Baby among 8 dead in Nicaragua

14 killed in Mexico border shooting

MANAGUA, June 24, (Agencies): At least eight people including a baby were killed Saturday when pro-government forces clashed with opponents in Nicaragua, according to a rights group.

Seven people were killed in the capital Managua and one in Masaya and a baby was among the dead, said Georgina Ruiz, an activist with the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH).

The rights group says more than 200 people have been killed in protests that started just over two months ago demanding President Daniel Ortega step down.

Starting after midnight, police and paramilitary forces flooded six neighborhoods in the east of Managua, as well as the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN) where scores of students are holed up. Among the dead were two students killed in the university area and two minors who died in Managua — a 17-year-old and a baby who was shot in the head.

The baby was killed when his mother was taking him to a babysitter. “He was killed by a police gunshot. I saw them. They were police,” the mother Kenia Navarrete told news channel Cien por Cien Noticias.

The government denied the charge, saying criminals in the university area were to blame. UNAN is one of several student protest camps in Managua. About 450 students have been living there under plastic tarp tents and in class buildings, surrounded by empty bottles, old food and used rounds from their homemade mortars.

Ortega

14 killed in shooting attacks:

At least 14 people were killed Saturday in three shooting incidents in the northern Mexican city of Juarez, notorious for its drug gang related violence.

One of the attacks occurred in the southern part of the city, where eight men who were gathered watching the World Cup football match between Mexico and South Korea, were shot at by armed gunmen who killed six and injured two, according to security officials.

Almost simultaneously, in a downtown neighborhood, five other men gathered at a hairdressing salon to watch football were killed by a group who arrived at the scene in a blue van, according to witnesses.

Hours earlier, during the early hours of the morning, three other people were taken from a party in a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city and executed by gunmen.

The killings bring to 128 the number of people killed in the city this month alone.

More than 200,000 people have been killed in Mexico since the government launched a controversial anti-drug offensive in late 2006, according to official figures that do not specify how many of these victims are related to organized crime.

Cocaine seized in WC trophy replicas:

Some Argentines are taking advantage of World Cup fervor.

The security minister of Buenos Aires province said Friday that police have broken up an organization that trafficked marijuana and cocaine in fake World Cup trophies.

The so-called “Narcos de la Copa” took advantage of the global merchandising boom generated by the soccer tournament to move the drug without raising suspicions.

“These merchants of death have endless ingenuity, but don’t be fooled. They shouldn’t be admired. On the contrary ... they are now in jail,” said minister Cristian Ritondo, according to a statement.

Officials said 20 kilos of marijuana, 10 kilos of cocaine, 1,800 doses of crack-cocaine known as “paco,” and 400,000 Argentine pesos ($14,819) were seized. Four men and two women were arrested in the operation.

Ruling on Lula release cancelled:

Brazil’s Supreme Court has cancelled a ruling set for Tuesday on an appeal by former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to be freed from prison while he attempts to overturn his corruption sentence.

Lula, 72, has been behind bars since April after being convicted of accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe from Brazilian construction company OAS.

His lawyers argue that his case was politically motivated. Lula still leads in polls ahead of presidential elections in October.

Supreme Court Judge Edson Fachin on Friday withdrew the case from Tuesday’s agenda several hours after a lower court of appeal, which sentenced Lula in January to 12 years’ imprisonment, ruled that the sentence could not be referred to the Supreme Court.