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:
 

POLÍTICA INTERNA
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TALLY NARROWER IN PRESIDENTIAL BALLOT IN ECUADOR
The New York Times
October 18, 2006

QUITO, Ecuador, Oct. 17 — The presidential race tightened Tuesday when an official count of ballots showed a conservative banana magnate with a narrower margin over his leftist challenger, opening the race to charges of fraud and putting financial markets on edge.

Álvaro Noboa, one of Ecuador’s wealthiest business executives, had 26.1 percent of the vote while Rafael Correa, an economist with nationalist proposals similar to those of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, had 23.3 percent, with 73.2 percent of votes counted as of 7:45 p.m.

A preliminary count of 70 percent of votes from the first election round on Sunday had given Mr. Noboa a lead of almost five percentage points over Mr. Correa.

The narrowing of the count led to a brief sell-off of Ecuador’s bonds on Tuesday, with foreign banks concerned over the possibility of a debt default if Mr. Correa were elected president.

PERÓN IS DEAD, BUT NOT RESTING: PATERNITY SUIT IS PENDING
The New York Times
October 12, 2006

BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 7 — Argentines simply will not let Gen. Juan Domingo Perón rest in peace. He died in 1974 and is buried at a family crypt here, but a battle over his remains has broken out between his ideological heirs, who want to move his body to a mausoleum, and a woman who claims to be his daughter and wants a DNA test conducted first.

The leaders of the Peronist movement and the labor unions affiliated with it have announced two days of ceremonies to transfer the general ’s remains, ending Oct. 17, the anniversary of the populist uprising that carried him to power in 1945. Some have even threatened to defy the court should they be stymied there, where the struggle now rages.

In 2004, Peronist leaders began building the $1.3 million mausoleum for their leader at San Vicente, a 47-acre retreat in suburban Buenos Aires Province that the general and his second wife, Evita, acquired in 1946. A museum honoring the couple now occupies the property, which Perón always said was the site of some of his happiest memories.

ADS PIT CHÁVEZ, OPPOSITION IN LOVERS' QUARREL
The Miami Herald
Oct. 13, 2006

CARACAS - Love is in the air as campaigning heats up ahead of Venezuela's presidential election.

Newspaper ads by President Hugo Chávez's campaign include a solemn ''message of love'' for the Venezuelan people that reads: ``I have always done everything for love.''

The opposition has hit back, taking out its own ads with a wilted rose and a ''love note'' reading, in part: ``Don't ask for more time. Don't talk to me about love.''

Chávez faces leading opposition candidate Manuel Rosales in the Dec. 3 vote. Polls show Chávez has the lead.

The tone of Chávez's ad, with a green background, is decidedly low-key for the flamboyant leader, who favors red shirts and recently called President Bush the devil in a speech to the United Nations.

In a speech on Thursday, Chávez reiterated that his political movement is about love. ''That love, what it has done is grow all these years,'' he said.

LA BARRERA A LA AYUDA EN BOLIVIA
The Washington Post
October 13, 2006

Para James Cooper, líder de una pequeña organización sin ánimo de lucro que promueve reformas judiciales en América Latina, trabajar en la Bolivia de hoy es muy parecido a practicar un "deporte extremo: Uno no tiene idea de lo que va a suceder ... Se pasa de momentos de alegría plena a total desolación".

Así es la vida en el filo de la navaja -- bajo los auspicios de la nueva Bolivia del Presidente Evo Morales. El ex líder cocalero se convirtió el año pasado en el primer presidente indígena de la nación andina poniendo fin a una historia de dominación de la minoría blanca a la que acusa por la profunda pobreza de su país. Hasta ahora, Morales ha nacionalizado los recursos de gas natural, lanzado una ambiciosa reforma agraria y prometido reevaluar los programas de erradicación de coca.

Esta agenda ha creado un ambiente hostil que amenaza la inversión extranjera y pone a prueba las relaciones internacionales. Además, ha alterado el terreno para organizaciones filantrópicas que juegan un papel esencial en un país donde casi la mitad de los fondos de inversión pública dependen de la ayuda externa y la generosidad privada.

