WORLD
Saturday, April 22, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 13A
BRIEFLY
Mexico sees 2,020
killings in March,
worst since 2011
MEXICO CITY (AP)
— Mexico has surpassed
2,000 homicides in a month
for the first time since the
summer of 2011 and had
more killings in the first
quarter of 2017 than in the
start of any year in at least
two decades, according to
data released Friday.
Unlike 2011, when
bloody cartel clashes in
Ciudad Juarez drove the
national toll to new heights,
the killings pushing the
2017 total have been spread
across a number of states.
Authorities attribute them to
vicious turf battles resulting
from breakdowns in the
leadership of some cartels
and the splintering of others
into smaller gangs.
The southern state of
Guerrero, where Acapulco
is located, continues to be
the homicide leader, with
550 during the first three
months of the year.
Nationally, there were
2,020 homicides in March,
up about 11 percent from
February. For January
through March, the national
total was 5,775 killings, up
29 percent from the same
three months last year.
Canadian PM
responds to
Trump’s criticism
of dairy industry
TORONTO (AP) —
Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau said Friday
that he plans to be respectful
and engage the United
States with a fact-based
approach to solving
problems a day after Donald
Trump called Canada a
“disgrace” for policies that
hurt American farmers.
Trudeau said during a
news conference he will
stand up for Canada’s
interests and people.
“The way to do that
is to make arguments
in a respectful fashion,
based on facts, and
work constructively and
collaboratively with our
neighbors,” said the Liberal
leader.
The U.S. president
took aim at Canada’s dairy
industry this week for
creating a new lower-priced
classification of milk
product that he argues hurts
U.S. producers.
Canada changed its
policy on pricing domestic
milk to cover more dairy
ingredients, leading to
lower prices for Canadian
products including ultra-
filtered milk that compete
with U.S. milk. Canada’s
dairy sector is protected
by high tariffs on imported
products and controls on
domestic production as a
means of supporting prices
that farmers receive.
Trump said on Thursday
“what they’ve done to our
dairy farm workers is a
disgrace.”
Trump also said this
week he would make “some
very big changes” to the
NAFTA treaty with Canada
and Mexico or “we are
going to get rid of NAFTA
for once and for all.”
Queen Elizabeth II
turns 91 with day
at the horse races
LONDON (AP) —
Britain marked Queen
Elizabeth II’s 91st birthday
on Friday with gun salutes,
as the monarch herself
enjoyed a family day and a
trip to the races.
The queen, who owns
and breeds racehorses, was
spotted smiling broadly and
chatting animatedly Friday
with jockeys and staff at
Newbury Racecourse, near
her Windsor Castle home.
She visited the
racecourse with daughter
Princess Anne and sat in
the royal box to watch her
thoroughbred Maths Prize
run; it finished fifth.
There were also official
celebrations in London,
where a troop of the Royal
Horse Artillery rode horse-
and-gun carriages past
Buckingham Palace before
staging a 41-gun salute in
Hyde Park at noon.
Outside the palace, a
band of guardsmen in scarlet
tunics and bearskin hats
played “Happy Birthday”
during the Changing of the
Guard ceremony.
And at the centuries-old
Tower of London, there
was a second salute with
62 guns.
The queen is Britain’s
oldest and longest-reigning
monarch, having become
queen on Feb. 6, 1952.
AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos
Opponents of President Nicolas Maduro march in Caracas, Venezuela on Thursday. Tens of thousands of pro-
testers flooded the streets again Thursday, one day after three people were killed and hundreds arrested in the
biggest anti-government demonstrations in years.
Venezuelan political crisis deepens
CARACAS, Venezuela
(AP) — At least 12 people
were
killed
overnight
following
looting
and
violence in Venezuela’s
capital amid a spiraling polit-
ical crisis, authorities said
Friday.
Most of the deaths took
place in El Valle, a working
class neighborhood near
Caracas’ biggest military base
where opposition leaders
say a group of people were
hit with an electrical current
while trying to loot a bakery
protected by an electric fence.
Two days of massive
protests on the streets of
Caracas against the govern-
ment of President Nicolas
Maduro spilled into a violent
night in several parts of the
city, with residents in El
Valle witnessing repetitive
gunfire, street barricades set
aflame and more than a dozen
businesses looted. Amid
the confusion, mothers and
newborn children had to be
evacuated from a maternity
hospital named after the late
leader Hugo Chavez when it
was swamped with tear gas.
The Public Ministry said
the violence left 11 people
dead in El Valle, all men
between the ages of 17
and 45. Another death was
reported east of Caracas in
El Sucre. Six others were
injured.
Opposition leaders blamed
the government for repressing
protesters with tear gas but
standing idly by as businesses
were looted. Meanwhile,
Foreign Minister Delcy
Rodriguez pointed the finger
at the opposition, saying
armed groups controlled by
them were responsible for the
attack at the hospital.
