Germany unveils memorial to Holocaust's Roma victims

BERLIN -- A memorial dedicated to Roma and Sinti victims of the Holocaust was unveiled in the center of the German capital Wednesday after years of delay caused by a dispute between the artist and the city over costs and design.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel inaugurated the new monument, joined by President Joachim Gauck and dozens of Roma survivors of World War II. The memorial features a small pedestal jutting out from the center of a round pool of water on which a fresh flower is to be placed daily. A poem titled "Auschwitz," by Italian Santino Spinelli, is engraved around the pool's rim, which is circled by jagged stones laid in the grass.

The memorial, designed by Israeli artist Dani Karavan, is in the Tiergarten, Berlin's largest urban park, which lies across the street from the Reichstag, the German Parliament building.

The exact number of Roma, also known as Gypsies, killed in the Holocaust is unknown, but experts estimate that up to 500,000 could have died. The Nazis deemed the Roma racially inferior and shipped them to concentration camps, where many were killed and subjected to medical experiments.

Son of controversial Mexican politician slain in border town

MEXICO CITY -- The son of a controversial Mexican politician was slain under mysterious circumstances in the border state of Coahuila on Wednesday, triggering an outpouring of condolences from the country’s political class as well as speculation about the motives behind the shooting.

The body of Jose Eduardo Moreira Rodriguez was discovered by police late Wednesday on a rural road outside of Ciudad Acuña -- across the Rio Grande from the west Texas town of Del Rio -- shortly after he was reported missing, according to Homero Ramos, the Coahuila state prosecutor.

Moreira, 25, was the oldest son of Humberto Moreira, the former governor of Coahuila and the former president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. Humberto Moreira quit as head of the national party, known as the PRI, in December after being embroiled in a financial scandal centered on falsified loan requests during his governorship, in which he left the state with more than $3 billion in debts.

His son had been employed as a social programs coordinator for the state government, which is headed up by his uncle, Ruben Moreira. As part of that job, Jose Eduardo Moreira was reportedly known for touring the countryside without bodyguards, according to Mexican news reports.

As a border state, Coahuila has struggled mightily with the drug cartels in recent years, particularly the ruthless paramilitary band known as the Zetas. In some cases, the criminals have sparred with state government forces; in others, they have allegedly collaborated with government employees.

Recently, Coahuila has been the scene of particularly intense clashes between government forces and various outlaw bands after an audacious prison break last month, believed to have been orchestrated by the Zetas gang, in which more than 130 inmates escaped through the front door.

On Wednesday afternoon, state government forces reportedly killed five alleged criminals during a shootout in the Coahuila city of Piedras Negras. That has fueled a theory that the slaying of Jose Eduardo Moreira could have been an act of reprisal against the government.

The administration of outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderon, while not endorsing this theory, issued a statement Thursday saying it would not tolerate “attempts at intimidation” on the part of criminals.

Ramos, the state prosecutor, said in a news conference Thursday that “no hypothesis will be ruled out” and added that federal police, prosecutors and military personnel were taking part in the investigation.

The finance scandal involving the victim’s father had been viewed as a public relations embarrassment for the PRI during this year's presidential campaign, in which its candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto -- now the president-elect -- promised that the party had turned over a new leaf.

The PRI ran Mexico for most of the 20th century in an authoritarian manner that was often marked by graft and political chicanery.

After leaving public life, Humberto Moreira has remade himself as an entrepreneur, rolling out a line of sugar-free jams and jellies.

“They killed my son Jose Eduardo, a clean young man, a social activist who was dedicated to working with the most humble people of Acuña, Coahuila,” Moreira said in a statement given to the newspaper Mileno.

Peña Nieto, the president-elect, said on his Twitter account that the slaying “should not go unpunished.”

Calderon, the outgoing president, called the slaying “a cowardly assassination.”

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--Richard Fausset. Cecilia Sanchez contributed to this report.

Photo: Jose Eduardo Moreira Rodriguez, who was found shot to death Wednesday. He was the son of a former Mexican governor and political party leader. Credit: Alberto Puente / Associated Press

Singer Chavela Vargas 'had the public at her feet'

MEXICO CITY -- It is almost pointless to be sad about the passing of Chavela Vargas. Her entire life, through song, was about transcending and challenging death.

The singer, who passed away Sunday in Cuernavaca, lived to be 93, surviving many contemporaries from decades ago when Vargas wore men’s clothes, smoked, and carried a pistol in macho-bound Mexico.

Then she disappeared. For a few foggy years in the last century, when Vargas stayed away from the capital's cabarets and fell under the spell of alcohol in a forgotten town in the state of Morelos, she had become a ghostly myth. Many people actually thought she had died.

After the reflourishing of her career -- starting in 1991 at the Coyoacan district cabaret El Habito, but marked for U.S. audiences by her performance of "La Llorona" in the 2002 film "Frida" -- Vargas through her performances seemed to be gamely singing her way around death.

It was always a fair match, always a matter of courtly struggle against a respected rival.

In her songs, in that uniquely Latin American way of romancing melancholy, Vargas would channel the long echoes of sorrow and pain that accompany any life as long as hers, armor against its end. Few details are known about her famous affairs, but we didn't really need them. Her songs about love and loss evoked countless shivers and heavy hearts, countless borracheras -- enthusiastically sorrowful drinking sessions.

For that, audiences and listeners across Mexico, the Americas and Spain would sometimes find themselves under a surprising state of rapture in the presence of her voice. It was pleading and raspy, yet always remarkably controlled.

On Monday night, throngs of Vargas devotees filled Plaza Garibaldi near downtown Mexico City to be near her casket for a few hours and participate in a customary Mexican ritual that's become familiar after the passings of Carlos Fuentes and Carlos Monsivais: a public mourning session.

Remembering a young Syrian filmmaker killed in Homs

The death of Bassel Shahade, a young Syrian filmmaker who studied in the United States and returned to his country to document the rebellion, was a harsh blow to his friends, who remembered him as a passionate adventurer, The Times writes. These are a few of the films Shahade made, along with others made in commemoration.

Shahade directed this documentary, “Singing to Freedom,” which features interviews about nonviolent resistance with Syrian attorney Razan Zeitouna, political theorist Noam Chomsky and author Erica Chenoweth. It shows Syrian protesters chanting, “The people want the downfall of the regime!”

Another short film called “Saturday Morning Gift,” widely circulated after Shahade died, is based on an interview with a young boy recalling his experiences in the 2006 war in Lebanon between Hezbollah paramilitaries and Israel. The film is intimate and spare, almost dreamlike.

Shahade filmed and edited this third film, “Carrying Eid to Camps,” which shows people handing out food and toys in camps for the displaced during the Muslim holiday of Eid. When the film was created, a severe drought had plunged millions of Syrians into extreme poverty. "Thanks to everyone who contributed in carrying Eid to camps of the drought displaced people,” the video caption says.

After Shahade was killed in Homs, this tribute video surfaced, appearing to show him teaching other Syrians. Shahade came back to his country to share his skills with amateur videographers.

This last video is said to show friends of Shahade standing around his coffin with pictures of him, reciting prayers. Toward the end of the video, a group of men load the coffin onto a vehicle.

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-- Alexandra Sandels in Beirut and Emily Alpert in Los Angeles 

Photo: Bassel Shahade. Credit: Mohamad Khouja