Jueves 12 de Abril 2007. Año II, No. SESENTA Y SEIS

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 correspondientes a la semana del 30 de Marzo al 12 de Abril 2007 han sido clasificadas bajo las categorías de:

MIGRACION
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President Bush went to the Mexico border in Arizona on Monday and showed once again that immigration is an issue he understands. He said America suffers from a system that exploits people who come to do jobs that citizens won’t do. He said the country needed “a practical answer” that promotes an orderly flow of legal immigrants, eases pressure at the border and opens a path to citizenship for the hidden 12 million who keep our economy humming. And he urged Congress to find that answer through a “serious, civil and conclusive debate.”

It was good that Mr. Bush made these points, as he periodically does. But there was a dissonance in his speech, because it came only two weeks after he and a group of Senate Republicans circulated a list of “first principles” about immigration that amounted to a huge step backward for efforts to fix a broken system in a reasonable, humane way.

It proposed new conditions on immigrant labor so punitive and extreme that they amounted to a radical rethinking of immigration — not as an expression of the nation’s ideals and an integral source of its vitality and character, but as a strictly contractual phenomenon designed to extract cheap labor from an unwelcome underclass.

POLÍTICA INTERNA
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A DAUGHTER STOLEN IN WARTIME RETURNS TO EL SALVADOR
The New York Times
April 5, 2007

CACAOPERA, El Salvador, April 3 — Suzanne Marie Berghaus finally came home.

Ms. Berghaus, a 26-year-old from the Boston suburbs, walked into a humble homestead here in rural El Salvador on Tuesday and spotted someone a generation older with a face that resembled her own but whom she did not know. Then, mother and daughter embraced.

Soon after, others came for hugs of their own. Confronted with siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews — strangers all — Ms. Berghaus wiped tears from her cheeks. “Hola,” she said, one of the few Spanish words she knows.

This was a family reunion of a most unusual sort. Wrapped in it was a profound personal story as well as that of El Salvador’s bitter civil war, which long ago came to a formal end but still haunts this country in ways large and small.

MOST CUBAN DISSIDENTS SPURN SPANISH OVERTURE
The Miami Herald
Apr. 05, 2007

HAVANA -- The Spanish Embassy on Wednesday offered to meet with opponents of Cuba's government after Madrid's top diplomat ended a three-day official visit to Havana without talking to dissidents.

But the offer was rejected by most dissidents, who said Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos spurned them during a trip to explore improving Spanish and European ties to communist-run Cuba.

'Moratinos' visit was a lack of respect, he came to support the tyranny,'' said Vladimiro Roca, a veteran opponent and former political prisoner who did not attend the embassy gathering.

The wives and mothers of political prisoners who form the Ladies in White also did not attend. Nor did writer Oscar Espinosa Chepe, one of 75 dissidents arrested in a March 2003 crackdown.

''Spain is not an interlocutor because it only hears some Cubans,'' said Espinosa Chepe, who was given a medical release from jail along with 15 others. ``We don't want to be accomplices.''

CUBAN: SYSTEM `NOT IDEAL'
The Miami Herald
Apr. 06, 2007

HAVANA -- One of the most-visible faces of Cuba's caretaker government urged the island's young people to ignore capitalism's ''siren song,'' while acknowledging that the country's current communist system was not as ''ideal'' as had been desired.

Marking the 45th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Youth Union on Wednesday, Vice President and Cabinet Secretary Carlos Lage said the revolution that Fidel Castro led by toppling dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 will have to live on in a generation that may be unsure of what it is rebelling against.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Thousands of teachers walked out of public schools across Argentina Monday in a daylong strike to demand higher pay and justice for a slain colleague.

Some 30,000 teachers, sympathetic labor groups and human rights activists rallied in downtown Buenos Aires and then marched through the capital.

The strike - which paralyzed activity at public schools across the country - posed a challenge to the center-left government of President Nestor Kirchner as he bids to end Argentina's double-digit inflation.

