandages and antibiotics to sophisticated equipment such as ventilators and kidney dialysis machines.

ANGRY RESIDENTS

In some villages near the badly hit area of Beichuan, angry residents complained they had had little to eat and were forced to drink contaminated water.

Many are sleeping outside or in makeshift shelters where the lack of water and blocked toilets has raised fears of disease.

The minister for water resources said dam damage was widespread, compounded by communication problems. He warned of blocked waterways and the difficulty of draining them.

The disaster area is also home to China's chief nuclear weapons research lab in Mianyang, as well as several secretive atomic sites, but no nuclear power stations.

The China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corp reported that several of its facilities in Sichuan were damaged, but did not mention any radiation leaks. A Western expert with knowledge of the Mianyang lab said it was unlikely it was at serious risk. (Writing by Nick Macfie; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard, John Ruwitch, Lindsay Beck, Guo Shipeng and Sally Huang; Editing by Richard Balmforth) ((For more stories on China's quake, click on [ID:nSP209165] or follow the link to Reuters AlertNet http://www.alertnet.org)) ((chris.buckley@reuters.com; +86 10 6627-1261))

Keywords: QUAKE/