Prisoners escape after guards put dummy in watch tower
Two prisoners have escaped from a prison in Argentina after guards placed a dummy with a football for a head in the watch tower because of a shortage of manpower.
The Telegraph
21 Jul 2010
The two men, Walter Pozo and Cesar Andres, leapt over a wire fence before scaling the perimeter wall and making their escape unnoticed by the remaining guards.
Prison workers said that a shortage of staff meant they were only able to man two of the 15 guard towers so they had to resort to using a stand in.
A prison source said: "We've made a dummy out of a football and a prison officer's cap, so that the prisoner see its shadow and think they're being watched."
"We named him Wilson, like in the film Cast Away, and put him in one of the towers," the man told the Diario Rio Negro newspaper, referring to the Tom Hanks film in which his character invents a volleyball character for company.
The source said that the video cameras monitoring the perimeter wall had stopped working some months ago. He said that he hoped the incident would alert the authorities to the problems with lack of resources and that politicians would act to improve the conditions.
Both had been serving out sentences for armed robbery at the jail in Argentina's Neuquén province. The escaped convicts, who were nearing the end of their sentences so were being held in a part of the prison with fewer security measures, have not yet been recaptured.
Nestor D'Abramo, a prison official, confirmed the two men had escaped and said they had jumped the fence before clambering over the wall.
Argentina
Showing posts with label Argentina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Argentina. Show all posts
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Don't Cry for me Argentina, I am just a lowly president who only wishes you the best ...
Argentine media-government conflict turns ugly
10:52am EDT
By Fiona Ortiz
BUENOS AIRES, April 28 (Reuters) - A ferocious two-year battle between Argentina's president and the country's leading media empire has gone beyond tax raids and soccer broadcast squabbles to dredging up mud from the country's dark past.
Government officials say the owner of Grupo Clarin may have adopted two babies stolen from murdered political prisoners during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship, and President Cristina Fernandez has urged courts to investigate.
The adopted children of Clarin owner Ernestina Herrera de Noble, one of the country's richest women, accuse Fernandez of using them as pawns in her conflict with their mother's company.
"We feel scared, anguished, insecure, persecuted," Felipe Noble Herrera and his sister Marcela, both 34, said in a televised statement last week.
The conflict, in which Clarin claims it is being harassed and the government accuses the media group of conspiring against it, has soured Argentina's wobbly reputation with investors. It could also weaken a bid by Fernandez's husband, ex-President Nestor Kirchner, to return to power next year.
The Noble Herrera siblings said they don't believe they are children of disappeared political prisoners, but they have resisted turning over DNA samples without limits on their use, saying they could be politically manipulated.
They say the story of their adoption is being used to try to discredit Clarin, one of Latin America's biggest media groups, by associating their mother with the military governments that killed as many as 30,000 dissidents.
Clarin, a $900 million company with newspapers, broadcast and cable television, radio and Internet holdings, generally gave favorable coverage to Kirchner, Fernandez's husband and predecessor as president.
But in 2008 its flagship newspaper and cable news channel turned against Fernandez during a bitter tax revolt by farmers that evolved into a major political crisis from which the president's approval ratings have never recovered.
Since 2008, the government has sent dozens of tax investigators to Clarin headquarters, tried to take over its newsprint plant, reformed a media law to force the conglomerate to sell assets and nationalized the lucrative soccer broadcasting contract.
Posters attacking Clarin journalists have appeared on buildings all over the capital. The Kirchners, who have always been press shy, deny they are behind the campaign but often hit out at their media critics.
"Some of your colleagues should get rabies shots," the president told reporters on Wednesday. Later in the day her husband shouted "They lie, they lie," in an anti-Clarin speech to union leaders.
CREDIBILITY CRISIS
Conflicts between presidents and the media are common in Latin America, but the extremes of the Clarin-Kirchner battle highlight tensions in Argentina, where investors have wearied of government criticism and intervention in the markets.