ECUADOR'S LEFTIST FRONT-RUNNER
The Washington Post
October 15, 2006

QUITO, Ecuador, Oct. 14 -- In his unlikely race to power, Rafael Correa is as anti-establishment as any politician on a continent where populists have surged by spewing invective against market reforms and the Bush administration. The leftist economist has called President Bush "tremendously dimwitted," threatened to default on Ecuador's foreign debt and promised to tighten ties with President Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan firebrand, an alliance that sends shivers through foreign oil companies here.

But as Ecuadorans prepare for a presidential election on Sunday with ramifications far beyond this tiny country, it remains unclear if Correa, the front-runner among a dozen candidates, would be a strident nationalist in the mold of Chávez or a center-left pragmatist like Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has mixed market orthodoxy with far-reaching social programs.

Trained in Belgium and at the University of Illinois, Correa, 43, is a former finance minister and university professor. His associates and some influential business executives who oppose him say he is a brilliant thinker who, though deeply concerned about the poor, is unlikely to follow the same path as Chávez. Yet, in a deft campaign in which he has hammered the much-reviled political class, Correa has cast himself as such a radical that Wall Street has winced with every point he has risen in the polls.

EARLY RETURNS POINT TO RUNOFF IN ECUADOR
The New York Times
October 16, 2006

QUITO, Ecuador, Oct. 15 — Ecuador’s voters appeared to be split Sunday between Álvaro Noboa, a banana magnate who favors close ties to the United States, and Rafael Correa, a leftist who is an admirer of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and who, like Mr. Chávez, is known for his anti-American rhetoric.

Based on early election returns, the two men are likely to face a runoff on Nov. 26.

As of 11:45 p.m. local time, with 61 percent of the votes counted, Mr. Noboa was leading with 26.7 percent of the vote to 22.4 percent for Mr. Correa.

To avoid a runoff, one of the candidates needs to win a majority or 40 percent of the vote plus a 10 percentage-point lead over the nearest opponent. There were 13 candidates in the race.

PRESIDENTIAL RACE IN ECUADOR HEADS TO SECOND ROUND
The Washington Post
October 16, 2006

QUITO, Ecuador, Oct. 15 -- A banana magnate who portrays himself as a friend of the poor and a young economist close to Venezuela's mercurial leader, Hugo Chávez, will face each other in a presidential election runoff on Nov. 26 after neither obtained enough votes to win in a first round Sunday in this chronically unstable country.

With 60 percent of the vote counted, Alvaro Noboa, 55, one of the wealthiest men in Latin America, had 27 percent of the vote to 22 percent for Rafael Correa, 43, a charismatic former finance minister who has sharply criticized the Bush administration.

The election in this tiny, mountainous country of 13 million has attracted widespread attention beyond its borders because of the rapid rise of Correa, an economist who promises to overturn Ecuador's old economic order and calls for a constitutional assembly that could dissolve the National Congress.

Calling himself a friend of Chávez, who has become Washington's leading antagonist in Latin America, Correa says his government would shutter a U.S. military base in Ecuador, crack down on multinational companies and possibly declare a moratorium on payment of the country's $10 billion foreign debt. If he wins next month, he will join a growing list of left-leaning leaders elected in Latin America since 2002.

MEXICAN LEFTIST SUFFERS SETBACK IN LOCAL RACE
The New York Times
October 17, 2006

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 16 — The leader of the Mexican left, who has refused to accept his defeat in the summer’s presidential race, saw his party take a beating over the weekend in a governor’s race widely viewed as a referendum on his charisma and power as a populist.

Though aides to the leftist leader, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, dismissed the loss as a minor setback, his detractors noted that it was the latest in a string of signs that he is losing public support, even in his home state, Tabasco.

Mr. López Obrador has charged that the July 2 presidential election was fraudulent and declared himself “the legitimate president,” after a show-of-hands vote among his supporters at a mass rally last month. The gathering came after Mr. López Obrador’s supporters had blockaded major avenues in the capital for six weeks to demand a recount.

MEXICAN LEFTISTS DISPUTE ELECTION RESULTS
The Miami Herald
Oct. 17, 2006

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico - (AP) -- Mexico's largest leftist party, echoing complaints it made after losing July's presidential election, on Monday said wrongdoing by rivals robbed it of the gubernatorial election in the home state of the party's former presidential candidate.

