Prince William says people in ex-colonies must decide monarchy's role

MSN – AFP, 27 March 2022 

© CHANDAN KHANNA Prince William has said that the Caribbean's former British
colonies must decide whether to scrap the monarchy's role in their countries

Prince William ended a turbulent tour of the Caribbean by starkly admitting this weekend that the region's former British colonies must decide whether to scrap the monarchy's role in their countries. 

The 39-year-old Duke of Cambridge also hinted that a British royal may in future no longer head the club of 54 Commonwealth countries as the political association of ex-colonies evolves. 

The unusually candid comments, which were splashed on the front of several British newspapers Sunday, followed a rocky three-country Caribbean tour over the last week which drew both protests and criticism. 

William and his wife Catherine, 40, faced calls to apologise for the slave trade that helped make past British royals' fortunes, and accusations of appearing "tone deaf" over elements of the visit. 

They were also forced to confront the issue of former colonies considering whether to follow Barbados' lead and ditch the queen as their head of state. 

Barbados formally declared itself a republic in November. 

Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas -- all stops on the royal tour -- are each said to be mulling such a move. 

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness pointedly told William in front of television cameras that the nation was "moving on" as an independent country. 

"I know that this tour has brought into even sharper focus questions about the past and the future," the Duke of Cambridge said in an end-of-tour statement Saturday. 

"In Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas, that future is for the people to decide upon."   

William added he and his wife "are committed to service" and that meant "not telling people what to do" but instead "serving and supporting them". 

'On my mind' 

The Commonwealth, a grouping of 54 mainly former British colonies, is headed by Queen Elizabeth II. 

In 2018, its leaders formally announced that her son and heir Prince Charles would inherit the role when he becomes king. 

But William, second-in-line to the throne, said that "who the Commonwealth chooses to lead its family in the future isn't what is on my mind". 

"What matters to us is the potential the Commonwealth family has to create a better future for the people who form it, and our commitment to serve and support as best we can," he added. 

The couple's Caribbean trip was intended to help Commonwealth countries where his 95-year-old grandmother is also head of state celebrate her record-breaking 70 years on the throne. 

But what were designed to be carefully choreographed photocalls and public appearances for Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee did not go entirely to plan. 

In Belize, they angered some locals after failing to consult on parts of their itinerary, while they then prompted placard-bearing protests in Jamaica. 

Demonstrators demanded the monarchy pay reparations and apologize for its role in the slave trade that brought hundreds of thousands of Africans to the island to toil under inhumane conditions. 

Meanwhile, some of the optics of the tour drew criticism for evoking colonial rule, including the couple greeting kids through metal chain-link fences and William parading in an open-topped jeep in military uniform.

Peru's Machu Picchu reopens... for one Japanese tourist

Yahoo – AFP, October 13, 2020  

Machu Picchu has reopened for a single lucky visitor, a Japanese man
stranded in the country by the pandemic

Peru's best-known tourist site Machu Picchu has opened after months of coronavirus closure, but for just a single visitor -- a Japanese man stranded in the country by the pandemic. 

"The first person on Earth who went to Machu Picchu since the lockdown is meeeeeee," Jesse Katayama posted on his Instagram account alongside pictures of himself at the deserted site. 

"This is truly amazing! Thank you," he added in a video posted on the Facebook pages of the local tourism authority in Cusco, where the famed site is located. 

Katayama spoke against the backdrop of the majestic mountaintop dotted with ancient ruins that once attracted thousands of tourists a day but has been closed since March because of the coronavirus. 

The Japanese boxing instructor, identified by local media as a 26-year-old from Nara, has been stuck in Peru since March, when he bought a ticket for the tourist site just days before the country declared a health emergency. 

He told a Peruvian newspaper he had only planned to spend three days in the area, but with flights cancelled and movement limited by the virus, he found himself stuck there for months. 

Eventually, his plight reached the local tourism authority, which agreed to give him special permission to visit the Inca city, reopening the site just for him. 

"I thought that I wouldn't be able to go, but thanks to all of you who pleaded with the mayor and the government, I was given this super special opportunity," he wrote in Japanese on his Instagram account. 

Machu Picchu is the most enduring legacy of the Inca empire that ruled a large swathe of western South America for 100 years before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. 