"It doesn't inspire much confidence, it adds to Argentina's huge credibility crisis," said Jorge Asis, an author and former diplomat critical of both sides and who says a prolonged battle will hurt Kirchner's aim to run again for president.
The Kirchners have nationalized private pensions, the country's biggest airline and other sectors, and stepped up intervention in grain and financial markets.
Both sides have been harmed in the war between Clarin and the Kirchners.
Clarin's share price has plunged to 12 pesos per share from 24 pesos in early 2008, underperforming Argentina's benchmark stock index, MerVal <.MERV>, which hit record highs this year.
Clarin editors and executives say they feel abused by constant government investigations into the company. "It's a level of authoritarianism where they want to snuff out criticism," said Chief Financial Officer Alejandro Urricelqui.
The Kirchners, who were both briefly arrested during the dictatorship, paint the battle as a continuation of the ideological divide of the 1970s, with Clarin as the capitalist enemy linked to human rights violations.
"It all goes back to the same origin... Clarin's strategy all around is to keep laws from being applied and the truth from coming out," said Gabriel Mariotto, director of the state broadcast regulator and the man behind the new media law.
Clarin benefited from business deals under the dictatorship, he told Reuters.
Critics point out the Kirchners never made these accusations when Clarin's coverage was favorable, and say the couple is cynically using human rights issues against Clarin.
"The persecuted have become persecutors. They haven't learned anything from the past," said opposition lawmaker Patricia Bullrich, of the Civic Coalition party.
Herrera de Noble adopted Felipe and Marcela in 1976, at the beginning of the dictatorship. In the late 1970s, hundreds of children of Argentine political prisoners were illegally adopted by families with ties to the military.
Herrera de Noble, now 84, was briefly detained in 2002 on accusations of falsifying adoption papers but formal charges were never brought and her children's biological parentage remains unknown.
Human rights groups have spent decades trying to match up stolen children with their families. Fernandez allies the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo have filed suit to force Marcela and Felipe to provide DNA samples for potential matching with families of dictatorship victims.
"For the Grandmothers this is not a fight between the government and a media group... It's not about politics. It's about human rights," Estela de Carlotto, head of the Grandmothers, told state-owned Channel 7 television last week. (Editing by Kieran Murray)
argentina
10:52am EDT
By Fiona Ortiz
BUENOS AIRES, April 28 (Reuters) - A ferocious two-year battle between Argentina's president and the country's leading media empire has gone beyond tax raids and soccer broadcast squabbles to dredging up mud from the country's dark past.
Government officials say the owner of Grupo Clarin may have adopted two babies stolen from murdered political prisoners during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship, and President Cristina Fernandez has urged courts to investigate.
The adopted children of Clarin owner Ernestina Herrera de Noble, one of the country's richest women, accuse Fernandez of using them as pawns in her conflict with their mother's company.
"We feel scared, anguished, insecure, persecuted," Felipe Noble Herrera and his sister Marcela, both 34, said in a televised statement last week.
The conflict, in which Clarin claims it is being harassed and the government accuses the media group of conspiring against it, has soured Argentina's wobbly reputation with investors. It could also weaken a bid by Fernandez's husband, ex-President Nestor Kirchner, to return to power next year.
The Noble Herrera siblings said they don't believe they are children of disappeared political prisoners, but they have resisted turning over DNA samples without limits on their use, saying they could be politically manipulated.
They say the story of their adoption is being used to try to discredit Clarin, one of Latin America's biggest media groups, by associating their mother with the military governments that killed as many as 30,000 dissidents.
Clarin, a $900 million company with newspapers, broadcast and cable television, radio and Internet holdings, generally gave favorable coverage to Kirchner, Fernandez's husband and predecessor as president.
But in 2008 its flagship newspaper and cable news channel turned against Fernandez during a bitter tax revolt by farmers that evolved into a major political crisis from which the president's approval ratings have never recovered.