Sunday's vote for governor in the oil-rich Gulf state of Tabasco was seen as a key test for fiery former presidential hopeful Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, which blockaded Mexico City streets and led mass marches after alleging fraud and dirty tricks robbed López Obrador of the presidency.

PRD officials said they would appeal the results of Sunday's election, which showed Andrés Rafael Granier of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, defeating Democratic Revolution candidate César Raúl Ojeda by 10 points.

With nearly 96 percent of the vote counted Monday, Granier had captured 52.9 percent of the vote compared to 42.9 percent for Ojeda. The result was not yet final under Mexican law -- there will be a second count of the vote tallies on Wednesday -- but it appeared highly unlikely the results would change significantly.

STATE RACE SIGNALS BIG DEFEAT FOR MEXICAN LEFTIST
The Christian Science Monitor
October 17, 2006

MEXICO CITY – Andrés Manuel López Obrador jolted Mexico City when he moved protesters to close down main streets in the wake of the nation's disputed July 2 presidential election. The dissent reached its peak when supporters named the defeated leftist president of a "parallel government" at a mass demonstration this fall.

But a month later, his supporters have packed up their tents, traffic is flowing, and many are wondering if his protest movement - which emerged amid allegations of massive electoral fraud - is now losing steam.

This weekend, a gubernatorial race in Tabasco - which voted heavily for Mr. Obrador, a native of the southern state - ended in defeat for the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) candidate, despite Obrador having campaigned hard for his fellow party member. The loss is being viewed as a referendum on the future of Obrador's national protest movement.

"This is a reflection of his losing track with voters," says Rafael Fernandez de Castro, dean of international affairs at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico. "The consequences are not going to be very good for [Obrador] or his movement."

The July 2006 presidential election was the closest in the nation's history, with the two main candidates split by half a percentage point. In September, after a lengthy and tense court review and partial recount, electoral officials finally certified Felipe Calderón, of President Vicente Fox's conservative National Action Party (PAN), as the official president-elect.

NICARAGUA'S ORTEGA REACHES OUT TO FOREIGN INVESTORS
The Miami Herald
Oct. 17, 2006

MANAGUA - California native Kirk Hankla, a lifelong Republican and president of Coldwell Banker Nicaragua, says he has new respect for Daniel Ortega after meeting the Sandinista presidential candidate and former U.S. nemesis.

''There's a propensity to demonize him and prejudge him based on what we heard about him in the U.S. media in the 1980s,'' Hankla said after a meeting between Ortega and a group of mostly foreign developers in Managua. ``But I think he's trying to redeem himself and make good on old promises, which I respect.''

Ortega, who led Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista government during 1979-1990, is leading the polls for the Nov. 5 presidential vote despite having lost the last three elections. But with a divided opposition on the right, many pundits consider this election to be Ortega's best -- and perhaps last -- chance at returning to the presidency.

Projecting himself as a reformer who represents ''national reconciliation,'' Ortega, 60, is doing something he has never done: reaching out to foreign investment groups in Nicaragua, not for votes but for understanding.

VALENTIN PANIAGUA, 69, FORMER PERUVIAN PRESIDENT
The Miami Herald
Oct. 17, 2006

LIMA - Former President Valentín Paniagua, an unassuming former law professor who shepherded Peru back to democracy as interim president following the 2000 collapse of Alberto Fujimori's autocratic regime, died Monday. He was 69.

Paniagua had been hospitalized with respiratory problems since undergoing surgery in August for inflammation of his heart membrane.

The death of Paniagua, who governed Peru from November 2000 to July 2001, was announced by Jorge del Castillo, Peru's current Cabinet chief.

''Paniagua played a fundamental role in the recuperation of the nation's democracy,'' del Castillo told Radioprogramas in Lima. ``He brought tranquility and order to Peru.''

Paniagua governed for only eight months, but in that short time he forged a legacy for leading a broad-based government that took big strides toward rebuilding Peru's tattered democracy, including overseeing clean elections.