The ruins of the Inca settlement were rediscovered in 1911 by the American explorer Hiram Bingham, and in 1983, UNESCO declared Machu Picchu a World Heritage Site. 

It was originally scheduled to reopen to visitors in July, but that has now been pushed back to November. 

Just 675 tourists a day will be allowed in, 30 percent of the number allowed before the pandemic, with visitors expected to maintain social distancing. 

Since it first opened to tourists in 1948, it has been closed just once before, for two months in 2010 when a flood destroyed the railway tracks connecting it to Cusco.

Peru: Tourists accused of damaging, defecating on Machu Picchu

A group of tourists has been caught allegedly damaging stonework and defecating in a sacred temple, according to Peruvian authorities. Most of the tourists are set to be deported, while one man is expected to face trial.

DW, 15 Januari 2020

Machu Picchu seen from above

Six tourists are in trouble after Peruvian police said they were caught vandalizing the famous Incan sanctuary Machu Picchu.

Authorities said four men and two women from Chile, Brazil, France and Argentina were arrested Sunday after they were found by park rangers in a restricted area of the Temple of the Sun. Several parts of the temple are off-limits to tourists for preservation reasons.

The group is said to have entered Machu Picchu on Saturday and hid in among the ruins to illegally spend the night.

Five of the tourists will be deported, and one man from Argentina will remain in Peru to face charges for "destroying Peru's cultural heritage." The 28-year-old acknowledged that he tried to remove a stone that fell to the ground, causing a crack in the floor, authorities said. He could be sentenced to four years in prison if convicted.

One of the tourists allegedly defecated among the ruins inside the Incan city.

Read more: Naked tourists arrested at Machu Picchu

It is not the first time that the 600-year-old Machu Picchu has been damaged by visitors.

In 2004, two Chileans were sentenced to six months in jail for spray painting a wall and were released only after agreeing to pay $100,000 in damages. In 2017, three Argentinians and a Colombian were arrested for painting graffiti on the ancient walls.

Machu Picchu is a UNESCO World Heritage site located near Cusco in southern Peru visited by more than 1 million tourists a year.

Cave of relics found under Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza

Yahoo – AFP, 5 March 2019

Archaeologists have discovered a cave filled with hundreds of artifacts beneath
the ruins of the Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico

Archaeologists have discovered a cave filled with hundreds of artifacts beneath the ruins of the Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico, the lead researcher on the project said Monday, calling the find "incredible."

The massive cave is a "scientific treasure," Mexican archaeologist Guillermo de Anda told a news conference.

He said it could help scientists better understand the origins, lives and beliefs of the residents of Chichen Itza, a stunning city of stone in the Yucatan peninsula that was founded sometime around 750 AD.

The cave was found about two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Temple of Kukulcan, the giant stepped pyramid that dominates the center of Chichen Itza.

It sits about 24 meters (80 feet) underground, and contains multiple chambers connected by narrow passages -- often so narrow that researchers had to crawl or drag themselves through them, De Anda said.

His team has explored about 460 meters of the cave so far, and does not know how far it stretches, he added.

The relics found include seven incense burners shaped like the Mayan rain god Chaac, which researchers believe were offerings meant to bring rain.

De Anda said locals had actually discovered the cave more than 50 years ago.

But the archaeologist sent to explore the site at the time by the National Institute of Anthropology and History decided for unknown reasons to seal the entrance with stones, and filed only a brief report.

De Anda had seen the report, but did not give it much thought -- until he happened upon the entrance to the cave last year while exploring another site nearby.

"What we found there was incredible, and completely untouched," he said.

The residents of Chichen Itza probably considered the cave "the bowels of the gods," he added.

His team believes the largest incense burners date from around 700 to 1000 AD.

The indigenous Mayas who inhabit the area today warned his team that a venomous coral snake guarded the site.

And researchers did in fact find just such a specimen, which blocked their access to the cave for four days, De Anda said.

At locals' behest, they performed a six-hour purification ritual before entering the cave.

De Anda's team plans to continue exploring the cave. Rather than remove the artifacts they find, they will study them on site, he said.