Since 2008, the government has sent dozens of tax investigators to Clarin headquarters, tried to take over its newsprint plant, reformed a media law to force the conglomerate to sell assets and nationalized the lucrative soccer broadcasting contract.
Posters attacking Clarin journalists have appeared on buildings all over the capital. The Kirchners, who have always been press shy, deny they are behind the campaign but often hit out at their media critics.
"Some of your colleagues should get rabies shots," the president told reporters on Wednesday. Later in the day her husband shouted "They lie, they lie," in an anti-Clarin speech to union leaders.
CREDIBILITY CRISIS
Conflicts between presidents and the media are common in Latin America, but the extremes of the Clarin-Kirchner battle highlight tensions in Argentina, where investors have wearied of government criticism and intervention in the markets.
"It doesn't inspire much confidence, it adds to Argentina's huge credibility crisis," said Jorge Asis, an author and former diplomat critical of both sides and who says a prolonged battle will hurt Kirchner's aim to run again for president.
The Kirchners have nationalized private pensions, the country's biggest airline and other sectors, and stepped up intervention in grain and financial markets.
Both sides have been harmed in the war between Clarin and the Kirchners.
Clarin's share price has plunged to 12 pesos per share from 24 pesos in early 2008, underperforming Argentina's benchmark stock index, MerVal <.MERV>, which hit record highs this year.
Clarin editors and executives say they feel abused by constant government investigations into the company. "It's a level of authoritarianism where they want to snuff out criticism," said Chief Financial Officer Alejandro Urricelqui.
The Kirchners, who were both briefly arrested during the dictatorship, paint the battle as a continuation of the ideological divide of the 1970s, with Clarin as the capitalist enemy linked to human rights violations.
"It all goes back to the same origin... Clarin's strategy all around is to keep laws from being applied and the truth from coming out," said Gabriel Mariotto, director of the state broadcast regulator and the man behind the new media law.
Clarin benefited from business deals under the dictatorship, he told Reuters.
Critics point out the Kirchners never made these accusations when Clarin's coverage was favorable, and say the couple is cynically using human rights issues against Clarin.
"The persecuted have become persecutors. They haven't learned anything from the past," said opposition lawmaker Patricia Bullrich, of the Civic Coalition party.
Herrera de Noble adopted Felipe and Marcela in 1976, at the beginning of the dictatorship. In the late 1970s, hundreds of children of Argentine political prisoners were illegally adopted by families with ties to the military.
Herrera de Noble, now 84, was briefly detained in 2002 on accusations of falsifying adoption papers but formal charges were never brought and her children's biological parentage remains unknown.
Human rights groups have spent decades trying to match up stolen children with their families. Fernandez allies the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo have filed suit to force Marcela and Felipe to provide DNA samples for potential matching with families of dictatorship victims.
"For the Grandmothers this is not a fight between the government and a media group... It's not about politics. It's about human rights," Estela de Carlotto, head of the Grandmothers, told state-owned Channel 7 television last week. (Editing by Kieran Murray)
argentina
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Obama: Feeble Attempts, Ruining Our Special Relationship with the UK
Their words, not mine. Feeble. Given all the circumstances of the last 14 months, the best presentation is, the US always remains loyal in heart, to our allies - but we embarass their leaders, give the dvd's they cannot play, send back busts given as gifts, hug the Queen who is not to be touched, ignore the leaders, and very nearly annoy all their major newspapers. That is just what we know about. I sure hope there is a relationship left to fix when the next president takes office.
Either it is a petty response OR they are clueless.
Hillary Clinton steps into Falklands row after 'feeble' Obama fails to back Britain in stand-off with Argentina
By Ian Drury
26th February 2010
U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton is due to meet with Argentina's president amid accusations of a snub to Britain over America's refusal to support the UK in the Falklands oil drilling row.
