La Secretaría General de la Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) ha iniciado la coordinación del proyecto “América Latina ante la Segunda Administración Bush”.  

Como parte de este  proyecto, la Secretaría General de FLACSO ofrece otro canal de información con un resumen noticioso semanal sobre lo que se publica acerca de América Latina en algunos de los principales diarios de los Estados Unidos.  Esto permitirá identificar   cuales son los temas que despiertan mayor  interés en Estados Unidos sobre la región latinoamericana y su tratamiento en la prensa estadounidense.  Las noticias han sido clasificadas bajo las categorías de:
 

COMERCIO
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NICARAGUA LOBBIES FOR SECOND $18B CANAL
The Miami Herald
Oct. 02, 2006

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Nicaragua lobbied Monday for support for an $18 billion canal linking the Pacific and Atlantic, saying a second international waterway is needed to handle the world's booming shipping business.

President Enrique Bolanos made his pitch to defense ministers meeting in Managua for the seventh Western Hemisphere's Defense Ministers Conference.

"The galloping increase in world business demands another canal in addition to a widened Panama Canal," Bolanos told the ministers from more than 30 countries.

MIGRACIÓN
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LAS MARCHAS QUE NO LLEGARON LEJOS
The Washington Post.
september 29, 2006

Ya han pasado más de nueve meses desde que la Cámara de Representantes aprobó lo que los críticos calificaron como "el peor proyecto de ley migratoria en un siglo".

El proyecto convirtió rápidamente a su principal proponente, el líder del Comité Jurídico F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., en el mejor organizador de la comunidad inmigrante en Estados Unidos. En un lapso de pocas semanas, cientos de miles de personas salieron a las calles en ciudades a lo largo del país para oponerse a lo que veían como el enfoque punitivo de Sensenbrenner a la inmigración.

Activistas hispanos y pro inmigrantes se sentían victoriosos. La legión de manifestantes sorprendió a muchos de ellos y llevó incluso a hablar de un nuevo movimiento de derechos civiles. El diario The New York Times declaró que las marchas representaban una "victoria decisiva" para la positiva imagen de los inmigrantes y que eran "imposibles de ignorar". La legislación migratoria a partir de ese momento debía tener en consideración esta nueva fuerza.

CUBAN NATIONAL'S WIDOW IS GRANTED U.S. RESIDENCY
The Miami Herald
Sep. 29, 2006

The widow of a Cuban man who had a heart attack during an interview with a Miami immigration officer was granted U.S. residency on Thursday, based on a broad interpretation of new legislation that may affect hundreds of spouses of Cuban nationals in the future.

"I'm happy in one way because I have my residency, but at the same time I'm sad for the death of my husband," said Maritza Hernández, 53, the widow of Juan Hernández, who had a heart attack during an Aug. 10 immigration interview. "That's always there."

In that interview, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials were trying to determine whether the marriage between Maritza, from the Dominican Republic, and Juan, a Cuban immigrant with a green card, was legitimate.

IMMIGRATION IN HERNDON
The Washington Post
October 2, 2006

CONGRESS LEFT town having failed to pass the comprehensive reform of immigration laws that President Bush claimed to want but didn't do much to promote at crunchtime. The failure leaves millions of illegal immigrants sought after by U.S. employers but with no path to legal status. The nation wants and needs their labor but can't bring itself to deal honestly with the situation. Among the victims of this hypocrisy and gridlock on the national level are the nation's local governments, which are left with little guidance in handling the challenges posed by rapid immigration.

You can get an early sense of how this increasingly will play out in Northern Virginia's town of Herndon, which is back in the news with more ideas on how to clamp down on illegal immigrants. The proposals are small-minded and, if enacted, are likely to be futile in resolving any problems. But we understand local officials' frustration with the federal government's inability to craft an immigration policy for the country.

JUSTICE FOR IMMIGRANTS
The New York Times
October 3, 2006

The Supreme Court starts off its term today with arguments in a pair of immigration cases that turn on a technical issue but could have a considerable impact on the real world. If the court gives the words “illicit trafficking” the wrong interpretation, as some lower courts have, a significant number of legal immigrants could be unjustly uprooted and deported, or given unduly harsh criminal sentences.