VIDEO: "The entrance into the cave is very difficult, you have to do it crawling, chest to ground or, at best case, on all fours. What we found there was incredible, and completely untouched." pic.twitter.com/TUEX7GxGa1

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 5 maart 2019

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“THE FUNDAMENTAL FRACTAL”, Arkansas, US, Jun 11, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

“… I want to talk about the fractals of time for a moment. It's difficult if you were not here in the conference to go to the next step. However, it's important to know what was said, because we have spoken of these very things in the past. Our words didn't include fractals, but we spoke of a patterning and a system and the timing involved in what's happening.

The teacher, Gregg, has done his research well, and has proposed that the ripples of time come back upon themselves.* They present themselves in a way that would allow you to predict and calculate when they might occur again. They come in such a fashion that they reinforce one another and perhaps might be even stronger than when they occurred before. You even clearly see that the math of the fractals show you are at the end of a cycle, the one we have told you about. He's right, and you are.

The Mayans told you the same thing, and the others who had calendars much like the Maya long count said the same thing. The Aztecs and the Toltecs had a similar calendar. The prophecy was everywhere! So here's the big question: What keeps you from repeating the old history now? It comes upon you yet again and the fractals are there and the history is clear. The patterns are there, and they are the same ones over and over. Why won't you repeat them? Why won't you go to the final war and terminate humanity yet again? I'm going to fill it in esoterically for you right now.

Dear ones, there is a fractal that I'm going to call the fundamental. This fractal was not necessarily discussed yesterday, but I'm sure the teacher Gregg knows it. Sometimes when you're dealing with the discussion of patterning and repetition, you have that which would seem to be invisible, because it's not perceivable within your normal Human consciousness. The fundamental beginning fractal of time is the one that the others build upon. It's the start, the fundamental wave, and I will show it to you. Everything resonated to the fundamental in multiples. I will even give you some numbers to consider.

The fundamental fractal of your earth time is the precession of the equinoxes of the planet. All the ripples of potentials are built from it. This precession is caused by a physical wobble of the planet, which takes 25,630 years. That's how long it takes for one cycle, or wobble, to return to the start. Because it is so long, it can vary up to 1%, but not much more. The 25,630 years is the measurement of the wobble of the planet.

If you take the Mayan calendar long count, then exactly five Mayan calendars would fit into the 25,630-year wobble. The long count as described by the Maya is 5,125 years.* This also happens to be the length of time that your former unknown civilizations that we spoke of lasted before they would annihilate one another. It all starts to make sense. The fundamental fractal, dear ones, is the key to why this current cycle is different. It's because you're sitting on the end and beginning - the center point of the precession of the equinoxes. It's the first one in modern humanity. Time simply isn't just coming around again like it did before. This is the center. This is the prediction of the ancients and the Mayans, and that's why the old calendar stops now, and starts again with another long count.

This fundamental center, the precession of the equinoxes, gives an energy that none of the cycles within it did before. There is an allowance in this center fractal cycle for you to shift it and change it. The proof of this are the wildcards you see all around you. You already have started! The fall of the Soviet Union is a good example of a wild card. It's a shift of Human nature to begin a harmonious process of putting things together, instead of tearing them apart. This is especially profound when you see it done with the nations of the planet who used to be enemies for centuries. That's different! That's new! It's not going to repeat the way it did in the past.  …”

"2013 - A Difficult Year" – July 14, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… All this is to say that some of you are losing friends in death, and it seems out of sync in this new promised energy. I know who's here, who is listening and reading, and it would seem inappropriate that you would lose a friend or loved one at this point in time. Now, there are some in the room who have recently lost those they've loved, and it has seemed especially hurtful since these dear ones didn't seem "ready to go" just yet. In my partner's case, he lost a team member in the Kryon work, and I can remember in the moments when he found out, he was mad at me. He said to me, "It's unfair, not correct, and inappropriate! This man was a Lightworker doing good things. We needed him! He was a healer. Others needed him. He seemed to have so many years left, and now he's gone." Two weeks ago, my partner lost still another friend. He is not alone, for many around him including those in the room are experiencing the same thing.

For some, it's the year of loss. So I want to give you some explanations. I wish to tell you clearly what we see now that we couldn't tell you before. There is a great unspoken future that is starting to build itself right now. It's a future we couldn't tell you about because you hadn't arrived at the place where the shift potential was this strong. Now you are there, in 2013. You've passed the midpoint marker of the precession of the equinoxes, and it truly was a demarcation point that the indigenous saw as well. It's a time fractal, but they didn't call it that. However, it was so clear to them that in their spiritual way, they built their calendars and prophecies around it. Now we can tell you about it, and there begins some planning on the other side involving all of you.

