Zimbabwe Opposition Dies in NM

[ziero0]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/01/19/latest-911-call-released-in-new-mexico-helicopter-crash.html


RATON, N.M. – The Latest on a helicopter crash in New Mexico that killed five people, including a Zimbabwean opposition leader (all times local):

5:40 p.m.

A New Mexico sheriff says residents from nearby ranches were among the first to arrive at a fiery helicopter crash that killed five people, including Zimbabwe opposition leader Roy Bennett and his wife, Heather.

Colfax County Sheriff Rick Sinclair said Friday that he had joined a game warden and paramedics in searching the rugged terrain for the wreckage after a survivor called 911. New Mexico State Police also responded.

Sinclair says that when the crews found the crash site, residents were already working to extinguish the flames.

The Bennetts' friends and family say they had traveled to New Mexico to spend their holiday with friend and wealthy businessman Charles Burnett III, who also died Wednesday.

[crimethink]

Sad, but it's not like the guy had any hope of returning Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) to civilization. Was he "neutralized"? Maybe, maybe not....probably not:

Looks like the Huey had "mechanical problems" the day before, and despite claiming they were "fixed," they apparently weren't.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1120896/nmsp-5-killed-one-severely-injured-after-helicopter-crash-near-raton.html

[cheka.]

if it was a hit, they are in jeopardy - a woman survived to tell the tale

https://www.pazimbabwe.com/politics-44476-pachedu-zimbabwe-mourns-roy-bennett-and-his-wife-heather.html

https://www.pazimbabwe.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/bennette.jpg

Roy Bennett, 60, treasurer-general of the Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change opposition party, won a devoted following of black Zimbabweans for passionately advocating political change.

Bennett, a white man who spoke fluent Shona and drew the wrath of former President Robert Mugabe, survived a traumatic year in jail and death threats.

He was known as ‘Pachedu,’ meaning ‘one of us’ in Shona and was often called the sharpest thorn in Mugabe’s side.

The sole survivor was Andra Cobb, Mr Burnett’s long-term partner and the daughter of the co-pilot who pulled herself from the burning wreck.

[cheka.]

the black leader of the party and some of his dealings with mugabe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Tsvangirai

Morgan Richard Tsvangirai (/ˈtʃæŋɡɪraɪ/; Shona: [ts͎aŋ.ɡi.ra.i];[need tone] born 10 March 1952) is a Zimbabwean politician who was Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2013.[1] He is President of the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC-T) and a key figure in the opposition to former President Robert Mugabe.

Tsvangirai was the MDC candidate in the controversial 2002 presidential election, losing to Mugabe. He later contested the first round of the 2008 presidential election as the MDC-T candidate, taking 47.8% of the vote according to official results, placing him ahead of Mugabe, who received 43.2%. Tsvangirai claimed to have won a majority and said that the results could have been altered in the month between the election and the reporting of official results.[2] Tsvangirai initially planned to run in the second round against Mugabe, but withdrew shortly before it was held, arguing that the election would not be free and fair due to widespread violence and intimidation by government supporters that led to the deaths of 200 people.

He sustained non-life-threatening injuries in a car crash on 6 March 2009 when heading towards his rural home in Buhera. His first wife, Susan Tsvangirai, was killed in the head-on collision.[3]

As the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état occurred, Tsvangirai asked Mugabe to step down.[4][5] He also called for an all-stakeholders meeting to chart the country’s future and an internationally supervised process for the forthcoming elections. He said an all-inclusive process to take the country to legitimacy was the only way forward.

March 2007 arrest and beating

On 11 March 2007 a day after his 55th birthday, Tsvangirai was arrested on his way to a prayer rally in the Harare township of Highfield.[24]

His wife was allowed to see him in prison, after which she reported that he had been heavily tortured by police, resulting in deep gashes on his head and a badly swollen eye.[25] The event garnered an international outcry.

He was allegedly tortured by a Special Forces of Zimbabwe unit based at the army's Cranborne Barracks on 12 March 2007 after being arrested and held at Machipisa Police Station in the Highfield suburb of Harare.

Using sjamboks, army belts and gun butts, the soldiers attacked Tsvangirai until he passed out. One of the soldiers poured cold water all over Tsvangirai to resuscitate him. Tsvangirai regained consciousness again at around 1:30 am... One vicious woman was left to work on him. She removed an army belt from her waist and used it to assault Tsvangirai until he passed out again.
— Police Officer, Mail and Guardian[26]

"He was in bad shape, he was swollen very badly. He was bandaged on the head. You couldn't distinguish between the head and the face and he could not see properly," Innocent Chagonda, an attorney, told Reuters after visiting a Harare police station where Tsvangirai was being held.[27]

A Zimbabwean freelance cameraman, Edward Chikombo, smuggled television pictures of Morgan Tsvangirai's injuries following the beating.