Federal immigration law, quite reasonably, imposes special conditions on legal immigrants who are convicted of “aggravated felonies.” The law says that “illicit trafficking” in drugs is an aggravated felony, and today’s cases pose the question of what that means. The plain meaning of “trafficking” in drugs is engaging in commercial activity. But some courts have ignored this plain meaning and held that simple possession of drugs can count, and therefore can be an aggravated felony.

MEXICO CRITICIZES PLAN FOR BORDER FENCE
The Miami Herald
Oct. 03, 2006

MEXICO CITY - Mexico sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. government on Monday saying a plan to build hundreds of miles of fencing on their common border would damage relations.

President-elect Felipe Calderon urged U.S. officials to reconsider the plan, saying one "could stop more migrants with a kilometer of new roads and development (in Mexico) than with a wall."

In the letter to the U.S. State Department, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said only comprehensive reform could stem the tide of illegal immigrants heading north in search of work.

TWO PLEAD GUILTY IN MIGRANT-SMUGGLING DEATH
The Miami Herald
Oct. 04, 2006

KEY WEST - Two men charged in a Cuban-migrant smuggling operation that left a 24-year-old woman dead pleaded guilty to all 68 counts Tuesday in federal court.

Rolando Gonzalez, 20, and Heinrich Castillo, 28, pleaded guilty in Spanish and showed little emotion during the 30-minute proceeding. But several family members and friends wept when assistant U.S. attorney Jeff Tsai said that the most serious offense, migrant smuggling that results in death, carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore set sentencing for Jan. 8.

A third defendant, Amil Gonzalez, decided to take his chances at a trial next week. Gonzalez has said he was not a smuggler, but simply a migrant like the others who were intercepted by the Coast Guard on July 8.

POLÍTICA INTERNA
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URIBE WILLING TO RESUME PEACE TALKS WITH FARC
The Miami Herald
Oct. 04, 2006

BOGOTA - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said Tuesday that he is prepared to meet with the country's largest rebel group in order to complete peace talks -- the latest in a series of exchanges that has spurred hope that talks could soon start.

"If it's necessary to finalize the peace, to bring about a fundamental step toward peace, let there be no doubt I would be ready to do it," Uribe told Radio Caracol. He added, however: "At this point, it is not fundamental."

Uribe said he wants the peace commissioner, Luis Carlos Restrepo, to first meet with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to discuss a swap of kidnapped hostages for imprisoned guerrillas.

IN RURAL CUBA, A SLOW ROAD TO PROGRESS
The Washington Post
September 28, 2006

CASILDA, Cuba -- Tiny flames jump and sputter in the night here, suspended above the roadbed as if held by an invisible wand.

The uninitiated must pull up close on these unlighted roads to realize that the flames are leaping from small buckets that dangle from wires on the backside of horse-drawn buggies. In the near absence of passenger cars, these buggies serve as taxis and local buses in rural areas of Cuba, and the flaming buckets function as homemade taillights.

Countless chroniclers of Cuba have observed that the vintage American cars in Havana -- the fabulous, hulking Buicks and finned Chryslers -- make the capital feel like a city frozen in the 1950s. But outside Havana, in the vast expanse of the Caribbean's largest island, the ambiance often leans more toward the 1850s.

EXHUMING THE PAST IN A PAINFUL QUEST
The Washington Post
September 28, 2006

NEBAJ, Guatemala -- A decade after the conclusion of the long civil war that ravaged this Central American nation, Guatemalans are literally trying to dig up their past.
Spurred by a surge of requests from victims' families this year, dozens of forensic anthropologists have been fanning out across the countryside to search for remains of the 200,000 people -- most of them Mayan Indian civilians -- who were killed or abducted during the 36-year conflict.

Many were massacred by military forces and dumped into mass graves. Others were buried hurriedly in unmarked, secret locations by relatives anxious to avoid rampaging troops.

About 40,000 victims simply disappeared after being seized by government operatives.

RAÚL CASTRO URGES UNION TO COMBAT CORRUPTION
The Miami Herald
Sep. 28, 2006

HAVANA - Raúl Castro urged Cuba's communist labor union to lead the country's battle against corruption Wednesday, saying workers are "the essential force" in fighting a wide range of vices.

His speech, which closed the union's 19th congress in Havana, earned him a standing ovation from the crowd of about 1,400 people, which chanted "Vive Raúl!"
Castro, 75, is acting president while his brother Fidel recovers from intestinal surgery.