BRAZILIAN ELECTION DIVIDING NATION
The Miami Herald
Oct. 18, 2006

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Brazilians are being divided along class lines by a runoff election pitting the nation's first working-class president against a patrician anesthesiologist who governed its wealthiest state.

Some political analysts fear the increasingly divided electorate in the tightening race between President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and challenger Geraldo Alckmin spells trouble in a country where two-thirds of the population lives on no more than $500 a month.

Silva leads Alckmin by about 56 percent to 44 percent of the valid vote, according to recent polls, but leads 59-34 percent among the nation's poor, according to the Datafolha polling organization.

Alckmin, on the other hand, had 69 percent backing among the nation's wealthy minority compared to 34 percent for Silva.

"This differentiation is a novel phenomenon in Brazil," said Albert Fishlow, director of the Institute for Latin American Studies at Columbia University in New York. "I'm a little concerned about how Brazil survives this differentiation."
Silva took 48.6 percent of the first-round vote, while Alckmin got about 42 percent.

The first-round vote split along geographic lines, with Silva winning solidly across Brazil's poor north and northeast while Alckmin took the industrialized south, including Sao Paulo, the state he served as governor.

MOVING OF PERÓN'S GRAVE DRAWS RAUCOUS RESPONSE
The Miami Herald
Oct. 18, 2006

BUENOS AIRES - Defiled by grave robbers, banished from the presidential grounds and sliced for DNA samples, the battered body of former Argentine President Juan Domingo Perón was moved Tuesday to a new monument where enthusiasts hope the remains of his celebrated ex-wife Eva ''Evita'' Perón will one day join him.

But violent clashes among rival Peronist groups at the mausoleum site southwest of Buenos Aires marred the planned ceremony. Men at the scene tossed rocks, brandished clubs and at least one fired a pistol. Police in riot gear swarmed the area.

At least 46 people were injured, according to media reports. It remained unclear what sparked the confrontation, which reminded many of the turbulent and often violent times of Perón's leadership. ''This is a black afternoon that blemishes the memory of Perón,'' a veteran television reporter, Julio Bazán, declared live from the site.

A much-anticipated appearance at the mausoleum by President Néstor Kirchner was put off, possibly because of the violence. The melee came after a torrent of publicity fusing politics and nostalgia marked the move of the remains. The transfer has resounded in recent days in a nation still grappling with the ambivalent legacy of the caudillo more than three decades after his passing.

CLASHES MAR REBURIAL OF JUAN PERÓN
The Washington Post
October 18, 2006

BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 17 -- Violence marred the transfer of the remains of former Argentine president Juan Perón to a new mausoleum on Tuesday, as members of rival union groups appeared to battle for access to the reburial ceremonies.

Even as the flag-draped coffin was being ceremoniously carried onto the mausoleum grounds in the suburb of San Vicente, some at the gathering continued to hurl rocks and beat one another bloody with sticks. Others, peacefully attending to pay tribute to the three-time president, watched in shock.

Television and newspaper reports attributed the violence to disputes over entry onto the grounds of the mausoleum site. Several of those shown rioting on television wore shirts and vests with the symbol of the union coalition that helped organize the transfer of Perón's remains.

Television footage also showed one man repeatedly firing a pistol near the burial grounds before the coffin arrived. At least one person suffered a gunshot wound, and more than 40 people suffered other injuries during the violence.

Perón's body had been moved from its former resting place in Buenos Aires, and thousands had gathered to salute his coffin. The reburial scene underscored what a powerful symbol Perón remains in Argentina, where his party is still the country's dominant political force 32 years after his death.

REGIONAL
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COUNCIL SEAT STILL UNDECIDED AFTER 22 BALLOTS
The New York Times
October 18, 2006

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 17 — Venezuela’s campaign to gain Latin America’s open seat on the Security Council next year lagged Tuesday for a second straight day, but Guatemala, the persistent leader after 22 ballots, was unable to win enough votes to secure the position.

The General Assembly recessed Tuesday night for 24 hours to ponder a way out of the deadlock, with diplomats suggesting that it might be time for the Latin American group to switch to a compromise candidate.

But neither country was prepared to step aside.

