Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 16, 2014, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A6 NEWS A6 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2014 C IUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - The father of a man who died on a fishing boat still has unanswered questions about his son's death after speaking on the phone with an El Salvadoran castaway who apparently survived the 13- month accidental journey across the Pacific Ocean. Nicolas Cordoba Cruz, the father of 23- year- old Ezequiel Cordoba Rios, said he spoke to Jose Salvador Alvarenga but now wants to meet him in person, the El Paso Times reported Saturday. " Ezequiel told him ( Alvarenga) to tell his brothers to look after their mother, and to tell me that he was going to be fine," Cordoba Cruz told the El Paso Times . Cordoba Cruz was sobbing and holding the only two pictures he has of his son when he spoke to the newspaper from Ciudad Juarez, a Mexican border town where he lives. Alvarenga's small fishing boat made landfall on the Marshall Islands earlier this month, where he described a 10,500- kilometre journey from Mexico across the Pacific that began when the vessel was thrown off course by bad weather. Doctors have said he was in strikingly good physical health, though mentally frail. Alvarenga has said he survived by eating raw fish, turtles and bird blood. Alvarenga has said his fishing companion died about a month after they went off course when he couldn't eat the raw fish and turtles. Cordoba Cruz said Alvarenga told him he threw his son's body overboard after he died. Cordoba Rios and his three brothers lived with their father in Juarez until early 2012, when they moved back to their native seaside village in the Mexican state of Chiapas. " They were fed up with being bothered and mugged by gang members" Lucia Cordoba Cruz, Cordoba Rios' aunt, told the newspaper. Five days after Cordoba Rios failed to return from his sharkfishing trip with Alvarenga, the family in Chiapas reported him missing and began searching for him, his aunt said. " Our family looked for him in the sea, in other villages, always hoping to find him," she said, adding their search ended about three weeks later, in December 2012. But his father, who had been sick and had several surgeries, was not told about his son's disappearance for several more months. " I thought the boat had sunk in the open sea," he said. Now, though, after speaking with Alvarenga, he has questions about the story. While Cordoba Cruz said he believes Alvarenga, he needs to talk to him in person to be certain. " He asked me for forgiveness because he could not do anything for Ezequiel," he said, while relaying details of the Feb. 7 phone conversation. " Maybe authorities think that it is enough to have an explanation of what happened over the phone," he added. " But that doesn't hurt as much as the pain I feel of knowing I will not see my son again." The El Paso Times reports the family spells its name Cordova. The Associated Press has reported the name Cordoba. The AP was unable to immediately confirm the spelling Saturday. - The Associated Press Meeting sought with survivor of sea journey Dad of man who died has questions ' He asked me for forgiveness because he could not do anything for Ezequiel' SEOUL, South Korea - For Kang Neung- hwan, a 92- year- old retired salesman from Seoul, the chance of seeing his son for the first time depends on North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Kang is the oldest of 100 South Koreans chosen by lottery to meet relatives left behind almost 61 years after the war that cemented the division of the two countries. The reunions - last held in 2010 - begin Feb. 20, if the North keeps its commitment. " I can't think of anything better that could happen in my life," Kang said as he gazed at a basket of gifts - vitamins, socks, underwear, toothpaste and cough medicine - he prepared for his 62- year- old son. He only learned the wife he left behind was pregnant when he applied last year for a slot in the reunions to see a sister who has since died. The reunions mark the most significant step in improved ties in the year since the Kim regime threatened a nuclear strike against Seoul. The North has routinely used the visits as a bargaining chip, and Kim Jong Un is trying to link future reunions to reviving a tourist resort that generated hundreds of millions of dollars for his cash- strapped country. " Reunions are the North's feelers for any political concessions from the South," said Kim Sooam, a researcher at Seoul's Korea Institute for National Unification. " Family reunions are as much a political issue as they are a humanitarian one between these two countries." The influx of hundreds of people to Mount Geumgang for the family reunions will briefly breathe life into a resort that attracted almost two million South Koreans before tours were suspended in 2008 after a North Korean soldier fatally shot a guest. Kim called for talks on Mount Geumgang to be restarted on Jan. 24, when he offered to renew reunions. Mount Geumgang was the brainchild of Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju Yung, a refugee from the North who spent much of his career promoting reconciliation. He set up the Hyundai Asan Corp. to boost co- operation with the North and initially agreed to pay Pyongyang almost $ 1 billion to develop the resort. The fees were later lowered and calculated on a per tourist basis. Kim has played politics with the planned reunions, demanding the United States and South Korea cancel annual military drills due to start Feb. 24. He cancelled scheduled reunions in September four days before their start, accusing the South of putting up " obstacles to reconciliation." The aging survivors can be caught up in the politics between two countries that technically remain in a state of war. Koreans are barred from communicating with relatives on either side, so reunion participants know the visit will probably be their only chance for contact with their loved ones. " These people can't wait much longer, because most of them are weak and old, and their sorrow has been smouldered in their hearts from the 60 years of longing," South Korean President Park Geun- hye said on Jan. 27. - Bloomberg Family reunions a bargaining chip for N. Korea's Kim By Sam Kim JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A 47- yearold software developer was convicted Saturday of attempted murder for shooting into a car full of teenagers after an argument over what he called their " thug music," but jurors couldn't agree on the most serious charge of first- degree murder. After more than 30 hours of jury deliberations over four days, a mistrial was declared on the murder charge Michael Dunn faced in the fatal shooting of one of the black teens. The 12 jurors found him guilty of three counts of attempted second- degree murder and one count of firing into an occupied car. Dunn was charged with fatally shooting 17- year- old Jordan Davis, of Marietta, Ga., in 2012 after the argument over loud music coming from the SUV occupied by Davis and three friends outside a Jacksonville convenience store. Dunn, who is white, had described the music to his fianc�e as " thug music." Dunn showed no emotion as the verdicts were read. Each attempted second- degree murder charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, while the fourth charge he was convicted on carries a maximum of 15. A sentencing date will be set at a hearing next month. Davis' parents each left the courtroom in tears, and afterward his mother, Lucia McBath, expressed gratitude for the verdict. Sunday would have been the teen's 19th birthday. " We are so grateful for the charges that have been brought against him," McBath said of Dunn. " We are so grateful for the truth. We are so grateful that the jurors were able to understand the common sense of it all." On Dunn's potentially lengthy sentence, Davis' father, Ron Davis, said: " He's going to learn that he must be remorseful for the killing of my son, that it was not just another day at the office." State Attorney Angela Corey said her office planned to retry Dunn on a first- degree murder charge, and she hoped jurors would come forward and tell prosecutors where they questioned their case. Jurors declined to talk to the media. Earlier in the day, the panel said in a note to Judge Russell L. Healey they couldn't agree on the murder charge. They also had the option of convicting him of seconddegree murder or manslaughter. The judge asked them to continue their work, and they went back to the deliberation room for two more hours before returning with a verdict. Dunn claimed he acted in selfdefence, testifying he thought he saw a firearm pointed at him from the SUV as the argument escalated. No weapon was found in the SUV. Dunn told jurors he feared for his life, perceiving " this was a clear and present danger." Dunn, who has a concealed weapons permit, fired 10 shots, hitting the vehicle nine times. Davis was the only person hit. Dunn's attorney, Cory Strolla, said the defendant was shocked when the verdict was read. " He's in disbelief," Strolla said. " Even sitting next to me, he said, ' How is this happening?' " He said he plans to appeal. Prosecutors contended Dunn opened fire because he felt disrespected by Davis. The teen made his friend turn the music back up after they initially turned it down at Dunn's request. Dunn was parked in the spot next to the SUV outside the convenience store. Authorities said Dunn became enraged about the music and ensuing argument. One person walking out of the convenience store said he heard Dunn say, " You are not going to talk to me like that." Dunn testified he heard someone in the SUV shouting expletives and the word " cracker," a derogatory term for white people. - The Associated Press ' Loud music' killer convicted in shooting But Florida jury can't agree on murder charge By Derek Kinner TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Colourful characters Alaina Partridge ( from left), Asanna Strowbridge and Farelle Bernier wear dazzling body paint at the Mardi Gras party at the RBC Convention Centre Winnipeg on Saturday night. KELLY JORDAN / THE FLORIDA TIMES- UNION / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Denise Hunt tears up outside of the Duval County Courthouse as she finds out the jury deadlocked on the first- degree murder charge for Michael Dunn. CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Saturday a police manhunt was underway for Leopoldo Lopez, the hard- line opposition leader behind antigovernment demonstrations that ended with three deaths. The socialist president's announcement came amid dueling pro- government and student- led opposition demonstrations held in different parts of the capital, Caracas. Lopez " ordered all these violent kids, which he trained, to destroy the prosecutor's office and half of Caracas, and then goes into hiding," Maduro told thousands of supporters at a rally to denounce what he called a U. S.- backed, " fascist" plot to oust him from power. " Turn yourself in, coward." U. S. officials have denied plotting to oust Maduro, and Secretary of State John Kerry expressed concern over the rising tensions and violence surrounding the protests. " We are particularly alarmed by reports that the Venezuelan government has arrested or detained scores of anti- government protesters and issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez," he said in a statement. " These actions have a chilling effect on citizens' rights to express their grievances peacefully." Maduro said security forces acting on a Feb. 12 arrest order are now looking for Lopez, who hasn't been seen since a Wednesday night news conference in which he vowed antigovernment street protests would continue. Maduro's comments seemed to confirm a report Thursday by local newspaper El Universal , which published what it said was a leaked copy of an arrest order for Lopez, on charges ranging from vandalism of public property to terrorism. While cabinet officials and Maduro have blasted Lopez all week as the mastermind of Wednesday's student- led protests that ended in clashes with police and pro- government militias, no official had until now confirmed authorities were looking to arrest him. Aides to Lopez denied he's ducking arrest and say he remains in the country. His lawyers, have urged him to refrain from making public statements until one materializes. - The Associated Press Manhunt underway for opposition leader ' He's going to learn that he must be remorseful for the killing of my son, that it was not just another day at the office' A_ 06_ Feb- 16- 14_ FP_ 01. indd A6 2/ 15/ 14 11: 17: 34 PM ;