Chikombo was later abducted from his home in the Glenview township outside Harare. His body was discovered the next weekend near the village of Darwendale, 50 miles (80 km) west of Harare.

There has been a pattern of abductions and punishment beatings where scores of opposition activists and their relatives have been attacked by government-sanctioned gangs using unmarked cars and police-issue weapons.[28]

According to lawyer Tendai Biti, the Secretary-General of the MDC and an MP for Harare East, who was arrested along with Tsvangirai, Tsvangirai suffered a cracked skull and "must have passed out at least three times." Tsvangirai was subsequently admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) at a local hospital.[29] Reports from BBC News indicate that Tsvangirai suffered from a fractured skull and received blood transfusions for internal bleeding. Although the incident was a clear case of political violence, Tsvangirai has since had very little political support from surrounding African countries.[30]
Raid at MDC headquarters

Tsvangirai was released, but on 28 March 2007, Zimbabwean police stormed the Movement for Democratic Change, 44 Harvest House, national headquarters and once again arrested him, hours before he was to speak with the media about recent political violence in the country.

Assassination plot delays homecoming

Tsvangirai was due to arrive in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Saturday, 17 May 2008, but a party spokesman said he was staying in Europe after a credible assassination plot was discovered. On Friday, 16 May 2008, he held a press conference at the Europa Hotel in Belfast, Northern Ireland

2011 investigations over WikiLeaks disclosures

The Attorney General set up a team of lawyers to investigate whether Tsvangirai may be charged with conspiracy or treason after cables obtained by WikiLeaks were published.[50][51]

[cheka.]

http://www.texaspolicenews.com/default.aspx?act=Newsletter.aspx&category=News+1-2&newsletterid=69534&menugroup=Home

Helicopter crash claims Texas millionaire, decorated pilots

RATON, N.M. (AP) — Five friends, including a Zimbabwean opposition leader, traveling to a ranch in New Mexico died when their helicopter crashed in a remote area.

Raton police released 911 recordings Friday from the crash two days earlier in remote northern New Mexico.

The recording indicates Zimbabwe opposition leader Roy Bennett was injured but still alive as authorities tried to determine the location of the fiery New Mexico helicopter crash that ultimately killed him, his wife, Heather, and three others.

Andra Cobb, the 911 caller and the crash's sole survivor, was frantic as she spoke to a dispatcher, saying that she was watching her "family burn."

This image taken from video shows an investigator photographing the scene near Raton, N.M., Friday, Jan. 19, 2018, where a helicopter crashed late Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. Friends and family members confirmed ... more

She also said her partner, Charles Burnett III, was alive but suffering from a head wound.

Her father, Paul Cobb, was the co-pilot. Bennett owned the ranch where the group was headed for vacation. Both were killed Wednesday.

Authorities say pilot Jamie Coleman Dodd also called 911, but later died.

Here's more about the prominent people on board:

CHARLES RYLAND BURNETT III, 61

Born in England, Burnett was an investor and philanthropist with links to a wide range of businesses and a love of entertaining friends extravagantly.

Burnett was based in Houston and listed as an officer in dozens of companies registered with the Texas secretary of state's office. The Guardian newspaper reported in 2009 that he drove a steam-powered car at an average speed of 139.8 miles per hour (225 kilometers per hour), setting a world record.

He purchased the Emery Gap Ranch, a sprawling, mountainous property on the Colorado-New Mexico border, in February 2017, said Sam Middleton, a real estate broker in Lubbock, Texas, who worked with Burnett on the purchase. That's where the group was headed Wednesday.

Middleton on Thursday recalled being invited to Burnett's 60th birthday party at another ranch he had helped the wealthy businessman purchase. A dance floor and lights powered by a generator were set up on a pasture, with guests brought in by bus and a film crew hired to document the party.

"He had a lot of fun, and he had a lot of people around him all the time," Middleton said.

He was in a long-term relationship with Andra Cobb, the only survivor of the crash and daughter of Paul Cobb, who was the co-pilot of the helicopter. Burnett was friends with the elder Cobb and the others aboard.

___

PAUL COBB, 67

He was shot down while flying a helicopter in the Vietnam War, according to his wife, Martha. He went on to serve as a police officer for three decades in the Houston suburb of Pasadena, Texas, rising to police chief until his retirement in 2004.