“We still have a considerable lead over our competitor, and under normal circumstances our competitor would stand down graciously,” said Gert Rosenthal, the foreign minister of Guatemala, “but for reasons well known, he’s not willing to do that.”

KEEP SECURITY COUNCIL SAFE FROM DEMAGOGUES
OUR OPINION: SEAT SHOULD GO TO GUATEMALA, NOT VENEZUELA
The Miami Herald
Oct. 12, 2006

President Hugo Ch ávez of Venezuela makes no bones about why he wants his country to win a seat on the U.N. Security Council. A successful bid will put him in a better position to pursue the anti-American crusade that has taken him on globe-trotting missions to Tehran, Moscow and Beijing over the years. He even went to Baghdad when Saddam Hussein was still in power. If Mr. Chávez wants to pose as a Third World David fighting the U.S. Goliath, that's up to him, but there's no reason for others to encourage this dangerous delusion.

Ch ávez's policy goal

From all we know and have seen of Mr. Chávez over the years, he would use the seat on the Security Council first and foremost to obstruct the agenda of the United States and its allies. Taking exception to U.S. positions on diplomatic issues small and large should not disqualify any nation from having a vote in the Security Council, but Mr. Chávez would make this a policy goal.

THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT
L. AMERICA'S UNDERGROUND ECONOMY KEEPS BOOMING
The Miami Herald
Oct. 15, 2006

The new Nobel Peace Prize for Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus and his bank for the poor should help draw attention to an explosive problem in this part of the world: the virtual exclusion of Latin America's poor from the capitalist system.

While much attention is being given -- rightfully -- to Latin America's need to follow the steps of China, India and other countries that have successfully inserted themselves into the global economy, it is also true that a huge majority of Latin Americans are not even inserted into their own countries' legal economies.

By most estimates, more than half of Latin Americans operate within the so-called informal economy. A recent study of 12 major Latin American countries by the Peru-based Institute of Liberty and Democracy and the Washington, D.C.-based Inter-American Development Bank offers some alarming figures:

• Sixty-five percent of urban properties in Latin America are ''extra-legal'': they don't have valid property rights' documents that would allow their owners to use them as collateral to obtain a loan, or start a legal business.
• Seventy-six percent of rural properties are ''extra-legal.'' Most of them are in state-owned lands that have been occupied peacefully or violently by groups of peasants.

U.N. FIGHT: GUATEMALA SURPRISES VENEZUELA
The Miami Herald
Oct. 17, 2006

NEW YORK - U.S.-backed Guatemala got the upper hand in a see-saw tussle Monday to secure a seat on the U.N. Security Council, dealing a surprising blow to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's ambitions to lead a worldwide anti-Washington front.

But in 10 rounds of voting Guatemala fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to win the seat, reserved for a Latin American nation, raising the specter of a lengthy battle that could eventually lead to a compromise candidacy.

Venezuelan officials blamed U.S. pressures for blocking their bid to secure a seat on a body that brings a country international prestige and a voice on key issues like the nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea.

Francisco Arias, Venezuela's U.N. ambassador, said Washington was exerting ''grotesque, obscene'' pressures on U.N. members to vote for Guatemala, and vowed his country would fight on.

''Venezuela is staying. Venezuela is by no means pulling out,'' he said after the fourth round of voting, adding that Washington was campaigning against his country as if ``we were inventing a nuclear bomb.''

GUATEMALA LEADS VENEZUELA IN U.N. VOTE
The Miami Herald
Oct. 17, 2006

UNITED NATIONS - U.S.-backed Guatemala held a substantial lead over Venezuela in an 11th round of voting Tuesday for a Latin American seat on the U.N. Security Council, but still fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to win.

Guatemala received 107 votes, while Venezuela got 76 in the secret ballot for a two-year stint on the U.N.'s most powerful body.

The result added to the growing belief that neither would be able to muster the 125 votes needed to win and Latin American nations would ultimately have to look to a compromise candidate.

General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa immediately called for a 12th round of voting in the chamber of 192-member General Assembly.

Guatemala led in nine of 10 ballots Monday, but could not get a two-thirds majority.

