by the El Reportero’s wire services
The possibility of a speedy trial for former Salvadoran First Lady Ana Ligia Mixco came closer this Thursday with a committment to return $17 million dollars embezzled during the presidency of Antonio Saca.
Mixco’s attorney Miguel Flores Durel confirmed again the possibility of reaching a speedy trial with the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), previously rejected by the accused.
Mixco, who is serving 10 years in prison for embezzling more than 300 million dollars, is accused of diverting 17.344 million dollars of public funds from 2004 to 2009.
Attorney General Raul Melara conceeded that if Mixco requests a speedy trial again and commits to return the stolen amount, he will analyze the possibility of granting her that benefit.
The Seventh Examining Magistrate of San Salvador ordered yesterday that Mixco be brought to trail together with the publicists César Daniel Funes and Ricardo Lemus, who are also accused of money laundering.
Mexican President insists on clarifying whereabouts of students
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador today called for a more thorough investigation of the Ayotzinapa case to shed light on the whereabouts of the 43 students-teachers who disappeared five years ago.
In his morning conference, the head of state asked everyone who has information about this chain of violent events to hand it over to the authorities
He assured that those who do so will have all the State’s guarantees of protection and, besides, official help ‘if they are implicated’.
We have the commitment to protect, to reward them,’ said the president who attended his conference with an allegorical t-shirt to the case, although he did not give details about the guarantees.
For his part, the Undersecretary of Human Rights, Alejandro Encinas, reiterated that there is a reward of 10 million pesos, about 510,600 dollars for information on the whereabouts of Alejandro Tenescalco Mejia.
Mejia, a municipal ex-police officer, is identified as ‘one of the main perpetrators’ of the students’ disappearance.
This September 26th marks the fifth anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students-teachers from the Rural Raul Isidro Burgos Normal School in Ayotzinapa, Iguala, Guerrero.
Food Bank’s president urges to fight food insecurity in Puerto Rico
Some 67 percent of Puerto Rican households live below the poverty level, which greatly limits access to a balanced diet, warned on Thursday Denise Santos, president of the Food Bank.
People suffering from food insecurity represent 33.2 percent in the country, which implies that approximately three out of 10 adults meet the definition of food insecurity, she added.
Santos sustained that poverty and food insecurity are intertwined, so she called on citizens, on behalf of the Food Bank, to commemorate this Friday the Day of Hunger Awareness.
Since Puerto Rico has been subject to US colonial domination for 121 years, there is widespread belief, encouraged by the media ad of the 60s and 70s of the last century, that the people do not live in a state of precariousness.
However, as Santos says, 67 percent of households on Puerto Rico live below the poverty level, which highly reduces access to food that includes the nutrients necessary for their own comprehensive welfare.
Santos revealed that thanks to the development of partnerships, the Food Bank annually distributes an average of 12 million pounds of food in Puerto Rico and serves over 1.2 million people, through affiliated agencies and community impact programs.