It was the first time Fidel Castro, who is 80, had missed one of the union's congresses, his brother said, adding that Fidel's "ideas, and also his teachings, were nonetheless present" at the three-day event.

SCANDAL SHADOWS BRAZIL'S ELECTION
The NEW York Times
 October 1, 2006

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 30 — With yet another ethics and corruption scandal lapping at President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s door, Brazilians will be asked to decide Sunday whether he is worthy of a second term.

A 60-year-old former factory worker and labor union leader, Mr. da Silva has been leading in polls and seems assured of finishing first by a comfortable margin in the initial round of balloting.

The drama surrounding Sunday’s vote stems from uncertainty as to whether the president, made vulnerable by an unpleasant “September Surprise” involving some of his closest aides, will obtain the majority he needs to avoid a runoff.

A distant second in the polls is Geraldo Alckmin of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party, a 53-year-old doctor and former governor of Brazil’s largest state, São Paulo.

BRAZIL'S EX-PRESIDENT WINS SENATE SEAT
The Miami Herald
Oct. 02, 2006

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Former President Fernando Collor de Mello, forced from office in a corruption scandal in 1992 and barred from politics for eight years, has won a seat in Brazil's Senate, electoral officials said Monday.

Collor de Mello won 44 percent of the votes in Sunday's senate race in Alagoas, a poor sugarcane-producing state in northeastern Brazil notorious for political violence. His closest rival, Ronaldo Lessa, got 40 percent, the country's electoral tribunal said.

In 1989, Collor galvanized Brazilians with promises to fight corruption and became Brazil's first democratically elected president after a 1964-85 military regime and an appointed transition government. He defeated Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's current president who now is running for re-election.

BRAZIL'S LULA FORCED TO A RUNOFF IN REELECTION BID
President Wins First-Round Vote but Falls Short of Majority Needed for Outright Victory
The Washington Post
October 2, 2006

SAO PAULO, Brazil, Oct. 1 -- President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the first round of Brazil's presidential election Sunday, but fell short of earning enough votes to avoid a runoff later this month against the second-place challenger.

With 99 percent of polling places accounted for, Lula received about 48.7 percent of the votes -- shy of the 50 percent needed to win reelection outright and avert an Oct. 29 runoff. The runner-up, former Sao Paulo state governor Geraldo Alckmin, received about 41.6 percent.

Lula, 60, cast his vote Sunday morning in Sao Bernardo do Campo, an industrial suburb of Sao Paulo, where he worked as a lathe operator and developed into an outspoken labor union leader who opposed the country's military dictatorship in the 1970s and '80s. Corruption scandals have hounded him during the past year, including one that surfaced just before the election charging that his campaign staff paid for damaging information about Alckmin.

EMBATTLED BRAZIL INCUMBENT FAILS TO WIN FIRST-ROUND BALLOT
The New York Times
October 2, 2006

RIO DE JANEIRO, Monday, Oct. 2 — Brazil’s embattled president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, finished first in the presidential vote held here Sunday, but fell just short of the majority he needed to avoid a runoff on Oct. 29.

With more than 99.2 percent of the ballots tabulated early Monday, Mr. da Silva, his momentum checked by a last-minute corruption and ethics scandal, had 48.65 percent of the vote. The most competitive of his seven opponents, Geraldo Alckmin of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party, was running closer than had been expected, with 41.6 percent of the vote.

Mr. Alckmin ended up finishing first in the more industrialized, modern and prosperous states of Brazil’s south, including his home state of São Paulo, with 40 million people the largest in this nation of 185 million. Mr. da Silva, a 60-year-old former factory worker and labor union leader, performed strongest in the poorer, more backward states of the country’s northeast, his native region, where he ended up polling more than two-thirds of the vote.

IN SHADOW OF SCANDALS, BRAZIL'S LULA FACES RUN-OFF
The Washington Post
October 2, 2006

SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Battered by a string of political scandals, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva squandered what seemed to be a sure first-round election victory and now must face a run-off vote against an energized opposition candidate.

Lula, Brazil's first working-class president, fell just short of the 50 percent of votes he needed to win another four-year term outright in Sunday's election, setting up a showdown with his main rival Geraldo Alckmin on October 29.

