NATIONAL

Monday, June 28, 1999 Online Edition 163

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National Party chooses party leaders again

By BLANCA MORENO

TEGUCIGALPA -- The National Party is currently the second political force in Honduras. Notwithstanding the fact that it has only won one of five elections since 1982, it has 58 diputados of the 128 in the National Congress.

Less than two years after being defeated by the Liberal Party, the Partido Nacional elected party officials for the third time at a convention last week. As usual, there were meetings among leaders of the different corrientes internas or factions who were all jockeying for their share of the political pie.

In the February convention, the Central Committee presided by Nora de Melgar was ousted in what some described as an internal coup, creating discord and a crisis within the party.

However, the new directorate headed by Carlos Urbizo was also unable to put the National Party house in order due largely to pressure from the former authorities, who affirmed that the new Committee was elected "illegally."

As a result, Rafael Callejas, considered to be the "power behind the throne," along with Nora de Melgar, Elias Asfura and Roberto Martinez called for a dialogue that ended with the appointment of posts inside the directive.

At the same time, a quota of power was assigned based on the results of the 1996 primaries. This way, the alliance Melgar-Callejas-Ramos received seven seats, Asfura five, and Martinez three.

Nora de Melgar, who was defeated by Carlos Flores in the 1997 general elections, proposed Porfirio Lobo as president of the Central Committee and the rest of the seats were divided among the factions.

Because everything was agreed to beforehand, there were no confrontations as in previous conventions among the different groups, which in the end obeyed orders from their leaders who told them the pacts were made thinking of party unity.

According to National Party analysts, all the arrangements are geared toward giving the presidential candidacy to Ricardo Maduro, who held the post of Central Bank president during the Callejas administration.

Nora de Melgar will have no choice but to support Maduro, a successful entrepreneur, while Callejas, who is backing Leonidas Rosa, will negotiate with Maduro in favor of his candidacy in exchange for several congressional seats.

Maduro's decision to enter the presidential race has been made because, according to party leaders, he appears to be the only person who can replace the late mayor of Tegucigalpa, Cesar Castellanos, who was the favorite to become the next president of Honduras in several polls prior to his death in a helicopter crash last November.

G-force addicts

Luis Tomé leaves everybody behind eating dust in the 1999 Kart Championship race held last Sunday in Tegucigalpa. (Photo by Jorge Flores McClellan.)

By JORGE FLORES MCCLELLAN

Next Race: July 18, San Pedro Sula.

Fauna trafficking investigated

Investigations by the Prosecutor's Office for the Environment have revealed that between June and September of last year more than 2,000 endangered species were illegally exported from Honduras, the daily La Tribuna reported Monday (June 21).

According to the prosecutor's office, authorization for exporting the animals was granted by Antonio Ortez Turcios, manager of the Honduran Forestry Development Corporation (COHDEFOR). La Tribuna reported that Ortez has been formally accused of trafficking endangered fauna. Among the animal species exported were frogs, snakes, lizards and iguanas.

In other environmental news, El Heraldo reported Saturday (June 19) that the government is investigating Bloques S.A. de C.V. for violation of environmental statutes and guidelines in the destruction of 4 manzanas of pine forest near the village of Villa Vieja, Francisco Morazan department. Feizal Sikaffi is the company's president and former Vice President and Armed Forces Chief Walter Lopez Reyes is its legal representative.

Hemorrhagic dengue reported

Seven new cases of hemorrhagic dengue have been reported by the ministry of Health, raising to 14 the total number of cases this year, the daily El Heraldo reported Tuesday (June 22). However, the deadly mosquito-borne disease has so far claimed just one life.

Marco Pinel, head of the Epidemiology department, also said there were 583 new cases of classic dengue fever last week for a total of 5,393 cases this year -- 2,000 more cases than during the same period last year.

Another North Coast bank robbed

For the second time in a week, armed thugs abducted bank employees after office hours in order to rob their place of employment. According to the daily La Tribuna, several delinquents abducted Eleuterio Lagos, manager of the Atlantida branch bank in Pena Blanca, Cortes, at gunpoint on Wednesday evening (June 16) as he was waiting for a bus in San Pedro Sula's Barrio Medina.

With the forced help of Lagos, the thugs then drove to the homes of two other bank employees, obtaining the keys to the main entrance from one and abducting the second who knew the combination to the bank's safe. The three thieves then preceded to steal approximately Lps. 500,000, a shotgun and a 38-caliber pistol.