VENEZUELA BEHIND IN BID FOR SECURITY COUNCIL SEAT
The Washington Post
October 17, 2006

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 17 -- Venezuela is being stymied for a second straight day in its bid to win a seat on the U.N. Security Council, a result that has shocked diplomats who expected President Hugo Chavez's leftist, oil-rich government to gain a platform on the international stage.

Guatemala led Venezuela in six more rounds of secret voting held by the General Assembly on Tuesday. On Monday, Guatemala won nine of the first 10 rounds. But neither country has secured the required two-thirds vote to succeed Argentina on Jan. 1 in the open Latin American seat on the 15-nation council.

The voting is continuing this afternoon.

Delegates at the United Nations had predicted that Venezuela would easily receive enough support for the seat, but the opening ballot Monday showed Guatemala ahead 114 to 74. Venezuela gained votes through the day but never did better than a 93 to 93 tie with Guatemala. Afterward, several envoys expressed surprise that Venezuela had fared so poorly.
On Tuesday, Venezuela did not garner more than 78 votes in any of first six rounds.

These results have come as a relief to the United States, which has lobbied actively on behalf of Guatemala. Chavez's government, U.S. officials warned, would play a destructive role on the council, lending its support to those countries, including Iran, Sudan and North Korea, that have defied the United Nations.

VENEZUELA IS DENIED SECURITY COUNCIL SEAT
The Washington Post
October 17, 2006

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 16 -- Venezuela was stymied Monday in its bid to win a seat on the U.N. Security Council, a result that shocked diplomats who had expected President Hugo Chavez's leftist, oil-rich government to gain a platform on the international stage.

Guatemala finished ahead of Venezuela in nine of the first 10 rounds of secret voting held by the U.N. General Assembly. But neither secured the required two-thirds vote to succeed Argentina on Jan. 1 in the open Latin American seat on the 15-nation council.

Voting will resume Tuesday.

Delegates at the United Nations had predicted that Venezuela would easily receive enough support for the seat, but the opening ballot showed Guatemala ahead 114 to 74. Venezuela gained votes through the day but never did better than a 93 to 93 tie with Guatemala. Afterward, several envoys expressed surprise that Venezuela had fared so poorly.

VENEZUELA SLIPS IN VOTING FOR U.N. SEAT
The New York Times
October 17, 2006

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 16 — Venezuela’s campaign to gain Latin America’s open seat on the Security Council next year suffered a setback on Monday when Guatemala, backed by the United States, established a wide lead and maintained it after 10 ballots.

Neither country obtained the necessary 125 votes — two-thirds of those voting — to win the seat outright, but Guatemala ended the day with a lead of 110 to 77.

The balloting, which at one point had the countries tied with 93 votes each, resumes Tuesday and could last days, until one prevails or the Latin American group decides to bring forth a compromise candidate.

The initial outcome was a distinct blow to the ambitions of Hugo Chávez, the fiery populist leader of Venezuela, who has turned the contest into a focus of his campaign against Washington, and traveled widely and spent his country’s oil largess liberally to promote its candidacy.

NO WINNER YET IN RACE FOR U.N. SEAT
The Miami Herald
Oct. 18, 2006

NEW YORK - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's effort to win a U.N. Security Council seat for his leftist government faded Tuesday as rival Guatemala continued to lead a string of inconclusive votes, fueling talk of a third-country candidacy.

Both Venezuela and Guatemala vowed to fight on in an election that has become a virtual referendum between the Bush administration and Chávez's anti-U.S. stands. Chávez's domestic critics have accused him of spending millions of oil dollars in lobbying for the Security Council seat.

FELL SHORT AGAIN

U.S.-backed Guatemala led Venezuela in all but one of the 22 rounds of voting, by margins of 15 to 32 votes, but fell short of the two-thirds majority in the 192-member General Assembly needed to win.

The Assembly planned to resume voting Thursday, though it seemed increasingly clear that neither country would hit the two-thirds mark, raising the possibility that Venezuela could withdraw in favor of Guatemala, or that both nations could withdraw in favor of a third country.

The election is for a seat reserved for the Latin American-Caribbean bloc.

It is now held by Argentina, whose two-year term expires Dec. 31. One other such election went past 150 rounds of balloting.