Teachers complained that pay hikes have not kept pace with inflation and protested the death last week of a high school teacher in clashes with police during a demonstration in the southwestern province of Neuquen.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- A prominent opponent of President Hugo Chavez who broke out of prison eight months ago appeared in video televised Monday, saying his struggle against the government is far from finished.

Former top labor boss Carlos Ortega escaped from a maximum-security prison in August while serving a 16-year sentence. He was convicted on civil rebellion charges for leading a national strike in 2002-2003 aimed at ousting Chavez.

"We do not ask for, nor do we offer, a truce," Ortega said in the video shown on the Venezuelan channel Globovision. It was unclear when or where the video was recorded.

Ortega urged Venezuelans to support an upcoming signature drive that would allow the opposition Democratic Action party to participate in elections after boycotting congressional and gubernatorial votes in 2005.

HAVANA -- The woman with the popcorn bags traced the same path along the Malecón seaside boulevard, slowing to a stroll on arthritic feet. Roseta de maiz, she called out, offering her popcorn for sale to young Cubans dangling their legs off the seawall that fronts the Florida Straits.

Maria is 59 and retired -- at least in theory. For the past four years, she has held two jobs in the underground economy to supplement her government pension. Like many of her generation, she is finding that what was possibly once the most generous pension system in Latin America now struggles to sustain its oldest citizens.

''The poorest, most vulnerable group in Cuban society are pensioners,'' said University of Pittsburgh economist Carmelo Mesa-Lago, co-author of the 2004 book Cuba's Aborted Reform.

Now, throughout Havana, retired scientists and teachers drive cabs, hawk newspapers and guard parked cars for tourists in front of the lush Parque Central.

MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS LEAVE A BLOODY TRAIL ON YOUTUBE
The Washington Post
April 9, 2007

MEXICO CITY -- Bloody bodies -- slumped at steering wheels, stacked in pickup trucks, crumpled on sidewalks -- clog nearly every frame of the music video that shook Mexico's criminal underworld.

Posted on YouTube and countless Mexican Web sites last year, the video opens with blaring horns and accordions. Valentín Elizalde, a singer known as the "Golden Rooster," croons over images of an open-mouthed shooting victim. "I'm singing this song to all my enemies," he belts out.

Elizalde's narcocorrido, or drug trafficker's ballad, sparked what is believed to be an unprecedented cyberspace drug war. Chat rooms filled with accusations that he was promoting the Sinaloa cartel and mocking its rival, the Gulf cartel. Drug lords flooded the Internet with images of beheadings, execution-style shootings and torture.

Within months, Elizalde was dead, shot 20 times after a November concert. His enemies exacted their final revenge by posting a video of his autopsy, the camera panning from Elizalde's personalized cowboy boots to his bloodied naked body.

Elizalde's narco-ballad video and its aftermath highlight a new surge of Internet activity by Mexican drug cartels, whose mastery of technology gives them a huge advantage over law enforcement agencies. Following the model of terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda, the cartels have discovered the Web as a powerful means of transmitting threats, recruiting members and glorifying the narco-trafficker lifestyle of big money, big guns and big thrills.

GUATEMALA CITY -- It began with four charred bodies on a dirt road.

QUITO, Ecuador -- President Rafael Correa said Monday he was confident Ecuadoreans would vote in favor of creating a special assembly to rewrite the constitution, a key goal for the new leftist leader.

Correa, who took office Jan. 15, has sought the new constitution to limit the power of traditional political parties he blames for the nation's corruption and political instability.

Correa said the choice in Sunday's referendum would be between the new constitution and "the same thing as always."

"The possibility is very remote" that voters will reject the proposal, Correa told Telesistema television, predicting 85 percent would vote in favor of the assembly.

Sixty-three percent of respondents in poll last week said they supported creating the assembly. The Cedatos poll of 1,264 Ecuadoreans nationwide had a margin of error of 5 percentage points.