There are old souls who had to leave, seemingly before their time, so that they could arrive on my side of the veil right now. They needed to refresh themselves and come back quickly, literally within the year as newborns on the planet. This is so they would be elders when it was your time to go to the next life. They would then be the ones already there who would begin to teach you what you will need to know. They are the advanced team for peace on Earth.

So, now you see where this is going. They had to leave and come back quickly. They had to align themselves in the right places, expecting where you will be next, dear one. Dear old soul, they needed to be the catalyst for you to awaken next time and do the work that you've chosen to do. So when you incarnate into your next expression, they'll be there and they will find themselves synchronistically as your teachers and the ones who will impress you the most and who you will listen to. Some of them may actually be related to you in the same way they are to you this time, or close to it, and you'll recognize them.. ….”

First human remains found in El Salvador's 'Mayan Pompeii'

Yahoo – AFP, 23 November 2018

Like Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy, the remains of Joya de Ceren were discovered
 in exceptional condition, providing a rare insight into the Mayan way of life including
rituals, agriculture, trade, governance and eating habits

Human remains have been discovered for the first time in El Salvador's Joya de Ceren, a city buried by a volcanic eruption more than 1,400 years ago and sometimes dubbed the "Mayan Pompeii," the ministry of culture said Thursday.

A skeleton, which was in poor condition, was discovered at the beginning of November, buried with an obsidian knife at the UNESCO World Heritage archaeological site located about 20 miles (35 kilometers) north of the capital San Salvador.

The person "probably lived in the city but was not killed by the eruption" of the Loma Caldera volcano, archaeologist Michelle Toledo said.

Toledo added that researchers believed the remains date to the Late Classic period of Mesoamerica because of the presence of fine white tephra, known as "Tierra Blanca Joven" (young white earth) resulting from the volcanic eruption around 535 AD.

The cataclysmic eruption of the Loma Caldera volcano destroyed numerous Mayan sites and was responsible for the formation of Lake Ilopango, with an area of ​​27.8 square miles (72 square kilometers).

The remains are the first to be discovered in more than 40 years of excavations.

Like Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy, the remains of Joya de Ceren were discovered in exceptional condition, providing a rare insight into the Mayan way of life including rituals, agriculture, trade, governance and eating habits.

"Mayan Pompeii": Human remains discovered for the first time in El Salvador's Joya de Ceren, a city buried by a volcanic eruption more than 1,400 years agohttps://t.co/nomB024omH pic.twitter.com/yqxV0I4F6l

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 23, 2018

VIDEO: The United States returns 38 ancient artifacts to Colombia, which were plundered over decades by a private American collector

VIDEO: The United States returns 38 ancient artifacts to Colombia, which were plundered over decades by a private American collector pic.twitter.com/lwTsNKzGrh

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 11, 2018

VIDEO: Peru celebrates the return of one of its cultural treasures, an eighth-century gold funerary mask, after a 20-year legal and diplomatic battle with Germany

VIDEO: Peru celebrates the return of one of its cultural treasures, an eighth-century gold funerary mask, after a 20-year legal and diplomatic battle with Germany pic.twitter.com/jzmjyMVNUE

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 11, 2018

Archaeologists find fossils, Mayan relics in giant underwater cave in Mexico

Yahoo – AFP, February 20, 2018

Remains of a Pleistocene bear from 2.5 million years ago, in the Sac Actun underwater
 cave in Quintana Roo state, Mexico, in an image published by the National Institute
of Anthropology and History (INAH) on February 19, 2018 (AFP Photo/HO)

Mexico City (AFP) - Archaeologists who have been exploring the world's largest underwater cave -- recently discovered in Mexico -- presented their findings Monday, including fossils of giant sloths and an elaborate shrine to the Mayan god of commerce.

Researchers discovered last month that two large networks of underwater caves in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, the Sac Actun and Dos Ojos networks, are in fact connected, forming the largest such structure on Earth.

Diving with SCUBA gear, they have been exploring the ancient relics left in the caves over the millenia, in a project sponsored by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

Researchers believe the water level in the caves has fluctuated over time, and that they were a source of water in times of severe drought -- a sometimes perilous one.

