Ottawa
Scandal fells top official: Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier resigned abruptly this week after his ex-girlfriend revealed that he had left classified documents at her apartment in April. Julie Couillard said she did not read the papers, which included secret briefings for a NATO summit, but she told an interviewer they made her “very uncomfortable.” Couillard first came under scrutiny a few weeks ago when the security firm she owns was allowed to bid on an airport security contract, raising the appearance of special treatment. It was then revealed that Couillard had briefly been married to the leader of a criminal motorcycle gang and had links to organized crime. “I don’t think it matters who a minister is dating,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “What matters here is that rules respecting government classified documents were broken.” Bernier and Couillard broke up a few weeks ago.
Guatemala City
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Adoptions canceled: Fifteen American couples waiting to adopt children from Guatemala learned last week that the adoptions had been annulled. Guatemala recently suspended all pending adoptions to the U.S. amid allegations that some babies had been stolen, or that mothers were being coerced into selling their children. The 15 canceled adoptions represent about 10 percent of the 160 cases reviewed so far; another 2,126 cases must still be investigated. Americans adopt more children from Guatemala than any country except China. Some U.S. adoption advocates said they believed Guatemala officials were overreacting to isolated abuses. “They for some reason resent the fact that these children are being placed overseas,” said Andrea Stawitcke of Bay Area Adoption Services in California.
Bogotá, Colombia
Rebel leader dead: Manuel Marulanda, the 78-year-old commander and co-founder of the Colombian revolutionary organization FARC, died in March, the rebel group revealed this week. Marulanda, known by the nom de guerre “Sureshot,” reportedly died of a heart attack. News of Marulanda’s death came after a series of political and military setbacks for the rebels. The Colombian government used the occasion to press its advantage, telling the remaining 9,000 rebels that they would not be punished if they surrendered and handed over hostages. President Alvaro Uribe said he had already been contacted by FARC leaders who were seeking clemency in exchange for the release of Ingrid Betancourt, who was
kidnapped in 2002 while running for president.
Putis, Peru
Atrocity uncovered: Forensic investigators last week discovered what may be the largest mass grave from the 20-year war between the government and Maoist guerillas that ended in 2000. A team authorized by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission exhumed 25 skeletons from the site and said it expected to find about 100 more. The commission said the grave was evidence of a massacre of men, women, and children that took place in 1984, when government soldiers led civilians to believe that the town of Putis would be a safe haven from the Shining Path guerillas. Instead, the soldiers ordered the villagers to dig a “trout pond,” then shot them on suspicion of aiding the Shining Path.