Colonels complete 10k march
SOTO CANO AIR BASE -- More than 100 colonels and lieutenant colonels from the U.S. Joint Task Force-Bravo and Honduran military took part in Operation Foot Blisters, a 10 kilometer march that was held here on June 5.

The road march is a regular event for the Honduran military, intended to help build camaraderie between the different services. This one, however, was hosted by JTF-Bravo and served as an opportunity to build that camaraderie between U.S. and Honduran military.

About 75 Honduran officers and civilians participated, including Minister of Defense Edgardo Dumas Rodriguez and the Chief of the Joint Staff, Col. Eugenio Romero Euceda, as well as several battalion commanders representing each of the armed services.

The heat proved to be the biggest obstacle during the march, but the JTF-Bravo fire fighters came to the rescue by supplying a high-powered stream of water to cool off the marchers as they went past the fire station. The march was followed by a barbecue and reception for the participants.

As Commander of JTF-Bravo, Col. Elliot Rosner explained, "It is all about camaraderie, friendship and getting some exercise at the same time -- something we can do as a military family."

Monday, June 21, 1999 Online Edition 162

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Govt, municipalities not prepared for disasters, rains

Parts of downtown Tegucigalpa remained flooded for months after Hurricane Mitch.

By BLANCA MORENO

TEGUCIGALPA -- The vulnerability and lack of planning by city authorities has been exposed with the beginning of the rainy season. A storm that hit the capital last week flooded many streets, caused mudslides and anguish among many residents who felt as if another hurricane was coming.

After Hurricane Mitch, Hondurans have been concerned because the rains have destroyed landfills and rebuilt bridges, and houses have flooded because drains and sewage systems are still out of order.

Following the storm, Mayor of Tegucigalpa Vilma de Castellanos inspected affected areas and then accused the government of negligence because the Chiquito River, where much sediment was deposited, has not been dredged.

Tomás Lozano, minister of Public Works, Transportation, and Housing (SOPTRAVI), said it is the responsibility of the mayor’s office to do this work and that the government has only to support the projects.

It should be noted that both the minister and the mayor have political aspirations in the opposing National and Liberal parties. But while they argue about whose responsibility it is to plan and execute the city’s reconstruction, residents, especially those in the poorest areas, get little sleep, expecting floods and mudslides at anytime.

The Permanent Committee for Contingencies (COPECO) is conducting a massive awareness campaign as part of a national program for the people who live in vulnerable areas. The main objective is to teach them to respond to any emergency now that the rainy and hurricane seasons have begun.

But this effort, carried out in what seems to be an improvised way, proves that the country is not prepared due to the lack of resources and planning, leaving everything for the last minute.

Employing an entirely new modis operandi, six heavily armed gunmen wearing ski masks abducted several bank employees of the Banco de Occidente in El Progreso, Yoro after office hours and forced them to open the vault, making off with nearly Lps. 3 million.

According to the daily La Tribuna, the gunmen intercepted the vehicle of bank executive Rolando Girón Miranda on the highway to San Pedro Sula as he was returning home from work around 5:30 p.m. last Friday (June 11). After coercing Girón to help them abduct two other employees from their residences, the thugs then proceeded to the bank. On arriving, the gunmen forced the two employees first to open the main entrance and next the vault.

In addition to stealing Lps. 2.97 million, the thugs also made off with three AK-47 assault rifles and one 38-caliber pistol used by the bank's security guards.

Just 12 hours after being abducted, San Pedro Sula businessman Ricardo Panchame managed to escape from his captors, returning to his family unharmed, the daily La Tribuna reported.

Last Saturday morning (June 12) around 8 a.m., six thugs armed with AK-47s intercepted Panchame as he was opening the gate to his coffee plantation near the community of El Ladrillo, located in the El Merendón mountain range, and forced the 54-year-old businessman into their vehicle.

Shortly afterward the incident was reported by a forest ranger to the watchmen at a guard house run by the forestry department, who in turn notified the Cofradía police.

Law enforcement authorities immediately sent out patrols and set up roadblocks. The intensity of police operations apparently startled the kidnappers, who left Panchame unattended and gave the businessman the opportunity to untie himself and escape. According to Panchame, the kidnappers had planned to ask for a Lps. 1 million ransom.