Some of the animals and humans who ventured inside never made it out alive. Today, their remains are a treasure trove for scientists, enabling them to piece together bits of the cave's history dating all the way back to the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago).

Remains of a mask in the Sac Actun underwater cave in Mexico's Quintana Roo 

state, from an image published by the National Institute of Anthropology and History

(INAH) on February 19, 2018 (AFP Photo/HO)

The animal remains include gomphotheres -- an extinct elephant-like animal -- as well as giant sloths and bears, archaeologists told a press conference.

Then there are the artefacts left inside by humans: burnt human bones, ceramics, wall etchings and more.

"It is very unlikely that there is another site in the world with these characteristics. There is an impressive amount of archaeological artefacts inside, and the level of preservation is also impressive," said Guillermo de Anda, an underwater archaeologist.

The relics include a shrine to the Mayan god of war and commerce, with a staircase accessed through a sink-hole in the middle of the jungle.

Many other of the hundreds of sink-holes that connect to the cave have elaborate signs of ritual activity around them, archaeologists said.

The ancient Mayans viewed caves, "and especially ones that led to water, as extremely sacred places," the INAH said.

Vatican returns shrunken 'warrior' head to Ecuador

Yahoo – AFP, 16 December 2017

It is very rare for a historical artifact to be returned by the Vatican museums,
which boast one of the largest collections of art and archaeology in the world

The Vatican museum has returned a shrunken head to Ecuador, relinquishing the wizened cranium of an Amazon warrior nearly 100 years after it was taken by a missionary.

The grisly body part -- which belonged to the Shuar indigenous people -- was handed over during Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno's visit to Pope Francis on Saturday after months of negotiations, the Vatican said.

It is very rare for a historical artifact to be returned by the Vatican museums, which boast one of the largest collections of art and archaeology in the world.

The fist-sized capitulum, which never went on show, is believed to have been a war trophy for the Shuar, who mummified and kept the heads of their warrior enemies, as well as their heroes.

The Shuar are still one of the most important ethnic groups in the Amazon region. In recent years they have hit the headlines for attempting to resist government-authorised large-scale mining on land they claim as their own.

They used to be best known in the West for their shrunken heads -- called "tsantsa".

Removing the skull, boiling the flesh then sowing up the eyes, nose and mouth is believed to have trapped avenging souls inside, or stored the wisdom of their elders.

The head, brought to the Vatican by a missionary in 1925, will be given to the Pumapungo ethnographic museum in Cuenca.

Hawaiian canoe comes home after epic round-the-world odyssey

Yahoo – AFP, 18 June 2017

Hawaiian canoe comes home after epic round-the-world odyssey

Los Angeles (AFP) - A traditional double-hulled canoe has returned to Hawaii after concluding a three-year epic journey around the globe, the first trip of its kind by such a boat.

The Hokule'a vessel and its crew entered the marina at Honolulu's Magic Island peninsula on Saturday after sailing more than 40,000 nautical miles (74,000 kilometres) since its departure from the island of Oahu in 2014.

Large crowds gathered for the homecoming celebration to commemorate the end of the odyssey, which intended to "weave a lei of hope around the world through sharing indigenous wisdom, groundbreaking conservation and preservation initiatives," according to voyage organisers.

The goal was to use only ancient methods of wayfinding -- reading the stars, winds and waves -- to guide the journey, just as the first Polynesian settlers who reached the archipelago did hundreds of years ago.

The Hokule'a -- the Hawaiian name for "star of gladness" -- was the first traditional double-hulled Polynesian voyaging canoe built in 600 years, according to the Polynesian Voyaging Society.

The canoe's maiden voyage in 1976 was to Tahiti in French Polynesia.

Crews of some dozen people rotated at major ports of call throughout the round-the-world journey after undergoing training.

The homecoming celebration kicked off a three-day summit to celebrate the journey and discuss future sailing plans.

"Through her voyages, Hokule'a has sparked a reawakening of Hawaiian culture, language, identity and revitalised voyaging and navigation traditions throughout the Pacific Ocean," voyage organisers said.