Mrs Clinton is to meet Cristina Ferndandez de Kirchner in Uruguay on March 1, Argentina's ambassador to the U.S. has announced.
Hopes are high in Argentina that Mrs Clinton will intervene on the country's behalf in the row with Britain over the disputed territory.
Respected Argentine newspaper La Nacion quoted State Department sources that claimed Mrs Clinton was 'prepared to mediate' in the row.
America's lack of support for Britain was last night blamed on the UK's decision to release sensitive U.S. intelligence on a terror suspect.
President Barack Obama was accused of being 'feeble' by failing to back London in the stand-off with Argentina over the disputed islands, despite the 'special relationship'.
Mrs Clinton and Mrs Kirchner are meeting in Uruguay as they attend the presidential inauguration there of José Mujica.
Argentina already has the support of Latin America and the Caribbean in the row with Britain, and regional leaders are expected to press the case with Mrs Clinton.
London and Buenos Aires are at odds over UK firm Desire Petroleum's decision to drill for oil 60 miles north of the Falklands.
Geologists estimate there are up to 60 billion barrels of oil in the seabed.
The Argentine government has tabled a UN resolution condemning the plan. It has also secured backing from 32 South American nations supporting its claim that Britain has occupied the islands illegally since 1833.
But despite Argentina's sabrerattling, senior U.S. officials insist Washington's position on the oil drilling is neutral.
It is also 'taking no position' on the issue of sovereignty of the islands in the South Atlantic.
A senior MP and a respected foreign policy think-tank claimed Washington's stance was 'payback' for the British courts ordering the disclosure of secret CIA files on Binyam Mohamed.
Two weeks ago, the U.S. said it was 'deeply disappointed' that Foreign Secretary David Miliband had been told by Court of Appeal judges to publish closely-guarded information about the former Guantanamo Bay prisoner.
The papers detailed evidence showing MI5 knew that Mohamed, a British citizen, had been tortured by U.S. spies after he was detained in Pakistan in 2002.
This week the White House has refused to endorse the UK's historic sovereignty over the islands and its right to explore for oil in its waters.
Last night, the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based foreign affairs think-tank, said Mr Obama's stance was linked to anger at the release of the secret files.
Executive director Alan Mendoza said: 'The Obama administration's decision to ignore the democratic rights of the Falkland islanders is disgraceful.
'It can only be motivated by moral weakness in the White House or a misplaced desire to punish Britain for the Binyam Mohamed case and the disclosure of U.S. intelligence documents.
'The decision, while feeble, is unsurprising. For the past year, Mr Obama has followed a foreign policy path that punishes allies and democracies while allowing rogue authoritarian nations like Iran and North Korea to pursue their objectives.'
The criticism was echoed by Tory MP Patrick Mercer, the chairman of the Commons' terrorism sub-committee. 'The U.S. position on the Falklands certainly seems to be a warning shot which says to Britain: "Don't mess us around too much or we could make life problematic",' he said.
Last week, it was revealed that a conference to mark 60 years of UK and American defence intelligence sharing had been cancelled after the Mohamed judgment. It was to have been held at the U.S. Embassy in London.
Relations between the UK and U.S. nosedived last summer over the decision by the Scottish authorities to release the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Al Megrahi back to Libya.
Yesterday it was revealed that a Spanish company is also set to begin drilling for oil near the Falklands.
Repsol is to start drilling by December some 200 miles off the Argentine coast - 'well within Argentine waters', a spokesman claimed.
Last year, Repsol bought Argentine company YPF - the biggest private oil and gas company in Latin America.
The spokesman told the BBC it will be exploring a 'few' wells some 150 miles from where the Ocean Guardian is drilling.
In 1982, 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers died when Britain took military action to recover the islands after the Argentine invasion.
Yesterday General Sir Peter de la Billiere, a former UK commander who is vice president of the Falkland Islands Association, issued a 'hands-off' warning to Argentina.