Alckmin, who campaigned as a squeaky-clean alternative to the scandal-plagued Lula, oozed confidence after the final results came in before dawn on Monday.

"I'm going to the second round with a great chance of winning the election. We're going to have an ethical, honest and efficient government," he told a crowd of cheering supporters in Sao Paulo, Brazil's business capital.

PERU’S LEADER USES 2ND CHANCE TO REWRITE LEGACY
The New York Times
October 2, 2006

LIMA, Peru, Oct. 1 — Sixteen years ago, Alan García exited the ornate presidential office here with a 7 percent approval rating and an economy teetering from 7,000 percent annual inflation. He also left an array of nationalist policies that would make today’s crop of South American populists, like Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, blush.

Now, two months into a new term as president, he has a 58 percent approval rating and is recasting himself as the region’s anti-Chávez. He says he is eager to build a different legacy from that of the food shortages, the confrontation with foreign lenders and the Maoist insurgency that operated with ease in this coastal capital when he was in office the first time around. “I attended my own funeral in the 1990’s, after a youthful presidency,” Mr. García, 57, said Saturday in an interview, describing years of attempts to restart his political career as he battled charges of corruption and mismanagement. “God, in whom I firmly believe, and the Peruvian people have given me a second chance.”

SEARCHING FOR JUSTICE IN ARGENTINA
OUR OPINION: PROSECUTION OF 'DIRTY WAR' SUSPECTS MUST PROCEED
Opinion
The Miami Herald
Oct. 02, 2006

For a moment, it seemed like old times in Argentina. In a country that gave new meaning to the word "disappeared," a key witness in a prominent political trial suddenly . . . disappeared. His name is Jorge Julio López, and he is a torture victim whose testimony led to the conviction of former police investigator Miguel Etchecolatz.

Mr. López testified that Etchecolatz was among those who tortured him in a clandestine center during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship. Etchecolatz was sentenced to life imprisonment for the disappearances of six people during the rule of the right-wing generals.

ECUADOR MARCHING RAPIDLY TOWARD THE CLIFF
Opinión
The Miami Herald
By Carlos Alberto Montaner
Oct. 03, 2006

It seems that Ecuadoreans will elect Rafael Correa as their next president when they go to the polls on Oct. 15. He is young, charismatic and intelligent; an economist with a degree from a U.S. university who communicates well with the public.

Some years ago, I met him fleetingly at the University of San Francisco in Quito, where he had gone to deliver some lectures. He made a good impression on me, from a human standpoint. If the surveys are not mistaken, he is about to occupy Carondelet Palace, the old presidential mansion in Quito.

What's likely to happen, however, is that, despite his notable personal features, Correa will fail noisily and drag the country down with him.

IN BRAZIL BALLOTING, LEADER FINDS HIS BASE MAY TURN TO SAND
The New York Times
October 3, 2006

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 2 — Until the very end, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil was predicting victory in the first round in his campaign for re-election.
He was wrong, and now he faces what promises to be the most draining, potentially dangerous campaign of his long career, against an opponent he and many others had discounted.

Mr. da Silva, a 60-year-old former factory worker and labor leader who has been beleaguered by one scandal after another for nearly two years, polled 48.65 percent of the vote in the presidential election on Sunday, short of the majority he needed to avoid a runoff on Oct. 29.

That outcome assured a second chance for Geraldo Alckmin of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party, who won 41.6 percent of the vote.
“This is going to be an interesting second round — clarifying, I hope,” a chastened Mr. da Silva said Monday afternoon at a news conference in Brasília. “I have to convince the people.”

VOTERS' REBUFF OF LULA SHOWS IMPACT OF SCANDALS
The Miami Herald
Oct. 03, 2006

RIO DE JANEIRO - The failure of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to win reelection outright Sunday may indicate that Brazilians have finally grown weary of corruption scandals and that the former trade-union-leader-turned-politician is weaker than many analysts had thought.

That was the reading here one day after Lula da Silva missed winning reelection by more than a percentage point, garnering 48.6 percent of the vote, less than the majority he needed to be declared the victor. Now, analysts who had predicted a relatively easy Lula da Silva victory are anticipating a tough battle before the runoff Oct. 29 with opposition candidate Geraldo Alckmin, who won 41.6 percent of the votes.