Colonia Dignidad: No 'glorious chapter' for German diplomacy

Torture, slavery, child abuse: Germany's foreign minister met with victims of a German sect run in Chile for decades. At the same time, the government in Berlin is declassifying the Colonia Dignidad files.

Deutsche Welle, 27 April 2016

Human rights groups welcome as a "positive step" plans by the German government to make public files on the notorious Colonia Dignidad colony in Chile.

Files that would have remained sealed for another decade will be made available to journalists and researchers in the coming weeks, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said. The documents detail how informed German diplomats were about what was going on in the colony from 1986 to 1996. The foreign ministry isn't responsible for what Paul Schäfer and his cronies did, but the German embassy denied the colony's residents the protection they would have needed. "I salute the victims of Colonia Dignidad," Steinmeier told a group of victims Tuesday in Berlin.

Wolfgang Kneese managed to flee
when he was 20

Steinmeier conceded that German diplomats for decades turned a blind eye to the human tragedy playing out before them, adding that embassy staff in Chile should have been able to see what was going on at the Colonia Dignidad commune. From the 60s to the 80s, German diplomats looked the other way, and "did too little to protect their citizens in this commune," he said.

Respect for the victims

The foreign ministry in Berlin has pledged that it will find out what role German diplomats played. "Transparency is imperative," Steinmeier told the victims, who had traveled from Chile to Berlin to hear just those words.

Colonia Dignidad was founded in 1961 by Paul Schäfer, a German lay preacher, former soldier and convicted pedophile who fled the country to Chile after World War II.

Today, victims estimate that over the course of 30 years, more than 30,000 boys were raped at the remote commune hidden behind security fences. Schäfer brutally suppressed and controlled his followers, including brainwashing, draconic punishments and enforcing a vow of secrecy. Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet used the German commune, which was situated about 350 kilometers south of the capital Santiago, as a torture camp, and hid weapons and poison gas on the premises.

A scene from the film Colonia

One of the few who managed to extricate himself from the sect's grip doesn't like to be reminded of the role the German embassy played. "When I left the colony, I was wary of the foreign ministry," Wolfgang Kneese said, adding that Paul Schäfer's system involved people who profited from Colonia Dignidad, who went along with the sect's well-oiled apparatus of repression, and who looked the other way.

Emotionally crippled

A feature film about Colonia Dignidad actually got the ball rolling.

"Colonia" by Florian Gallenberger aired in Germany last year after the director had put in five years of research. The film reminded the foreign ministry of this dark chapter of German diplomacy, Steinmeier said, adding that it goes to show how culture can "act as a trigger for politics."

The commune is the only home Anna
 Schnellenberger ever knew

Anna Schnellenkamp still lives on the premises of the former colony. She was surprised at how well the film depicts Schäfer's harsh rule. "But in truth, it was much worse," she admitted.

Fleeing sex abuse charges by Chilean authorities, Schäfer disappeared in 1997. Almost eight years later, he was found hiding in Argentina, sent back to Chile and sentenced to 33 years in jail for sexual abuse of children. He died in 2010 in a Chilean prison. Meanwhile, life at the colony continued as before.

Today, the commune with its roughly 130 residents calls itself Villa Baviera and tries to attract tourists with Bavarian music and Oktoberfest events.

Many of the original followers stayed on, in part because "no one had documents, no one had money," Schellenkamp said, adding another reason: two out of three are older than 65 years of age. Many of Schäfer's victims feel like emotional cripples, Wolfgang Kneese says. Some hope the German government will grant them psychological support, others demand compensation.

It's time "the burden is taken from our shoulders," Schnellenkamp said.

Traumatized victims, open questions

Many victims find hard to bear the thought that perpetrators have gotten away. Hartmut Hopp, a former colony deputy, fled to Germany in 2011 to avoid imprisonment in Chile, where he was sentenced to five years in jail for child sex abuse in 2005. It's surprising that people, like Hopp, "continue to live freely in Germany," Wolfgang Kneese said. Hopp lives in the western German town of Krefeld, and it remains unclear whether Germany will enforce the Chilean verdict, start new proceedings, or simply put the matter aside. The latter is almost unbearable to many victims.

It's also not clear what will happen to the sect's isolated premises in Chile. Turn it into a memorial, urges film director Florian Gallenberger, who visited the area many times. They have some tourism, but that's all, the director argues. Perhaps an upcoming visit by German President Joachim Gauck to Chile will help resolve matters.

