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NOTICIAS CARACOL
Caracol Televisión is a Colombian TV network owned by Grupo Valorem that was founded in 1954. Through its newscast Noticias Caracol, the network is part of the Alianza Informativa Latinoamericana, a news exchange service formed in 2005 which includes U.S. network CBS among its members.
After 58 Years On The Run, Man Finds Out He Didn't Kill His Cousin
WHAT THE WORLD
Alidad Vassigh

After 58 Years On The Run, Man Finds Out He Didn't Kill His Cousin

The Colombian man was located in Brazil, and has spoken by phone to his 95-year-old mother, but still not seen her.

A man who fled Colombia in 1963 thinking he had inadvertently killed his cousin was finally tracked down in Brazil, 58 years after the incident — and told he hadn't killed anyone.

Humberto Botero had fled to Brazil thinking he was responsible for burning his cousin to death: The cousin, Hugo, had spilled fuel on himself while moving a barrel of gasoline, and handed Humberto a match, which he lit. "He gave me a box of matches. I lit one and he went up like a torch," Colombia's Noticias Caracol channel cited Humberto as saying recently.

Humberto's sister Marleny said "he went away thinking Hugo would die, since they found him in bad shape." The family sought him out in local prisons, but he was not among the inmates. His mother Angélica Arroyave assumed he had died.

Earlier this year, Humberto's son put out a message on a social platform seeking out his father's family. And he found them. Humberto recently spoke online to his cousin Hugo who told him he had forgiven him "long ago," and to his 95-year-old mother. "It's an inexplicable emotion," she said, "happiness on the one hand and sadness on the other."

The families could not yet unite because of pandemic restrictions.

After Machete Attack, Policeman Saves Own Hand By Grabbing It
WHAT THE WORLD
Alidad Vassigh

After Machete Attack, Policeman Saves Own Hand By Grabbing It

Even with his blood pouring out, Jorge Eduardo Yaso exhibited serious sang-froid.

The Colombian policeman had intervened to break up a brawl earlier this month in San Cristóbal, just south of Bogotá, when his lower right arm and his right hand was severed with a machete. In spite of the "stress' of the situation, Yaso told newscaster Noticias Caracolthis past weekend he had the wherewithal to use his left hand to pick up his right hand and take it with him as he was rushed to the Police Central Hospital.

After a nine-hour surgery, he is expected to recover "most" of this arm and hand mobility within a few months. The surgeon, Dr. Hernando Laverde, told Noticias Caracol that the fact that the cut was to his arm, rather than a wrist with multiple nerves, helped facilitate the successful surgery.

Yazo added that the machete hand was cut off as he raised his arms to protect himself when a man attacked him with a machete. Bogotá police (with all hands on deck) are seeking information to lead to the capture of the culprit.