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PEOPLE
Princess's dad has junta past
Prince Willem-Alexander's ascension to the Dutch throne in April promises to be a shining moment on the world stage for his wife, Maxima, and her home country of Argentina. But there will be a glaring absence at the ceremony.
Queen Beatrix's announcement this week that she'll step aside and let her son become king raised new questions about the future queen's father, Jorge Zorreguieta, one of the longest-serving civilian ministers in Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship.
Maxima's parents already missed out on their daughter's 2002 wedding to avoid offending Dutch sensibilities about human rights violations by the South American junta. Anticipating more unpleasant questions, Maxima told the prime minister that her parents won't attend her swearing-in as queen, either.
Zorreguieta is 85 now, and Argentina has been a democracy for nearly 40 years.
Lawyers in both countries are trying to determine whether Zorreguieta had any personal responsibility for forced disappearances at a time when Argentina's top business executives supported the junta's "dirty war" against leftists, union members and other so-called "subversives," killing as many as 30,000 people.
Maxima grew up in Buenos Aires and had a successful career in banking before meeting the prince. She's now the most popular member of the royal family, a charming mother of three whose personal touch has won over the Dutch. Argentines have followed her story closely, fascinated to see one of their own reach such heights.
Frank Ocean says he won't pursue criminal charges against Chris Brown, who is alleged to have punched Ocean in a recent fight.
"As a child I thought if someone jumped me it would result in me murdering or mutilating a man," the R&B star wrote on his Tumblr page Saturday. "But as a man I am not a killer. I'm an artist and a modern person. I'll choose sanity. No criminal charges. No civil lawsuit."
Brown remained under investigation for his role in a fight outside a West Hollywood recording studio on Jan. 27, Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
Witnesses told deputies that Brown punched Ocean during an argument over a parking space. Ocean later tweeted that he "got jumped by Chris and a couple guys" and suffered a finger cut. Brown has not commented on the allegation.
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