Cobb flew a historic Vietnam-era helicopter during an event to celebrate the Fourth of July in 2016, according to Houston television station KTRK. Martyn Hill, Burnett's personal attorney, described Cobb as an experienced, cautious pilot who had "survived many battles."

"He was a great person as well," Hill said.

Martha Cobb said her daughter told her after the crash that she passed at least one body on the ground as she tried to escape, before the helicopter burst into flames.

"She's just very distraught," Cobb said in a telephone interview, her voice breaking. "I'm just glad my daughter is OK, but I hate that my husband of 41 years is gone."

___

JAMIE COLEMAN DODD, 57

He was a decorated search and rescue pilot who plucked people to safety in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and during one flood season, rented a helicopter on his day off to help rescue dogs stranded on rooftops.

"He was a natural pilot. He was so good at it. When he was in search and rescue, he saved countless lives," said Jacqueline Dodd, his wife of 25 years, describing him as an adrenaline junky.

Her husband, who went by J.C., received the national "Jeep Hero" award in 2006 for his search and rescue efforts. He donated the award, a new Jeep Commander, to a nonprofit organization that helps the homeless, according to the website of the New Mexico Military Institute, where he went in the mid- to late 1970s.

"He was the kind of guy that you just wanted to be your friend," Jacqueline Dodd said. "He was above reproach. He was just such a good person."

Since September, he had worked as Burnett's private pilot at the Emery Gap Ranch, she said. She and her husband filed separation papers in December after he moved to Trinidad, Colorado, the previous September.

"He took that job against all my wishes," said Jacqueline Dodd, who lives in Applegate, California, in the foothills northeast of Sacramento.

Her husband enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves in 1979. Dodd transferred to the Army's Warrant Officer Flight School in 1983 and was later assigned to Howard Air Force Base in Panama, flying medical evacuation missions throughout Central and South America, according to New Mexico Military Institute website.

Dodd moved back and joined the California Highway Patrol in 1990, where he was a search and rescue helicopter pilot. He was inducted into the institute's Hall of Fame in October 2010.

___

ROY AND HEATHER BENNETT

Roy Bennett, 60, was a founding member of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, who angered former President Robert Mugabe by winning a parliamentary seat in a rural constituency despite being white.

Bennett, who spoke fluent Shona, was earthy and engaging and won a devoted following of black Zimbabweans for passionately advocating political change. He was known as "Pachedu," meaning "one of us" in Shona and was often called the sharpest thorn in Mugabe's side.

At one point, his successful coffee farm in eastern Zimbabwe was seized by war veterans. One of Bennett's farmworkers was killed by the invaders and wife Heather miscarried after the assault.

In 2004, Bennett was jailed for a year for assaulting a Cabinet minister who had said Bennett's "forefathers were thieves and murderers" during a debate. He emerged thin and told of prisoners' mistreatment.

Bennett fled Zimbabwe after receiving death threats but came back in 2009 after being nominated for the deputy agriculture minister in a coalition government with Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. The strongman accepted other opposition leaders into his Cabinet, but he refused to swear in Bennett.

Bennett later returned to South Africa but remained a vocal critic of Mugabe's rule.

[cheka.]

from the link above......interesting host hanging out with the zimbabwe rebel. were pizza and hot dogs at the party? if it was a hit -- maybe pizzagate, not zimbabwe drama...or both :confused:

CHARLES RYLAND BURNETT III, 61

Born in England, Burnett was an investor and philanthropist with links to a wide range of businesses and a love of entertaining friends extravagantly.

Burnett was based in Houston and listed as an officer in dozens of companies registered with the Texas secretary of state's office. The Guardian newspaper reported in 2009 that he drove a steam-powered car at an average speed of 139.8 miles per hour (225 kilometers per hour), setting a world record.

He purchased the Emery Gap Ranch, a sprawling, mountainous property on the Colorado-New Mexico border, in February 2017, said Sam Middleton, a real estate broker in Lubbock, Texas, who worked with Burnett on the purchase. That's where the group was headed Wednesday.

Middleton on Thursday recalled being invited to Burnett's 60th birthday party at another ranch he had helped the wealthy businessman purchase. A dance floor and lights powered by a generator were set up on a pasture, with guests brought in by bus and a film crew hired to document the party.

[ziero0]

Born in England, Burnett was an investor and philanthropist with links to a wide range of businesses and a love of entertaining friends extravagantly.


Shame he wasn't more competent when it came to selecting airworthy helicopters.