Law enforcement authorities last Thursday (June 10) captured two persons suspected of having participated in the attempted murder of José Ismael Ordóñez, Special Prosecutor for the Environment, the daily El Heraldo reported.

Ordóñez was seriously injured when the vehicle he was driving was ambushed near a site called Yucalteca, under the jurisdiction of Marale in Francisco Morazán department. According to La Tribuna, several men armed with AK-47s jumped out of the underbrush and began firing at the vehicle. Ordóñez was hit three times, while three companions escaped unharmed.

At the time of the shooting, Ordóñez was investigating reports of illegal logging at a site called Victoria where hundreds of cedar trees have been cut down.

Preliminary studies indicate that there could be oil deposits near the border with Nicaragua, said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Xiomara Gómez in a La Tribuna report Wednesday (June 16).

For Congressman Jack Arévalo, however, there is nothing new to these stories. He said that back in 1957 several wells were drilled, oil found, and samples sent to a U.S. laboratory for analysis. According to Arévalo, the wells were then sealed and since then have been kept under wraps by the company that drilled them.

Legislation that would make tips to waiters in restaurants mandatory is currently being prepared, according to Congressman Virgilio Umanzor (Liberal-Valle) in a La Tribuna report Wednesday (June 16).

Umanzor said proponents of the legislation have been meeting with representatives of the restaurant employees' association to set a percentage that would be charged, which could be 5 percent.

In a surprising move, the Honduran National Police have come out in favor of Casa Alianza and condemned a police judge who permitted the illegal detention of a minor. Following an investigation into the incident, which took place in December of last year, the police force stated that the judge had ignored the parameters of the law and the Honduran Constitution.

On the morning of Dec. 28, 1998, Casa Alianza Honduras was informed that 17-year-old street youth Hiran C. had been detained by the Honduran police for the alleged consumption of marijuana. Later at midday, they were told that the youth had been transferred to cells within the seventh police command post, supposedly in order to be seen by a judge. Under Honduran law, all persons must be seen by a competent judge within a period of 24 hours. However, the following day Hiran called Casa Alianza asking for food and to say that he still had not been transferred, at this point he had been in detention for 29 hours.

Members of Casa Alianza's Legal Aid Office immediately solicited an interview with Police Judge Ingrid Navarro, responsible for Hiran's Case. Despite strong protests by Casa Alianza staff, Navarro refused to release Hiran stating that she would first have to finish with a number of other cases. Hiran was eventually released at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 29. He had been detained for more than 31 hours. No criminal charges were placed against the youth.

In light of these events, Casa Alianza Honduras solicited a police investigation into the events stating, amongst other things, that article 71 of the Honduran Constitution, which states that no person can be detained for more than 24 hours, had been violated; that article 209 of the country's Child and Adolescent Code, which reads that no child can be apprehended without the written order of a judge, had been violated and that Hiran had been illegally detained together with adults.

In an unusual, but welcome, move the National Police has released a report which heavily criticizes Ingrid Navarro stating that the judge had violated article 71 of the country's Constitution. The report goes further to say that alarmingly the judge, "nearly always fails to observe..." the parameters of the law.

On Jan. 5, 1999, Casa Alianza reported the illegal detention to the Human Rights Commissioner and also to Rigoberto Portillo, the Special Prosecutor for Children and the Handicapped, but neither office has reported or investigated the complaint. On the basis of the police investigations, Casa Alianza has presented the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights with a request for a criminal accusation to be brought against Police Judge Navarro for abuse of authority and the illegal detention of a minor.

These events come at a time of high political sensibility for the Honduran authorities. In a recent report, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States, condemned the State of Honduras for failing to protect the rights and personal integrity of hundreds of minors who were illegally imprisoned with adults over, at least, a two-year period from the beginning of 1995 until the end of 1996.

Casa Alianza brought the case before the IACHR in April 1995 along with the Centre for Justice and International Law (CEJIL).

Casa Alianza/Covenant House Latin America, which has its headquarters in San Jose Costa Rica, cares for some 4,400 street children in Mexico and Central America each year. Together with it sister organization, Covenant House in the United States, the two form the largest non-profit organization offering care and assistance to vulnerable children in the Americas.