He said the country would suffer the 'most unbearable losses' if it followed up the diplomatic skirmishes with military action.
Sir Peter said: 'We have demonstrated our intention to fulfil the islanders' wishes and support them if they are threatened.
'I can see no reason or justification or political will in the UK to do anything other than that.
'We did not lay down 255 lives just to give up and walk out a few years later.'
Last night, a Foreign Office spokesman denied there was a link between the U.S. position on the Falklands and the Mohamed case.
Argentina's accusations over the Falklands have been compared to 'the case of the lost girlfriend'.
'Argentina lost its girlfriend, and now she is going out with somebody else,' Federico Mac Dougall, an economist and political analyst at the University of Belgrano in Buenos Aires, told the New York Times..
He added: 'And together they may very well strike it rich with oil.'
falklands
Either it is a petty response OR they are clueless.
Hillary Clinton steps into Falklands row after 'feeble' Obama fails to back Britain in stand-off with Argentina
By Ian Drury
26th February 2010
U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton is due to meet with Argentina's president amid accusations of a snub to Britain over America's refusal to support the UK in the Falklands oil drilling row.
Mrs Clinton is to meet Cristina Ferndandez de Kirchner in Uruguay on March 1, Argentina's ambassador to the U.S. has announced.
Hopes are high in Argentina that Mrs Clinton will intervene on the country's behalf in the row with Britain over the disputed territory.
Respected Argentine newspaper La Nacion quoted State Department sources that claimed Mrs Clinton was 'prepared to mediate' in the row.
America's lack of support for Britain was last night blamed on the UK's decision to release sensitive U.S. intelligence on a terror suspect.
President Barack Obama was accused of being 'feeble' by failing to back London in the stand-off with Argentina over the disputed islands, despite the 'special relationship'.
Mrs Clinton and Mrs Kirchner are meeting in Uruguay as they attend the presidential inauguration there of José Mujica.
Argentina already has the support of Latin America and the Caribbean in the row with Britain, and regional leaders are expected to press the case with Mrs Clinton.
London and Buenos Aires are at odds over UK firm Desire Petroleum's decision to drill for oil 60 miles north of the Falklands.
Geologists estimate there are up to 60 billion barrels of oil in the seabed.
The Argentine government has tabled a UN resolution condemning the plan. It has also secured backing from 32 South American nations supporting its claim that Britain has occupied the islands illegally since 1833.
But despite Argentina's sabrerattling, senior U.S. officials insist Washington's position on the oil drilling is neutral.
It is also 'taking no position' on the issue of sovereignty of the islands in the South Atlantic.
A senior MP and a respected foreign policy think-tank claimed Washington's stance was 'payback' for the British courts ordering the disclosure of secret CIA files on Binyam Mohamed.
Two weeks ago, the U.S. said it was 'deeply disappointed' that Foreign Secretary David Miliband had been told by Court of Appeal judges to publish closely-guarded information about the former Guantanamo Bay prisoner.
The papers detailed evidence showing MI5 knew that Mohamed, a British citizen, had been tortured by U.S. spies after he was detained in Pakistan in 2002.
This week the White House has refused to endorse the UK's historic sovereignty over the islands and its right to explore for oil in its waters.
Last night, the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based foreign affairs think-tank, said Mr Obama's stance was linked to anger at the release of the secret files.
Executive director Alan Mendoza said: 'The Obama administration's decision to ignore the democratic rights of the Falkland islanders is disgraceful.
'It can only be motivated by moral weakness in the White House or a misplaced desire to punish Britain for the Binyam Mohamed case and the disclosure of U.S. intelligence documents.
'The decision, while feeble, is unsurprising. For the past year, Mr Obama has followed a foreign policy path that punishes allies and democracies while allowing rogue authoritarian nations like Iran and North Korea to pursue their objectives.'