TWO BANKS TARGETED IN LATEST MEXICAN VIOLENCE
The Miami Herald
Oct. 03, 2006

OAXACA, Mexico - Protesters threw explosives at two banks in Oaxaca on Monday, shattering windows and further raising tensions in this once-charming colonial city.

The attacks on the banks by the previously unknown group called the Armed Revolutionary Organization for the People of Oaxaca follow months of violence in Oaxaca city, where protesters have set up street barricades and taken the city center. The explosions damaged the banks' facades but caused little other damage, city official Eliodoro Díaz said.

Protesters and news media speculated that federal forces were planning to retake the city after navy helicopters flew over the area this weekend. But Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal insisted the helicopters and military planes were on routine supply runs that had nothing to do with the more than four months of unrest.

MEXICO WARNS WOMEN: IF YOU LOVE HIM, DON'T TRAFFIC HIS DRUGS
The Christian Science Monitor
October 04, 2006 

GUADALAJARA, MEXICO – Just when it seemed the list of maxims about love couldn't get any longer, the Mexican state of Jalisco has added another: "Stop! Love can cost you dearly."

The words were plastered last year on posters at bus stations, in the airport, and outside men's prisons as part of a campaign to caution women against dating drug traffickers. Now, the Women's Institute of Jalisco wants to target female inmates themselves to help them avoid being used or cheated by male criminals.

At the same time, one of Mexico's few postpenitentiary programs is working with women who have finished their terms to urge them to break ties with criminal partners or, when that's not possible, to reach out to rehabilitate the partners.

REGIONAL
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DESPITE HEADLINES, THERE'S HOPE FOR LATIN AMERICA
The Miami Herald
Oct. 01, 2006

MEXICO CITY -- Cheer up! Despite a barrage of depressing news from Latin America and the Caribbean in recent days, there are some reasons to be optimistic about the region.

Granted, last week's headlines can give the impression that the region is going nowhere. Pessimists can say that a growing number of reactionary leftist rulers -- emboldened by a temporary rise in world prices of commodities exports -- are scaring off investors and generating capital flight, factory closings and poverty.

On Friday, in what may go down in history as a constitutional coup, Bolivian President Evo Morales moved a step closer to Venezuela's authoritarian democracy.

Morales' backers in a newly elected Constituent Assembly approved, 156-77, giving the institution "foundational" powers, which will allow the 255-member body to rewrite the Constitution. Opponents say that, under Bolivian law, the Constituent Assembly needs a 2/3 majority to rewrite the Constitution.

CHÁVEZ'S ANTI-US CAMPAIGN
The Christian Science Monitor
September 29, 2006 

WASHINGTON – Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez may be best known these days for vividly undiplomatic language about President Bush. Yet throughout his consolidation of power at home, the blunt-tongued Latin leader has been driven by a quest to build a bloc of like-minded countries united in opposition to the American superpower.

At first focused on South America, his vision has grown to embrace the world - in particular other energy-rich countries such as Iran and Sudan.

When Mr. Chávez called Mr. Bush "the devil himself" before the UN General Assembly last week, his remarks generated giggles, even applause. But can he form an alliance against American power?

The next test of his ambition will come next month, when the General Assembly is to decide if Venezuela will be among the next five countries to hold two-year seats on the United Nations Security Council. 

EX-FIREBRAND ORTEGA ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL
The New York Times
September 30, 2006

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, Sept. 24 — Washington’s old cold war nemesis, Daniel Ortega, is as divisive a figure as he ever was as a 30-something revolutionary who took on Ronald Reagan.

After three failed attempts to return to power in the last 15 years, El Comandante, as Mr. Ortega is widely known, is once again smiling down from campaign billboards across Nicaragua. Now 60 and balding with a slight paunch, he stands his best chance yet of returning to power in elections on Nov. 5.

Though opinion polls give Mr. Ortega about 30 percent support, he is the front-runner in a race splintered among five candidates. Yet the sentiment against him is broad and the scrambling to head off an Ortega victory is intense, and not just in Nicaragua.

The prospect has stirred deep anxiety in the Bush administration, which envisions him as a new ally for President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela in challenging United States policy. Mr. Chávez has lent his support to Mr. Ortega, while Washington has sent word in no uncertain terms that aid will be re-evaluated if Mr. Ortega is elected.