IN UN POLITICAL DRAMA, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE US
The Christian Science Monitor
October 18, 2006

UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. – In the war of Hugo Chávez versus George W. Bush, Venezuela versus the United States, and anti- Americanism versus American leadership, the latest battle is ... a draw.

In marathon voting at the 192-country United Nations General Assembly that continued midday Tuesday, Venezuela had not won a coveted seat on the 15-member Security Council. Mr. Chávez's trash talk about Mr. Bush from the same General Assembly hall a month ago has not won him the support he needs to claim one of the Council's 10 rotating seats -a post from which he had hoped to goad "the imperial power," or "the master of the house," as he is wont to say.

But neither has the US been able to definitively squash Venezuela by assuring the election of Guatemala, its favored candidate, to the open two-year position. The writing on the wall was getting clearer: Neither country seems likely to win the rotating seat reserved for Latin America. Speculation intensified over possible replacement "consensus" candidates.

Yet the stalemate also has deeper roots and explanations, to listen to delegates as they filed out of the hall after each ballot, or to UN officials milling around to see how the vote was going.

For some, it is a result of the fault lines that still divide the world more than three years after debate about invading Iraq. Surveys show the US remains deeply unpopular in much of the world, and the General Assembly voting reflects that.

RELACIONES BILATERALES
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¿MENOS GARROTE Y MÁS ZANAHORIAS PARA CUBA?
The Washington Post
October 6, 2006

El 31 de julio en Miami se pareció mucho al 4 de julio en otras partes de Estados Unidos. Fuegos artificiales, banderas ondeadas y desfiles marcaron el día tras conocerse que Fidel Castro, seriamente enfermo, había cedido temporalmente el poder a su hermano Raúl en La Habana. Miles bailaron y cantaron en celebración del comienzo del fin -- el advenimiento de una Cuba libre.

Las festividades terminaron siendo prematuras pero la comunidad de cubanos en exilio en este país ha vivido para momentos como este. Por casi medio siglo -- mientras sus filas aumentan, evolucionan y se hacen diversas -- los exiliados han permanecido en general unidos en su oposición a Castro y en su deseo de ver una Cuba democrática.

Dicha unidad ha sido una fuente de increíble fuerza e influencia política en los Estados Unidos. Administraciones demócratas y republicanas han visto su política exterior moldeada por líderes cubano americanos que prefieren una línea dura hacia la isla.

CUBAN EXILES, DISSIDENTS SIGN DEMOCRACY PLAN
The Miami Herald
Oct. 12, 2006

Cuban exile organizations in South Florida working together with dissidents on the island this week launched a five-point plan designed to bring democracy to Cuba -- without budging on controversial issues like negotiating with the current leadership.

The document is an important historic step, because it demonstrates an unusual level of cooperation between dissidents and prominent Cuban exile groups, its signers said.

The resolution was signed by the Cuban Patriotic Forum, an umbrella exile group, and the dissident Cuban organization Assembly to Promote Civil Society. The Patriotic Forum includes the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association, the Cuban Liberty Council, Cuban Municipalities in Exile and others.

LESS AID FOR COLOMBIAN STATES RICH IN COCA
The New York Times
October 12, 2006

SAN JOSÉ DEL FRAGUA, Colombia, Oct. 11 (AP) — A $4 billion battle to wean Colombian farmers off the cocaine trade through a combination of military might and American aid is quietly being cut back in a region where cocaine production is surging.

In an internal memo, the United States Agency for International Development cites unacceptable security risks for its workers and a lack of private investment partners for its pullout from Caquetá State.

Six years and more than $4 billion in American tax dollars after Plan Colombia began in Caquetá, coca, the raw ingredient of cocaine, is still the region’s No. 1 cash crop. But the programs meant to provide farmers with a profitable alternative to growing coca are vanishing.

Washington spends $70 million annually on development projects in drug-producing areas of Colombia. But under the Agency for International Development’s new five-year, $350 million plan for development projects, Caquetá and four other Amazonian states where coca production is rising will not receive a penny.