Ambulances going to Honduras

LOCUST, NC -- West Stanly EMS announced earlier this month plans to donate two of their surplus ambulances to Paramedics For Children, an all volunteer Charlotte-based organization dedicated to bringing aid to children in Third World countries.

The 1980 and 1983 Ford ambulances will be sent by boat to Honduras on July 17, where they will be reconditioned and deployed in the town of Copán Ruinas.

Founded in April of 1997, PFC has been active in Honduras for the past two years and was one of the first relief groups into Honduras after Hurricane Mitch.

Besides aiding the Hondurans in setting up all volunteer EMS services, PFC also coordinates relief flights of food and medicine into Third World countries such as Honduras. Last month PFC sent a cargo load of six tons of much needed medical supplies into Honduras.

More information on Paramedics For Children can be obtained at web site <http://www.paramedicsforchildren
.com>.

Monday, June 16, 1999 Online Edition 161

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Economist Victoria Asfura de Diaz was sworn in Sunday (June 6) as the new president of the Central Bank, becoming the first woman ever to hold this post, the daily La Tribuna reported.

Diaz, the sister of former National Party presidential candidate Elias Asfura, is a Harvard University graduate. She succeeds Emin Barjum Mahomar, who resigned last Thursday (June 3) for personal reasons. However, Barjum will continue in the Flores administration as a presidential advisor.

An Honduran Air Force F5-E fighter fell into the ocean last Thursday (June 3), about 2,000 meters off the beaches of El Porvenir, Atlantida department, during a routine training mission.

According to the daily La Tribuna, the jet's pilot, Maj. José Maria Ochoa, reported problems shortly after taking off from Goloson airport in La Ceiba. However, Ochoa managed to guide the plane out to sea before bailing out. Witnesses reported seeing a large quantity of smoke coming from the plane moments before it hit the water.

The jet is one of 10 F5-Es and two F5-Fs purchased by the Honduran government for US$90 million during the administration of President Jose Azcona.

Law enforcement authorities on Wednesday (June 9) arrested nine persons in connection with a series of recent bank robberies including the theft of nearly Lps. 2 million from the PROVAL security firm, the daily El Heraldo reported. The police also recovered Lps. 105,000 and nine weapons.

On June 3, 10 masked bandits held up PROVAL's main offices in San Pedro Sula's Barrio Las Palmas, stealing Lps. 2 million, 19 AK-47 assault rifles, 21 revolvers and one Uzi. However, the thieves were unable to enter the main vault which reportedly held Lps. 30 million in cash.

Meanwhile, five gunmen held up the BANHCAFE branch bank in Danli, making off with nearly Lps. 500,000. According to El Heraldo, it was the first ever bank robbery in that community, which is about a two-hour drive from the capital.

In an eight to one decision, the Supreme Court of Justice upheld a lower court's conviction of Col. Angel Castillo Maradiaga for the murder of 17-year-old high school student Riccy Mabel Martinez Sevilla in July 1991, the daily El Heraldo reported Wednesday (June 9).

However, the rape conviction was overturned and the court determined that Castillo will serve just 10 years for second degree murder. Detained several weeks after Martinez's body was found near the El Sapo stream, Castillo has now served eight years in prison.

The court also upheld the conviction of Sgt. Ilovares Funez, but also overturned the rape conviction and lowered his sentence from 15 to 10 years.

Flores warns military that there is no going back on reforms

By BLANCA MORENO

TEGUCIGALPA -- Even though the Defense Ministry and military officials deny it, there is unrest in the top levels of the Armed Forces, which continues to resist changes and reforms.

The uneasiness was evident when President Flores left for Stockholm and statements began to appear in the newspapers. The news even reached Europe through international news cables about secret meetings of high-ranking officials with congressional deputies who were seeking to undo constitutional changes that have made the military subordinate to civilian power.

Flores was informed about the meetings of the Chiefs of Staff with congressmen and politicians in which the reforms were discussed. Currently, there are two proposed bills in the hands of Congress. The first, which was prepared by a group of high-ranking officials, is in line with the military criteria of maintaining its institutional autonomy and where the High Council is replaced by the Joint Staff, which is the one that makes the decisions now, and which leaves the Minister of Defense as a decorative figure.

The second bill is the one drawn up by the minister of Defense himself together with the minister of Government and other cabinet members, in which reforms were proposed in accordance with the concept of real transformation, placing the military under the authority of civilian power.