HUMAN RIGHTS STILL UNDER SIEGE
OUR OPINION: U.N. OBSERVER'S REPORT CONDEMNS
GOVERNMENT PRACTICES
Opinion
The Miami Herald
Oct. 01, 2006

The Cuban government is nothing if not consistent. Faced once again with a report in the U.N. Human Rights Council condemning the way Cuba treats its citizens, the government responded by denouncing Christine Chanet, the French lawyer who prepared the report. This is a pathetic but typical response by a regime that has once again had its dirty laundry aired before the human-rights community.

The 13-page report prepared by Ms. Chanet and presented for the first time to the Human Rights Council in Geneva last week describes a host of violations: Arbitrary arrests; the suppression of free speech and free association; restricting common liberties, such as the freedom to travel.

RELACIONES BILATERALES
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POLL FINDS EXILE SUPPORT FOR TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS TO CUBA
The Miami Herald
Oct. 04, 2006

Cuban Americans in a local congressional district support travel restrictions on tourism and family visits to Cuba, according to a new poll exploring the views of the Cuban community in South Florida.

The poll, commissioned by U.S. Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart for his district, indicates that 89.7 percent of the 400 Cuban-American voters surveyed support retaining the U.S. restriction on tourism, while 85.2 percent back the current policy that prohibits Cuban nationals from visiting the island more than once in three years.

Among those voters, 88.5 percent also supported the economic embargo against Cuba, although those younger than 34 were less inclined to back it. The time of their arrival did not make a significant difference in attitudes toward those policies, according to the poll.

CHAVEZ SAYS HE HAS WHITE HOUSE INFORMANT
The Washington Post
October 2, 2006

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said Sunday he has received warnings from within the White House that the Bush administration is plotting to assassinate him or topple his left-leaning government.

Citing what he said were warnings from an alleged White House informant, Chavez told thousands of supporters at a campaign rally that President Bush has ordered him to be killed before he leaves office in 2008.

Bush "has said that before he goes, Hugo Chavez shouldn't be the president of Venezuela," Chavez told the crowd. "The president of the United States has said it, especially in recent days. What he doesn't know is that I have friends in the White House."

The Venezuelan leader has claimed before that the U.S. government is out to kill him _ allegations that U.S. officials deny.

NIX CITGO? NOT SO FAST
OUR OPINION: ANGER JUSTIFIED, BUT DON'T HURT
SMALL-BUSINESS OWNERS
Opinion
The Miami Herald
Oct. 02, 2006

Reaction to Venezuelan President Hugh Chávez's disrespectful comments at the United Nations about President Bush, calling him the devil and an alcoholic, has been swift and pointed: Punish Citgo. And why not? Citgo Petroleum Corp., after all, is the Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuela's state-run oil company.

More than a few people believe that hurting Citgo would give Mr. Chávez the symbolic slap in the face he deserves for his intemperate remarks. We applaud the sentiment, but would caution against acting precipitously -- and thereby hurting the wrong people.

U.S. TO CUT GUATEMALA’S DEBT FOR NOT CUTTING TREES
The New York Times
 October 2, 2006

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 1 — The United States government has joined with two environmental groups in a debt-for-nature swap, which will forgive about 20 percent of Guatemala’s $108 million in foreign debt to Washington in an effort to help threatened tropical forests there, American and conservation officials said late last week.

In a deal to be announced Monday in Guatemala City, the government of Guatemala has agreed, in exchange for the debt forgiveness, to invest $24.4 million over the next 15 years in conservation work in four nature regions.

This is the largest amount of debt that has been forgiven by the United States under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, which was enacted in 1998. So far, 10 countries, from the Philippines to Peru, have had part of their debt forgiven in exchange for forest protection efforts.

MIAMI CUBANS: FIDEL ERA OVER
The Miami Herald
Oct. 03, 2006

An overwhelming majority of Cuban Americans and Cuban exiles think that an ailing Fidel Castro will never return to power and that a transition could take hold within four years, according to a new poll examining the attitudes of South Florida's Cuban community.

Those are among several findings in a poll of 600 Cuban and Cuban American adults in Miami-Dade and Broward counties conducted Sept. 14-20 by Bendixen & Associates. The poll has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Seventy-four percent of Cuban Americans believe Fidel Castro is terminally ill, and 14 percent think he will recover from illness but never return to power.