TURNCOAT ANALYST AN EFFECTIVE SPY FOR CUBA, BOOK SAYS
The Miami Herald
Oct. 14, 2006

WASHINGTON - Cuban spy Ana Belen Montes gave Havana detailed information on U.S. eavesdropping programs against the Castro government, allowing Cuba to mount effective counterintelligence and deception operations for years, according to a new book on U.S. intelligence failures.

The book, by Washington Times defense writer Bill Gertz, also describes Alberto R. Coll, a Cuban American and former deputy assistant secretary of defense in the early 1990s, as ''an apparent spy'' -- a charge Coll vehemently denied.

Montes, of Puerto Rican descent, was a senior Cuba analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency, enjoying near-unfettered access to top secrets until she was caught in 2001. She is now serving a 25-year prison term.

Gertz writes that she leaked so many significant U.S. secrets to Havana that some U.S. officials rank her with Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen, the infamous spies for Moscow who sent dozens of U.S. agents to their deaths.

''Montes was the first national-level analyst from the intelligence community known to have turned traitor and the most damaging Cuban spy arrested to date,'' the book says, quoting from a still-classified damage assessment report on Montes. Such reports are written by counterintelligence investigators to assess the harm done by spies.

3 AMERICAN HOSTAGES IN COLOMBIA ARE FOCUS OF U.S. TRIAL
The Miami Herald
Oct. 17, 2006

WASHINGTON - The government said Monday that a top Latin American rebel leader plotted to keep three Americans hostage and use them as political bargaining chips after their plane crashed in Colombia.

But the defense portrayed Ricardo Palmera as a tangential sympathizer of the leftist FARC group who unfairly got caught in the middle after trying to negotiate a deal between guerrilla fighters and the U.S.-backed Colombian government.

''This man had nothing to do with the capture of the three Americans,'' said Palmera attorney Robert Tucker. ``He became the pawn in the power play.''

Justice Department attorney John Crabb opened his case by arguing that Palmera -- better known by his nom de guerre Simón Trinidad -- was guilty on charges of hostage-taking, conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists.

IN COLOMBIA, A DUBIOUS DISARMAMENT
The Washington Post
October 17, 2006

BARRANCABERMEJA, Colombia -- In the midst of a relentless conflict, Colombia's government and its ally, the Bush administration, are hailing the demobilization of 32,000 fighters from right-wing paramilitary groups -- a disarmament that authorities here say is larger than any of those that closed out Central America's civil wars in the 1990s.

But another, far more critical picture of the disarmament has emerged in recent months, drawn from the accounts of rights groups, victims of Colombia's murky, drug-fueled conflict, and even a report from the Attorney General's Office. Paramilitary commanders, according to these accounts, have killed hundreds of people in violation of a cease-fire, trafficked cocaine and stolen millions of dollars from state institutions they had infiltrated.

A handful of lawmakers on Capitol Hill have also voiced concerns about the disarmament, which is partly funded by the United States.

"The demobilization process has been as much about avoiding justice and consolidating ill-gotten gains as it has been about disarming the paramilitaries," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking member of the subcommittee on foreign operations. "The government needs to stop appeasing the leaders of these outlaw militias and listen more to their victims."

LINK TO CHÁVEZ MAY HAVE HURT ECUADOREAN CANDIDATE
The New York Times
October 17, 2006

QUITO, Ecuador, Oct. 16 — Rafael Correa, the charismatic economist who garnered a surprisingly weak showing Sunday in the first round of voting for president, finds himself in a situation that has plagued leftists in other Latin American elections this year: defending his ties to President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela.

Álvaro Noboa, a conservative banking and banana magnate, surged ahead by attacking Mr. Correa’s admiration for Mr. Chávez and his advocacy of nationalistic economic proposals that seemed inspired by Mr. Chávez’s policies. The two candidates are expected to compete in a runoff election on Nov. 26.

“Noboa saw the advantage of running against Correa but also against Chávez,” said Simón Cueva, an economist and political analyst at the Corporation for Development Studies, an Ecuadorean research institute.

Mr. Noboa won about 27 percent of the vote and Mr. Correa 22 percent, with about 70 percent of the votes counted on Monday. Mr. Correa challenged the results and said fraud might have marred the count, which suffered from delays. Election officials suspended a contract with the Brazilian company overseeing electronic tabulations.