Upon his return from Sweden, the president met with the Minister of Defense, Edgardo Dumas Rodriguez, and the masterminds behind the rebellion, Eugenio Romero Euceda and the commander of the Army, Col. Rodolfo Interiano Portillo. There, Flores expressed his discontent about the way these issues were being treated, and instructed them on which channels to follow to establish criteria when dealing with other powers of the state and political institutions, since the armed forces are no longer an independent institution and are subordinate to civilian authority.

He also said he will not allow going back on the changes achieved through constitutional reform, and that the position of the Executive Power about the military law is already expressed in the proposed bill sent to the Congress.

Flores also warned that the changes are not cosmetic and that the issue is not if the position of chief of the Armed Forces will be changed to chief of staff, or if the Superior Council will become the Estado Mayor, keeping its old autonomy.

Monday, June 7, 1999 Online Edition 160

U.S.-Mexican baby-smuggling ring exposed

Desperate would-be parents shelled out thousands of dollars for infants illegally transported across the U.S. border

NEW YORK -- In a case reminiscent of the illegal adoption schemes bared recently by Casa Alianza in Guatemala, U.S. federal prosecutors charged two Long Island women and a respected Mexican attorney with running a baby-smuggling ring.

According to authorities, at least 17 Mexican infants were fraudulently sold to unwitting adoptive parents in the New York area for at least $20,000 each.

The women, identified as Arlene Lieberman and Arlene Reingold -- d.b.a. International Adoption Consultants -- enticed frantic would-be parents with assurances of reliable, swift and legitimate adoptions.

The attorney, Mario Reyes, who holds dual U.S.-Mexican citizenship, is accused of forging birth certificates and consent forms, and of bribing Mexican officials.

Lieberman and Reingold, who are neighbors, were arrested last week at their Long Island homes. Reyes, who practices law in the border town of Agua Prieta, across from Douglas, Arizona, was also arrested.

The three, who have known each other for 10 years were charged with conspiracy and mail and wire fraud. They pled guilty and face maximum prison sentences of 10 years for each child smuggled into the United States.

Reyes confessed to hiring professional smugglers and women posing as the infants' birth mothers. He also admitted to working through Lieberman and Reingold, whom he said, had arranged for the adoption of about 20 Mexican children in the past three years.

Lieberman and Reingold, who first went into business in 1990, have also been charged with running a string of unlicensed adoptions agencies.

Before working with Reyes, they brokered adoptions of children from Guatemala, Paraguay and other countries, apparently in accordance with U.S. Immigration and Naturalization (INS) regulations. Only the case involving the 17 Mexican babies is under investigation.

The Federal affidavit states that the trio charged prospective parents in excess of $22,000, plus thousands more in "miscellaneous" fees.

A recent investigation by the U.S. Labor Department found that maquiladoras operating near border towns vigorously dissuade its mostly young, unwed female workers from having children. Some plants are alleged to have routinely subjected women job applicants to pregnancy tests and denied them employment if they were pregnant. Many if not most, of the 17 infants cited in the case are presumed to have been born to assembly plant employees fearful of losing their jobs.

The smuggling ring was first exposed in Mexico last October when a newspaper reported that Mario Reyes was under investigation in connection with illegal adoptions and alleged body-parts trafficking. An INS sting operation last December confirmed Reyes' role in the adoption schemes.

Reyes, who lives in Douglas, ran for a City Council seat last year. He is a prominent member of the Lions' Club and plays on the fraternal organization's softball team.

A spokesperson for the INS said that the children would be allowed to stay with their adoptive parents and that the U.S. would legalize their status.

UN committee asks Honduras for more protection for street children

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child offered preliminary conclusions and recommendations this afternoon on the first five-year report of Honduras, calling for greater efforts to protect vulnerable children -- and specifically the street children in a country with high rates of poverty, and to provide additional programs aimed at changing patriarchal and cultural attitudes that resulted in discrimination against girls.

Committee members also urged a thorough review of Honduras' national legislation to ensure that it was brought into line with the standards of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Committee noted that the government had taken a number of positive steps on behalf of children since submission of the country's initial report in 1994, adding that it was clear that much of what could be done further depended on how much international aid was provided to help the country recover from Hurricane Mitch.

Hurricane Mitch, which hit Honduras in October and November of 1998, crushed the already poverty-stricken country, and official figures reveal that 80,000 children are still living in temporary shelters.