CHIQUITA CASE PUTS BIG FIRMS ON NOTICE
The Christian Science Monitor
April 11, 2007

APARTADÓ, COLOMBIA - Rows of stout trees hang heavy with bright green bananas on plantations near Colombia's border with Panama. Workers slice off each bunch and package the fruit in boxes with a label recognized worldwide for its fresh bananas: Chiquita.

In Colombia, however, the Chiquita name has recently come to symbolize the confirmation of a long-suspected relationship between multinational firms and illegal armies fighting in the nation's four-decade-old war.

Chiquita Brands International admitted in US court last month that it paid $1.7 million to Colombia's brutal right-wing militias over the course of eight years. The company said it did so to protect its employees and agreed to pay a $25 million fine. The case is sparking outrage in the capital, Bogotá, where officials want to see company executives on trial.

Many in Urabá, Colombia's banana growing region, shrug off the payments as normal. Chiquita pulled out of Colombia in 2004 by selling its Banadex subsidiary to a local company for $43.5 million. But the case could have implications for other companies doing business here or in other conflict areas around the world, analysts say.

SERVING PRISON TIME AS A FAMILY
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
April 11, 2007

LA PAZ, BOLIVIA - Morning sunlight falls on two young girls clapping out the universal cadence of patty-cake. And, like little girls everywhere, when they tire of it, they run off, giddy with laughter, passing a group of boys hunched over a game of marbles.

But this isn't a typical playground. These children are in prison.

Here in San Pedro Prison, 250 children have moved into cells with their fathers who are among 1,500 male inmates incarcerated for crimes ranging from money laundering to murder. In some cases entire families squeeze in – turning cement cells into closets stuffed with beds, clothes, toys, and utensils.

This is Bolivia's answer to preserving the family unit when poverty and crime would otherwise separate children from their parents.

In most cases, the arrangement provides a type of social security that the inmates' immediate families don't get from either their extended families or the state. Without the father working, women must find jobs, not act as caretakers. In other cases, mothers themselves are in jail or have abandoned the family altogether. When whole families move in it's often for moral support, to keep the family together, and because, in many instances, they have nowhere else to go.

SANTA CRUZ, BOLIVIA - In the Eastern tropics of Bolivia, beauty contests are so entrenched in the culture that high school students, when raising money, put on pageants here the way American teens hold car washes.

Miss Bolivia Universe 2006, a 22-year-old named Jessica Jordan, regularly gets greeted by politicians – her opinion matters – and never stops signing autographs. The pastime is so popular that even agricultural organizations get into the game each year, crowning a "Sugarcane Queen," "Milk Queen," and "Rice Queen."

While the dramatic snowcapped peaks in the Andes and the bowler hats and petticoats worn by indigenous women are widely known as the exported symbols of Bolivia, here in Santa Cruz, a steamy tropical city that seems far more like Brazil, beauty queens reign. And while in the United States Miss America promoters seek to justify the scholarly aspects of the contest, in Bolivia it's a celebration of long locks, long legs, and captivating smiles.

"Beauty queens are heroes here," says Roque Alvarenga, a makeup artist who coordinates pageants at Gloria Promotions, an agency that also offers beauty classes to local residents. "We don't have well-known artists here. In Santa Cruz, it's the culture of beauty."

CORREA: ECUADOR MUST PRESERVE GALAPAGOS
The Miami Herald
Apr. 11, 2007

QUITO, Ecuador -- President Rafael Correa called on his Cabinet and local authorities to meet urgently to better preserve Ecuador's famed Galapagos Islands, the country's top tourist destination. His suggestions include restricting tourist and residency permits as well as flights to the islands.

Correa's announcement Tuesday coincided with a visit by a UNESCO delegation, which is meeting with Ecuadorean authorities to determine ways to preserve the archipelago.

UNESCO's World Heritage Center director warned last month of threats to the flora and fauna of the "fragile and delicate" island chain.

