Peru massacre suspect flown home

15 July 2011 Last updated at 11:25 GMT The US has extradited a Peruvian ex-army officer, Telmo Hurtado, over the killing 69 villagers during the war against Maoist guerrillas in the 1980s.

Hurtado is accused of commanding a patrol that killed the civilians, who included women and children.

He was included in an amnesty for officers in the 1990s, but lost his immunity from prosecution when Peru's Supreme Court later nullified the law.

He fled to the US, where he was arrested in 2007.

On Friday Hurtado is to appear before a Peruvian court that will decide where he will be held while prosecutors prepare the case, a lawyer for families of the victims told AFP news agency.

He is alleged to have taken part in the "Accomarca Massacre" in August 1985, when army units entered a village and killed dozens of residents.

Hurtado - who was known as the "butcher of the Andes - was originally convicted in 1993, but later included in a blanket amnesty for officers. The amnesty law was nullified in 2002.

Peru's army fought bitterly against Maoist guerrillas belonging to the Shining Path movement in the 1980s and 1990s.

The military has been accused of rights abuses, but few people have been charged.

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Mexico detains massacre suspect

1 July 2011 Last updated at 00:37 GMT Authorities say Caporal confessed his role in the massacre

The Mexican army says a man arrested two days ago has confessed to involvement in the murder in Tamaulipas state of 72 migrants last year.

Officials say Abraham Barrios Caporal told them he and other alleged members of the Zetas drug cartel killed the migrants because they suspected them of belonging to a rival cartel.

Soldiers arrested Mr Barrios Caporal in the southern city of Coatzacoalcos.

He said he had moved there from northern Tamaulipas to evade capture.

The Mexican army said they had arrested Mr Barrios Caporal, also known as Erasmo, on 28 June along with at least two other alleged members of the Zetas cartel.

The soldiers said they had been alerted to the suspects because they were holding a man at gunpoint.

The man was freed and the suspects were arrested and their weapons seized.

The Mexican defence ministry said Mr Barrios Caporal had confessed to being second-in-command to Martin Omar Estrada Luna, the local leader of the Zetas drug cartel in San Fernando, where the murders happened.

Mr Barrios Caporal reportedly said they had stopped the Central and South American migrants "to find out if they belonged to the Gulf cartel".

The Zetas were originally the armed wing of the Gulf cartel.

But they split from their former allies and have since become bitter rivals fighting for control of the drug smuggling routes to the United States.

The Mexican defence ministry has described the Zetas as "the most formidable death squad to have worked for organised crime in Mexican history".

Analysts say the Zetas have switched their operations from the west coast state of Michoacan to Tamaulipas on the east coast, and down to Cancun in the Yucutan Peninsula.

As the Zetas have tried to take over territory controlled by other gangs, there has been a sharp increase in murders of rival gang members.

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