Colombian plane hijacked

April 13, 1999

COLOMBIAN PLANE HIDNAPPED. Bogota. The 46 occupants of a Avianca plane given as missing and then located on an illegal runway, they were kidnapped for alleged rebels of the National Liberation Army. The aircraft was sighted near the municipality of Simiti, by an Anti-Narcotics Police ship that was supporting the search efforts. “There is no one inside the aircraft,” said an official, presuming that the passengers were disembarked and taken to several boats. Their whereabouts are unknown, but apparently they are in good health due to the conditions in which the device, a Focker 50, with fuel for three and a half hours, was found. Several war fronts of the ELN and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia operate in the area where the aircraft was located, so police agencies do not rule out their participation in the incident. Before the rescue teams reached the place where the plane was sighted, it had been observed from the air that the ship was surrounded by armed men, apparently from the guerrilla, and the passengers mobilized in boats. The commander of the Colombian Air Force, General Héctor Velasco, said that Navy and Army units were deployed to the area to collaborate with the search for the kidnapped people. Among the passengers are several women and children who boarded the plane in Bucaramangas, the departmental capital of Santander, bound for the Colombian capital.

RIGHT AND HONEST GOVERNMENT: EVG. He Mayor Esteban Valenzuela García He reaffirmed his campaign commitment to answer to the citizens for leading a government with rectitude and honesty, especially in the management of economic resources. Also, during the evaluation of more than three hours of the first 100 days of government, the municipal president described Ahome as a land of challenges and opportunities for its inhabitants. In front of guests and officials, the mayor invited his collaborators to redouble their efforts, because Ahome fights for a better tomorrow.

RESOURCES ARRIVE IN THE FIELD. The head of Sagar, Jesús Vega Acuña, announced that resources for more than 40 million pesos began to arrive to support the agricultural sector and help it overcome the effects of the drought; part of these are already being delivered to ranchers. Given the scarcity of water in the Sinaloa dams, the peasantry demands the implementation of emerging programs to create jobs and channel the federal budget to those who really need it.

THEY TAKE OFF THE OWNERS OF CROWN CARS. Culiacan. The state Treasury offices were taken over and some of the employees kidnapped by the owners of about 200 crooked cars demanding regularization. After marching in a caravan from the boardwalk to Obregón Avenue, the owners of these illegal units participated in the national mobilization organized by the Democratic Peasant Union, including the takeover of the SHyCP state delegations in the country. Using flowery language, a UCD spokesperson said the bigwigs fled and left the helpless workers alone.

THEY THREATEN THE PROSECUTOR INVESTIGATING THE DEATH OF WOMEN. Juarez City. The special prosecutor who investigates crimes against women, denounced threats of death by the relatives and the alleged murderers of maquiladora workers. The threats arose following the arrest of five drivers in at least 20 murders. “They told me that I deserved the electric chair and that when they got out of jail, I was going to see what was going to happen to me,” said the official; the lawyer of one of the accused warned her that she would suffer the same fate.

*THE SECTION FROM 50 YEARS AGO WILL RESUME UNTIL APRIL 15. THERE WAS NO PUBLICATION OF THE 1974 EDITION DUE TO THE EASTER HOLIDAYS*

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Sylva Mónica Ruffo Kelly, who completed her basic and high school studies in Los Mochis, stayed two years in El Centro, California, where she perfected the English language. She joined El Debate in September 1994 as a translator and later, in 2000, she became an assistant to the Editorial Team of El Debate de Los Mochis, tasks that led her to take charge of the entertainment page for more than 10 years and the newspaper archive. Upon the death of the City Chronicler, Don Evaristo Fregoso, in September 2003, who wrote the Los Mochis column 50 and 25 years ago, Ruffo Kelly took over the history column, which he later changed to Mi Ciudad 50 and 25 years, in which he narrates what happened in those years on the same day of publication of the newspaper EL DEBATE of Los Mochis.

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