Correa, in his signed emergency decree, did not specify whether government agencies would be given more money to combat the effects of tourism, human settlement, the introduction of nonnative species and other threats.

The decree said the meeting should take place within 15 days.

RELACIONES BILATERALES
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RIO DE JANEIRO, April 4 — Latin American human rights groups have reacted with satisfaction and muted surprise to the arrest in the United States of three Argentine and Peruvian former military officers accused of human rights abuses who had fled their home countries to avoid prosecution there.

Of the three men detained over the weekend in Virginia, Maryland and Florida and charged with violating immigration laws, the most notorious is Ernesto Guillermo Barreiro of Argentina. During the so-called Dirty War of the late 1970s, he was the chief interrogator at La Perla, a clandestine prison in Córdoba, Argentina’s second largest city, where more than 2,000 prisoners were tortured or killed.

WASHINGTON -- As Fidel Castro appears to be growing more active, and U.S. reports that he has cancer increasingly seem off the mark, Cuba watchers are questioning just how much American spies know about what's happening on the island.

The U.S. intelligence community -- despite having spy satellites and ships -- is now too shellshocked from past intelligence setbacks on Cuba and the Iraq weapons of mass destruction debacle to aggressively spy on the island, some Cuba observers say.

Washington, as a result, is now largely ignorant of what is happening within the inner circles in Havana as Cuba undergoes a transfer of power from Castro to his brother Raúl, according to several people familiar with U.S. intelligence on the island.

The U.S. intelligence community's current assessment is that Castro is more ill than Havana is admitting, and that change in Cuba is unlikely in the near term, though a power struggle is possible further down the road.

BOISE, Idaho -- (AP) -- Like other states before it, Idaho is turning to Cuba in search of new markets for its products.

With Cuba's communist dictator Fidel Castro ailing, Idaho Gov. C.L. ''Butch'' Otter is among those optimistic that political change will help turn the island's 11 million residents into big consumers. In March, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman was the latest U.S. official to visit Cuba, which bought $340 million (euro254.2 million) in U.S. farm products in 2006.

Otter and his 35-member entourage are scheduled to travel to Cuba on Tuesday for a four-day trade mission,

''He's going down there to sell groceries,'' said Jon Hanian, Otter's spokesman. ``It's an opportunity to make some sales.''

In a speech last month, Otter told reporters he had a ''respectful'' relationship with Castro. The United States has a trade embargo with Cuba that exempts food, and does not allow residents to visit the island nation. It accuses Cuba of jailing political dissidents.

COURTS U.S. FIGHTS POSADA RELEASE
The Miami Herald
Apr. 10, 2007

Stung by defeat, the U.S. government launched a counteroffensive Monday to prevent the court-ordered release of Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles to Miami before his trial on fraud charges in federal court in Texas.

Justice Department lawyers urged U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone to reconsider her decision on Friday to grant Posada a $350,000 bond and to hold a hearing on the collateral pledged by supporters to secure his bail.

Lawyers in Justice's counterterrorism division pressed the judge to delay her bond decision until that hearing, which could focus on a $1.5 million Coral Way office building owned by a Posada supporter, Judith Garcia Prado. In a court filing, she pledged the property on 1378 SW 22nd St. for his bond, which is set far lower than the building's value.

''The court's order thus waters down the bond conditions, and presents no real disincentive to flee,'' wrote Justice Department attorneys John W. Van Lonkhuyzen and Paul Ahern in a 10-page filing.

VICTIMS PROTEST CUBAN MILITANT'S RELEASE
The Miami Herald
Apr. 11, 2007

HAVANA -- Tearful relatives of Cubans killed in a 1976 airline bombing blamed on anti-communist militant Luis Posada Carriles denounced on Wednesday a U.S. court ruling allowing the jailed former U.S. operative to be released from prison on bond.

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in a signed statement, accusing American authorities of planning to free a "monster" after a U.S. judge upheld a decision to grant Posada bail.