PLANE STOLEN IN THE KEYS IS DISCOVERED IN CUBA
The Miami Herald
Oct. 04, 2006

KEY WEST - A New York tourist vacationing in the Keys now knows the location of his Cessna 172 airplane, which was stolen last week from the Marathon Airport.
It's in Cuba. The 1978 plane, valued at $78,000, was discovered in Cuba on Friday.

The pilot landed there due to mechanical problems, federal officials told the Monroe County Sheriff's Department.

Charges are expected to be filed against the pilot today in federal court, said Alicia Valle, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Federal officials said the man, who has not been identified, was accompanied by a young boy, but their relationship is unknown. The motive for the theft also is not known, whether it's a custody dispute, joy ride, kidnapping or something else, police said.

SEGURIDAD
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PENTAGON SUPPORTS RESUMED MILITARY AID TO LATAM
The Washington Post
October 1, 2006

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (Reuters) - Some U.S. military aid withheld from Latin American nations that did not agree to exempt American military personnel from the International Criminal Court will start flowing again when President George W. Bush signs waivers, a senior defense official said on Sunday.

Those waivers now on Bush's desk are seen as critical to Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who arrived in Nicaragua on Sunday to meet with regional defense ministers.

"There's going to be probably no nation on earth that's going to agree with us all the time," Rumsfeld said.

"That being the case, it ... would be in the future unfortunate if our immediate reaction to some disagreement or difference as to a policy issue were to have the automatic effect of severing military-to-military relationships," he told reporters on the flight from Washington.

Bush is expected to sign the waivers any day now for nine countries in the region, including Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, but not Venezuela, according to a senior defense official speaking en route to Nicaragua.

RETHINKING PLAN COLOMBIA: SOME WAYS TO FIX IT
The Christian Science Monitor
September 29, 2006

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA – The Colombian soldiers look young. A little disinterested, perhaps. Or maybe just scared. One by one, they politely stand in the spare courtroom and state their names and ranks. They are charged with planning and carrying out the murder of 10 US-trained counternarcotic policemen and a civilian - at the behest of narcotraffickers.

But this is simply a preliminary hearing. More than four months after the May 22 massacre in Jamundí, the prosecution of this high-profile case has barely begun.

Oscar Hurtado, the civilian judge tapped in June, passed the case to a military tribunal in July: "I'm not going to risk my life," he explained. "I feel threatened ... there are no guarantees of my security."

In August, the Attorney General's office angrily sent the case back to Judge Hurtado - who proceeded to check into the hospital, citing heart-related problems.

PLAN COLOMBIA: BIG GAINS, BUT COCAINE STILL FLOWS
The Christian Science Monitor
September 28, 2006

CALI, COLOMBIA – Margarita Consuela Gomez Ricardo and Carlos Murillo met during a police raid on a warehouse of pirated DVDs seven years ago. Later that evening, after they swooped in and made the arrests, he asked her out for coffee. And six months later they were married.

Now, at age 31 and with two small children, Ms. Gomez is a widow. The last time she spoke to Murillo was on Friday, May 19. He said he was coming home that weekend. Their 2-year-old son was watching Power Rangers on TV at full volume and she could barely hear her husband's goodbye.

She went out to get her hair done, and dressed up the kids nicely, but Murillo never showed. She was disappointed, but that wasn't unusual.

On Monday night, as she channel-surfed in their Cali apartment, she caught a newsflash: An elite police unit had been shot in Jamundí. She called the station, but she knew.

LATINOS DEBATE FORMING REGIONAL FORCE
The Miami Herald
Oct. 03, 2006

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Latin American defense ministers debated forming a regional peacekeeping force Tuesday, while the top U.S. defense official urged nations at a hemispheric conference to work together to combat drug trafficking and terrorism.

Guatemalan Defense Minister Gen. Francisco Bermudez said the ministers discussed forming a regional force for international peacekeeping missions and disaster relief.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has proposed members of the Mercosur trade bloc - Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay - link their militaries to guarantee the region's security.

Chavez has been lobbying for allies to counterbalance what he says is U.S. domination in the region.