“We reject and do not
accept those irresponsible
declarations,” said Henrique
Capriles, a former presi-
dential candidate who the
government recently barred
from running for public
office.
Earlier Friday, officials
reported that one of the dead
was Mervins Guitian. The
young Venezuelan man was
fatally shot when he was
returning home late from
work on Thursday and got
caught in the middle of late-
night street clashes. Vicente
Paez, a local councilman, said
Guitian was an employee of a
Caracas-area city governed
by an opposition mayor and
didn’t join the protests. It
wasn’t clear who shot him
and there was no immediate
comment from authorities.
Venezuelan social media
was ablaze late into the night
with grainy cellphone videos
of light-armored vehicles
plowing down dark streets to
control pockets of protesters
who set up burning barricades
in several neighborhoods.
Vice President Tareck
El Aissami said Friday
the country is facing an
“unconventional war” led by
opposition groups working in
concert with criminal gangs.
He said opposition claims
government forces were
responsible for launching
tear gas at the maternity
hospital were another attempt
to demoralize a people who
have “decided to break ties
with the bourgeoisie forever.”
Overall, at least 20 people
have been killed in the unrest
generated after the govern-
ment-stacked
Supreme
Court gutted Congress of
its last vestiges of power
three weeks ago — a move
later reversed amid a storm
of international criticism.
Opposition members say
they do not intend to ease
up on protests demanding
new elections as they decry
a government they deem a
dictatorship responsible for
triple-digit inflation, rising
crime and food shortages.
“Twenty days of resistance
and we feel newly born,” said
opposition lawmaker Freddy
Guevara during an evening,
outdoor press conference
as residents looking out
from balconies in an eastern
Caracas neighborhood at the
heart of the protest movement
cheered loudly in support.
The next planned protest
is Saturday, when opponents
are being asked to dress in
white and march silently to
commemorate the victims of
the demonstration. There’s
also a sit-in to block major
highways
planned
for
Monday.
General
Motors
announced early Thursday
that it was closing its oper-
ations in Venezuela after
authorities seized its factory
in the industrial city of
Valencia, a move that could
draw the Trump administra-
tion into the escalating chaos
engulfing the nation.
A number of major Latin
American governments called
on Venezuela to take steps to
increase democratic order.
H E R M I S T O N
Festival of Trees
WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND OUR SINCERE THANKS
TO OUR SPONSORS, DECORATORS, PURCHASERS AND ALL WHO HELPED SUPPORT OUR 2016 EVENT
MAJOR EVENT SPONSOR
AUCTION ITEM SPONSORS
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Jeremy Larson, DMD, Blake Brothers Construction, Starla Halverson, Cathy Wamsley, A-1 Industrial Hose & Supply, O So Kleen
Ace Hardware, GSCHF, Hermiston Drug, Hermiston Chamber of Commerce, Hermiston Gun Club, ASAP Flying Service
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GENERAL CONTRIBUTORS
60 Minute Photo, East Oregonian, Hermiston Herald, Atkinson Staffing, High Performance Signs, Project College Bound
George Ruby, Greg’s Sleep Center, Home Depot, KOHU, Walmart, Jose Macias, Bracher Family, David Florea, Doug Paine
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LARGE & SMALL TREE DECORATORS
KRISanthemums, Shera Hopper, Anna Hopper, Katie Fetterhoff, Savannah Torres, Tammy Gattis, Caressa Bastian
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Natalie & John Adams, Jeanne Steffey, Debbie Pedro, Barb Martin, Bethany Adair, Shauna Smith
2016 FESTIVAL FUNDS HAVE ALREADY BEEN USED TO SUPPORT
THE SCHOOL BASED DENTAL EDUCATION PROGRA-, WILLOW CREEK PARK DISTRICT, GOOD SHEPHERD CARE VAN
COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS TO LOCAL STUDENTS, HEAD START OF U-ATILLA--ORROW COUNTY
KENNISON FIELD, RIVERSIDE JR. & SR. HS TRACK I-PROVE-ENTS, OSUE FA-ILY HEALTH & FITNESS DAY
HER-ISTON PARKS & RECREATION DISC GOLF, ECHO CO--UNITY FITNESS CENTER
A fundraising event sponsored by Hermiston Kiwanis Breakfast Club and
Good Shepherd Community Health Foundation
T A B L E S PON S OR S :
Ryan M. Wieseler, D. D. S.
THE NAME OF
A MOTHERS DAY DINNER
MURDER MYSTERY!
S Saturday,
t d M
May.6 6 @ 5 5:30PM
30PM
Agape House
500 Harper RD • Hermiston
$25.00 Per Person
Call Dave at
541.567.8774
for more Info and Tickets
Seating Is Limited!
Special Thanks To Our Sponsors