As one of 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Honduras must provide the Committee with summaries every five years of its efforts to protect and promote children's well-being in keeping with the provisions of the treaty.

Delegation members from the government, pressed by the Committee, outlined a number of measures taken to eliminate police mistreatment of street children and to prevent economic and sexual exploitation of such children. As recently as April 10, 1999, Alexander Obando Reyes (17), a former street child and resident of a Casa Alianza group home, was shot to death by a uniformed policeman in the Merced Park in Tegucigalpa. To date the investigation has been stalled for almost a month awaiting the forensic exam of the policeman's rifle.

The delegation to the U.N. Committee in Geneva consisted of Jorge Valladares, Executive Director of the Honduran Institute for Childhood and the Family (IHNFA); Eduardo Villanueva, a sub-director of the Office of the Attorney General; and Gracibel Bu Figueroa, Counsellor of the Honduran Embassy in Geneva.

Valladares said in response to questions that there was a national program for street children. It was known which urban areas, and even which streets, were sources of street children, and there were programs aimed at preventing economic or sexual exploitation of such children; efforts also were being made to prevent sex tourism.

Other efforts were focused on preventing maltreatment of youth, including street children, at police detention centers, following complaints to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; among the problems brought before the court were those involving some 330 children kept in adult penitentiaries on sentences of up to two years. IHNFA had followed up on the matter, and was attempting to implement the steps proposed by the Inter-American Court, including proposals for compensation.

It was not known how many police officials had been charged or proceeded against judicially for maltreatment of street children, but one officer had been sentenced last year for the murder of a child, and the government had undertaken a series of investigations of complaints made by non-governmental organizations including Casa Alianza -- in relation to abuse of street children. The government was determined that such abuses should not be carried out with impunity.

The Honduran police force had in fact been dissolved and reformed under civilian direction, Valladares said; the restructuring had been under way for a year, and conduct of officers and selection of new policemen was now much more rigorously controlled. It could not be said that the maltreatment of street children had been eliminated, but the government was trying and was making progress. Children could complain directly now to the requisite commission, and complaints and investigations were taken seriously. IHNFA made sure such complaints were followed up thoroughly.

"We are pleased that the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child chose to focus on the torture and murder of the street children in their meetings with Honduras", commented Bruce Harris, Regional Director for Latin America of Casa Alianza, the Latin American branch of the New York based Covenant House. "I hope that the U.N.'s concern for the worst off children will translate into the State of Honduras making even more efforts to minimize the suffering of the homeless children."

The Honduran government delegation admitted that there had been problems with privately operated centers using children for pornography, child prostitution, and other sexual exploitation, according to the delegation. The government was trying to put a stop to such abuses, to sexual trafficking in children, and to the use of Honduras as a site for sexual tourism. There also were problems with drug abuse and drug trafficking among youths, and again the government said it was doing its best to overcome them.

The Committee urged greater educational efforts to revise cultural attitudes and traditions that were patriarchal and discriminated against girls. It was further recommended that the government ratify International Labor Office Convention 130 on child labor; and that greater efforts be made to avoid detaining children in penitentiaries or reform institutions, and instead that alternative methods be found for their rehabilitation of such children. A revamping of the juvenile justice system in general also was recommended.

More cholera cases reported

Eleven more cholera cases were reported by the Ministry of Health this week, raising to 25 the number of cases for 1999, the daily La Tribuna reported Wednesday (June 2). However, only two persons have died of the bacterial disease.

A health official said the vast majority of the cases have been reported in the Mosquitia.

Suspect in Ana Paola case arrested

The police this week arrested Francis Guillen Sinclair for his alleged involvement in the abduction of attorney Ana Paola Castillo Torres, the daily El Heraldo reported Wednesday (June 2). Authorities believe Castillo, who was kidnapped in January, may be dead and have in their possession a handdrawn map that reputedly indicates where her body is buried.

Banks robbed, robbers nabbed

Five heavily armed thugs on Monday (May 31) held up the Banco del Pais in Calpules on the highway between San Pedro Sula and El Progreso, Yoro, stealing an estimated Lps. 300,000, the daily La Tribuna reported.

Meanwhile, law enforcement authorities arrested five suspects in the May 27 robbery of the Banco Continental branch in San Pedro Sula's Barrio El Benque.