PARAGUAY HARDENS U.S. MILITARY STANCE
The Miami Herald
Oct. 03, 2006

ASUNCION, Paraguay - Paraguay's decision to refuse diplomatic immunity for U.S. troops and not to renew a military cooperation pact sparked debate Tuesday, with analysts calling the developments a blow to U.S. attempts to improve regional ties.

Foreign Minster Ruben Ramirez said Monday that Paraguay and Washington would not renew a defense-cooperation agreement for 2007 over the South American country's refusal to grant U.S. troops inside Paraguay immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

The Bush administration has stood tough against the ICC since its creation in 2002 out of concern that Americans overseas, including military personnel, diplomats and ordinary citizens, could be subject to politically motivated prosecutions.

RUMSFELD: VENEZUELA BUILD-UP IS CONCERN
The Miami Herald
Oct. 03, 2006

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld passed on an offer of Venezuelan tobacco, but tried to smoke out the government of President Hugo Chavez on the country's recent military buildup.

"I don't know of anyone threatening Venezuela, anyone in this hemisphere," said Rumsfeld, who is attending a meeting here of Western hemisphere military leaders - many of them concerned about the weapons, jets and helicopters Chavez is buying.

Other countries in the region are worried that the weapons could end up in the hands of terrorists, Rumsfeld told reporters Monday, adding, "I can understand neighbors being concerned."

RUMSFELD STAYS MUM ON NICARAGUA POLITICS
The Miami Herald
Oct. 03, 2006

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld criticized Venezuela's hostile politics and longtime adversary Cuba but avoided any talk about another old antagonist, Nicaraguan presidential candidate Daniel Ortega.

"I don't get involved in politics in the United States," Rumsfeld told reporters Tuesday during a gathering of defense ministers from the Western Hemisphere. "So you can be certain I don't get involved in politics in Nicaragua."

In Caracas, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez took note of Rumsfeld's three-day visit to Central America by calling the American defense secretary a "dog of war" and saying that Rumsfeld had no business suggesting that neighboring countries are concerned about arms purchases by Venezuela.

Chavez called on Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to clarify whether he shares Rumsfeld's worries about Venezuela's acquisition of helicopters, fighter jets and assault rifles.

U.S. GENERAL SAYS CHÁVEZ WORRIES REGION
The New York Times
October 3, 2006

Nicaragua, Oct. 2 — The commander of United States military activities in Latin America said Monday that Venezuela under President Hugo Chávez had become a destabilizing force, and that other countries in the Western hemisphere shared that concern.
The commander, Gen. Bantz J. Craddock of the Army, said, “What I have heard in the last few months is more concern by more countries” about an increase in Venezuela’s purchase of weapons, especially small arms.

United States officials said Venezuela had used its oil wealth to undermine democratic forces in other Latin American countries. “There’s a factor here that is destabilizing,” General Craddock said.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and General Craddock were in Managua for a meeting of defense ministers from more than 30 countries in the hemisphere.

VENEZUELA'S ARMS BUILDUP SAID TO BE FOR DEFENSE
The Miami Herald
Oct. 03, 2006

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Venezuela's defense minister said Monday his country's military buildup isn't a threat to the region as he joined Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and counterparts from across the Americas in discussing possible joint humanitarian missions.

Gen. Raúl Isaias Baduel said Venezuela's recent military spending spree wasn't "an arms race," despite Washington's protests.

"All our acquisitions are strictly for defense," said Baduel as a meeting of Western Hemisphere defense ministers opened. "In no way is our country adopting an attitude of defense against any fellow country."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has repeatedly accused the United States of planning to invade his country, a claim American officials dismiss as preposterous.

CHÁVEZ'S ARMS PRODUCTION STARTING TO WORRY NEIGHBORS
The Miami Herald
Oct. 04, 2006

BOGOTA - Since 1947, the world has produced an estimated 100 million Kalashnikov assault rifles, the weapon of choice for insurgencies and criminal gangs. But for Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, that's not enough.

With the help of the Russians, Chávez says, his country will open a factory to build the legendary avtomat Kalashnikova or AK-style rifles that could begin producing the weapons around 2009. Chávez has already purchased 100,000 AKs -- known for their durability and ease of use -- to restock his military, which has about 75,000 soldiers.

The questions the United States and Chávez's neighbors are asking are who will get the extra AKs Chávez purchased and will build, and how will these weapons affect a region historically plagued by violence and conflict.