The criticism was echoed by Tory MP Patrick Mercer, the chairman of the Commons' terrorism sub-committee. 'The U.S. position on the Falklands certainly seems to be a warning shot which says to Britain: "Don't mess us around too much or we could make life problematic",' he said.
Last week, it was revealed that a conference to mark 60 years of UK and American defence intelligence sharing had been cancelled after the Mohamed judgment. It was to have been held at the U.S. Embassy in London.
Relations between the UK and U.S. nosedived last summer over the decision by the Scottish authorities to release the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Al Megrahi back to Libya.
Yesterday it was revealed that a Spanish company is also set to begin drilling for oil near the Falklands.
Repsol is to start drilling by December some 200 miles off the Argentine coast - 'well within Argentine waters', a spokesman claimed.
Last year, Repsol bought Argentine company YPF - the biggest private oil and gas company in Latin America.
The spokesman told the BBC it will be exploring a 'few' wells some 150 miles from where the Ocean Guardian is drilling.
In 1982, 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers died when Britain took military action to recover the islands after the Argentine invasion.
Yesterday General Sir Peter de la Billiere, a former UK commander who is vice president of the Falkland Islands Association, issued a 'hands-off' warning to Argentina.
He said the country would suffer the 'most unbearable losses' if it followed up the diplomatic skirmishes with military action.
Sir Peter said: 'We have demonstrated our intention to fulfil the islanders' wishes and support them if they are threatened.
'I can see no reason or justification or political will in the UK to do anything other than that.
'We did not lay down 255 lives just to give up and walk out a few years later.'
Last night, a Foreign Office spokesman denied there was a link between the U.S. position on the Falklands and the Mohamed case.
Argentina's accusations over the Falklands have been compared to 'the case of the lost girlfriend'.
'Argentina lost its girlfriend, and now she is going out with somebody else,' Federico Mac Dougall, an economist and political analyst at the University of Belgrano in Buenos Aires, told the New York Times..
He added: 'And together they may very well strike it rich with oil.'
falklands
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Don't Cry For Me Argentina ...
Before I ever knew who John Kennedy was, I knew the myth of Evita ... that has nothing to do with this story, except she was also from Argentina - the Dragon Lady herself.
Leon steps in it again.
A Vice President who doesn't know government websites, confuses details, makes up facts. A CIA director who insults allies ...
Argentina calls CIA comment "irresponsible"
Fri Feb 27, 2009 5:05am IST
BUENOS AIRES, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Argentina on Thursday blasted the head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency for saying the country, along with Ecuador and Venezuela, could be pushed into instability by the global economic crisis.
Lumping Argentina together with Ecuador and Venezuela, both led by leftist anti-Washington firebrands, raises concern in this country, where center-left President Cristina Kirchner is trying to keep the economy from stagnating.
Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana called the comments made on Wednesday by CIA Director Leon Panetta "unfounded and irresponsible, especially from an agency that has a sad history of meddling in the affairs of countries in the region."
Taiana said he will meet on Friday with U.S. Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne to demand an explanation.
(Reporting by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
Argentina
Leon steps in it again.
A Vice President who doesn't know government websites, confuses details, makes up facts. A CIA director who insults allies ...
Argentina calls CIA comment "irresponsible"
Fri Feb 27, 2009 5:05am IST
BUENOS AIRES, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Argentina on Thursday blasted the head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency for saying the country, along with Ecuador and Venezuela, could be pushed into instability by the global economic crisis.
Lumping Argentina together with Ecuador and Venezuela, both led by leftist anti-Washington firebrands, raises concern in this country, where center-left President Cristina Kirchner is trying to keep the economy from stagnating.
Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana called the comments made on Wednesday by CIA Director Leon Panetta "unfounded and irresponsible, especially from an agency that has a sad history of meddling in the affairs of countries in the region."
Taiana said he will meet on Friday with U.S. Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne to demand an explanation.
(Reporting by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
Argentina
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