Related Article:

Switzerland to compensate victims of centuries-old child labor practice

Obama honors victims of US-backed Argentina dictators

Yahoo – AFP, Andrew Beatty, 25 March 2016

US President Barack Obama (L) walks with Argentinian President Mauricio Macri 

at the "Parque de la Memoria" (Remembrance Park) in Buenos Aires on March 24, 

2016 (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

Buenos Aires (AFP) - President Barack Obama paid homage Thursday to victims of Argentina's former US-backed dictatorship, admitting the United States was "slow to speak out for human rights" in those dark days.

Obama became the first US president to formally acknowledge the victims of the 1976-1983 military regime, which declassified documents have revealed was supported by top US officials.

"There's been controversy about the policies of the United States early in those dark days, and the United States, when it reflects on what happened here, has to examine its own policies as well, and its own past," Obama said.

He spoke at Remembrance Park, a monument in Buenos Aires to the 30,000 people who were killed or went missing under the dictatorship. He paid tribute to victims' families.

"Democracies have to have the courage to acknowledge when we don't live up to the ideals that we stand for; when we've been slow to speak out for human rights. And that was the case here."

US President Barack Obama (L) and Argentinian President Mauricio Macri deliver

 statements during a visit to the "Parque de la Memoria" (Remembrance Park) to pay

 homage to Dirty War's victims in Buenos Aires on March 24, 2016 (AFP Photo/

Nicholas Kamm)

Tens of thousands of people joined a noisy demonstration later in Buenos Aires to mark the 40th anniversary of the US-backed coup that brought the dictators to power.

They marched to the din of drums, carrying pictures of the victims. Similar anniversary marches were called in towns across the country.

Some rights groups complained Obama had not gone far enough.

"The self-criticism was totally light," said Taty Almeida, founder of the victims' campaign group Madres Linea Fundadora.

She added that Argentine President Mauricio Macri and Obama "insisted we have to look to the future. They do not acknowledge the genocide and state terrorism that was supported by the United States."

Coup anniversary

Victims' groups had been angered by the choice of the date for Obama's visit, given the US support for the coup at the time.

US President Barack Obama (L) and Argentinian President Mauricio Macri throw

 a bouquet of white flowers into the River Plate on March 24, 2016 (AFP Photo/

Nicholas Kamm)

But they welcomed his promise to declassify further documents to shed more light on the fates of the regime's victims.

After the memorial ceremony Obama with his wife Michelle, her mother and the couple's daughters flew to the Andean resort of Bariloche, where they went for a hike and boat ride in a national park.

Locals lined the road smiling and waving as Obama's motorcade took the family from Bariloche airport, but at one place a crowd of protesters demonstrated noisily, some raising their middle fingers.

Tango diplomacy

In 2002, Washington declassified 4,000 diplomatic cables that showed US officials encouraged the Argentine junta's purge of leftists.

Obama promised to declassify other sensitive military and intelligence records linked to the "dirty war."

US President Barack Obama dances tango with

 Argentinian dancer Mora Godoy during a state

dinner at the Kirchner Cultural Centre in Buenos

Aires on March 23, 2016 (AFP Photo/Nicholas

Kamm)

They may shed more light on US involvement in secret police operations against dissidents in other South American states including Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia and Brazil.

Obama has tried to present a softer side of US power in Latin America during the trip this week that took him first to Cuba and then Argentina.

In Havana, he attended a baseball match with Cuba's Communist President Raul Castro and even made an appearance playing dominoes in a television show with Cuban comedians.

In Buenos Aires, he joked about tasting Argentina's national beverage mate and trying to meet football superstar Lionel Messi.

He danced tango at a state dinner in the city on Wednesday.

US creditors

On the first bilateral visit by a US president to Argentina since Bill Clinton in 1997, Obama hoped to nurture a new regional ally.

He praised Macri for the economic reforms he has passed since taking office in December after 12 years of leftist rule by the late Nestor Kirchner and his wife Cristina.

Obama also welcomed Macri's "constructive approach" in reaching a deal with US creditors to settle debts dating to Argentina's financial crisis in 2002.

He said it had led to the "possibility of a resolution" that could let Argentina back into international financial markets.