July 29, 2010
Mexico – Four shot dead in Mexico City pizzeria
South Africa – Nearly 1 million South Africa public workers set to strike
Greece – No letup in truck strike
Turkey – Police warn AK Party of possible PKK attacks
Kenya – Fatal shootout hits Kenyan national park
Colombia – University Official Murdered in Colombia
Bolivia – Morales: Drug Cartels Better Equipped Than Bolivian Army
Mexico
Three men and a woman were gunned down late Wednesday at a pizzeria in Mexico City, according to authorities who said the shootings bore the hallmarks of an organized crime hit. The victims, between the ages of 25 and 30, were eating at the restaurant when gunmen entered and opened fire without warning, according to a report filed by local prosecutors. A prosecution source told local media that the shooting appeared to be linked to organized crime. Some 25,000 people have been killed in Mexico since December 2006, most of whom appeared to have been victims of assassinations at the hands of the country’s drug cartels after President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown on organized crime. The latest killings came one day after eight human heads were found in four separate places near roadsides outside the northern Mexico city of Durango.
South Africa
As many as 900,000 South African public sector workers are likely to strike in a week to push for higher wages, a group of unions said on Wednesday. “Every government department will be affected,” said Fikile Majola, head of the NEHAWU public sector union, reading a statement on behalf of a coalition of eight worker organizations. State workers including nurses, teachers, police, customs officials and immigration officers rejected a 6.5 percent government wage offer last week, demanding an 8.6 percent increase and a 1,000 rand ($130) monthly housing allowance. The walkout could slow down trade and tourism for Africa’s largest economy. Their demands are more than twice the annual rate of inflation, which slowed to 4.2 percent in June, according to official data released on Wednesday. Industrial action had initially been planned for Thursday, but unions said they would only serve formal notice of their plan to strike on Wednesday, giving the government seven days to come up with a better offer. “We are not going to announce a date now until the end of the seven date notice period,” Majola said. Workers at state power utility Eskom won a 9 percent pay increase early this month after threatening to strike during the June 11-July 11 soccer World Cup.
Greece
There seemed no hope yesterday of an imminent breakthrough in the standoff between the government and thousands of striking truck drivers over the liberalization of the road haulage sector, which has led to gas stations around Greece running out of fuel. The Transport Ministry showed no signs of giving in to pressure from the truck drivers, whose main objection is the government’s plan to allow anyone who wants to enter their sector to be able to do so for virtually no charge as of 2013. Truckers say that because they operate in a closed profession, they have paid thousands of Euros for their licenses, which will be worthless when the sector is liberalized. Hundreds of trucks remained parked yesterday at the sides of national and country roads as well as outside oil refineries. The impact of the strike became evident in most parts of Greece, as few gas stations had any fuel to sell to drivers and traders warned that there would soon be a shortage of fresh produce if the action continues. Drivers formed queues of 30 to 40 cars at the few gas stations in Athens that still had fuel. It is estimated that only two in 10 were in a position to fill up customers’ tanks. In Thessaloniki, 70 percent of stations reported that they had completely run out of gasoline.
Turkey
The National Police Department has warned the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is likely to target AK Party buildings, their administrators and their families. In a report sent to 81 provincial police departments nationwide, the Security General Directorate warned of possible attacks by the PKK, which has increased its activities prior to the Sept. 12 referendum to amend the Constitution. The PKK stepped up its attacks after accusing the government of a lack of seriousness in extending more cultural rights to the country’s Kurds. In previous warnings the Security General Directorate had stated that the PKK was planning attacks targeting all political parties, military and police, but the ruling party was singled out in its latest report. AK Party administrators and their families in 81 provinces have been under enhanced protection since the warning.
Kenya
Armed raiders have killed one man and injured two in an unprecedented raid on the fringes of Kenya’s famous Masai Mara national park, Kenyan police said on Wednesday. Police spokesperson Eric Kiraithe said the group of Kenyans, celebrating the birthday of one of their party, had set up camp on the Western edge of the park, which backs onto Tanzania’s Serengeti national park, when they came under fire on Monday. “The robbers took some things … and there was a shootout,” he told the German Press Agency dpa. “Two were injured and unfortunately John (the man celebrating his 60th birthday) was shot and killed.” Incidences of banditry are common in the north and east of Kenya, but this was the first such raid in the tourist area of the Masai Mara. Kiraithe said there was a suspicion the raiders may have come across the border from Tanzania, as witnesses said they were not speaking Kiswahili with a Kenyan accent. Security has now been beefed up to prevent any further incidents. “The security was already there, but we have become more cautious now,” Kiraithe said. “In the future we won’t allow people to go without security, especially those who are camping in open places.”
Colombia
The dean of the school of economics at the University of Santiago in the southwestern Colombian city of Cali was gunned down in front of his students, eyewitnesses said. Ever Mosquera was shot at least three times and killed Tuesday while eating lunch in the university’s cafeteria. At least two young men went up to Mosquera, a former member of the city council in the nearby city of Florida, and opened fire, the eyewitnesses said. Mosquera’s bodyguards managed to detain one of the killers, but two others got away on a motorcycle. “Everybody was eating, everything was quiet … and these two dudes arrived. One of them pulled up his shirt and grabbed a really small pistol, like the ones used with video games … and he fired the first shot, but nobody reacted,” a student told the online edition of Cali’s El Pais newspaper. One of the suspected killers, a 17-year-old boy, was detained by the dean’s bodyguards. Mosquera’s killing occurred as civilian, police and military officials gathered in Cali, the capital of Valle del Cauca province, to discuss ways of dealing with a surge of violence in the city.
Bolivia
President Evo Morales confirmed Tuesday that drug traffickers have more technology and modern equipment than Bolivia’s police and armed forces, and he asked for help from the international community to address that deficiency. “By now, I have taken note that … drug trafficking has more technology than the national police, more modern equipment than the armed forces,” he said in a speech at the foreign ministry. Morales, who remains leader of the country’s largest union of coca growers, spoke about the matter at the presentation of the delegate for Bolivia from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, Cesar Guedes of Peru. The Bolivian leader demanded that the U.N. coordinate international action in the fight against drug trafficking to cooperate with Bolivia, for example by providing radar and secure-communications equipment.