"I'm outraged," said Iliana Alfonso, whose father was among those killed on the Cubana de Aviacion flight that exploded off Barbados. "In the United States, they are talking about good terrorism and bad terrorism. To me, all terrorism is bad."

Posada, a Cuban-born former CIA operative and naturalized citizen of Venezuela, is wanted in Cuba and Venezuela for masterminding the jetliner bombing, which killed 73 people - charges Posada denies. Cuba's government has repeatedly accused the U.S. government of protecting Posada by holding him on a far less serious charge.

FEDERAL COURTS BOND RULING COULD BE A VICTORY FOR POSADA
The Miami Herald
Apr. 11,2007

Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles took one step closer Tuesday to moving to Miami on a $350,000 bond as he awaits trial on fraud charges in a Texas federal court.

Posada's release from a jail in New Mexico near the Texas border could be imminent, thanks to a new ruling by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone. She rejected the U.S. government's request to freeze her decision on Posada's bond until Friday, when Justice Department lawyers planned to decide on an appeal.

In a separate bid, prosecutors have sought to increase Posada's bond, saying the former CIA operative could flee the country to evade his May 11 trial if his bond is not set higher. Cardone has not ruled on that request.

Posada's Miami lawyer, Arturo Hernandez, was poised to post his client's bond. ''We're going to proceed in accordance with the court's order,'' Hernandez said Tuesday.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to say what prosecutors might do.

POSADA CLOSER TO RELEASE ON BOND
The Miami Herald
Apr. 11, 2007

Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles could be released as early as Wednesday from a jail in New Mexico near the Texas border if U.S. authorities don't take immediate action to appeal his bond or place him in immigration detention.

Posada took one step closer to moving to Miami on a $350,000 bond as he awaits trial on immigration fraud charges in a Texas federal court.

Posada's release from jail could be imminent, thanks to yet another ruling by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone. She rejected the U.S. government's request to reconsider her recent decision on Posada's bond and to hold another hearing to reassess the sufficiency of his bail.

Justice Department lawyers argued in vain that the former CIA operative could flee the country to evade his May 11 trial if his bond is not set higher.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to say what prosecutors might do. ''We're weighing our options on whether to appeal,'' said Dean Boyd.

Posada's Miami lawyer, Arturo Hernandez, was poised to post his client's bond and seek his immediate release. ''We're going to proceed in accordance with the court's order,'' Hernandez said.

HAVANA -- (AP) -- Fidel Castro denounced a U.S. court ruling allowing a jailed Cuban militant who was once a U.S. operative to post bond, accusing the American government of planning to free a ``monster.''

The charges came in a letter distributed by Foreign Ministry officials after U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone refused earlier Tuesday to reverse her decision.

REGIONAL
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BIOFUELS VENEZUELA'S CHAVEZ MAKES A U-TURN ON ETHANOL
The Miami Herald
Apr. 04, 2007

CARACAS -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was on the ethanol bandwagon. Until, that is, President Bush jumped aboard. Now, it seems, ethanol is a threat to the poor.

In August 2006, the Venezuelan state oil corporation PDVSA signed an agreement with its Brazilian counterpart, Petrobras, for ''long-term'' supplies of ethanol as a renewable substitute for gasoline.

Until just a few weeks ago, the leftist Chávez was pressing ahead with a five-year project to sow almost 700,000 acres with sugar cane to produce ethanol with the technical support of Brazil and Cuba -- 15 new sugar mills were planned to produce 30,000 barrels of ethanol a day.

Even in early March, Havana and Caracas announced an agreement to build 11 ethanol plants in Venezuela, using Cuban expertise. The agreement also included the modernization of 10 plants in Cuba and the construction of a further eight, based on Brazilian production methods.

CARACAS -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was on the ethanol bandwagon. Until, that is, President Bush jumped aboard. Now, it seems, ethanol is a threat to the poor.

In August 2006, the Venezuelan state oil corporation PDVSA signed an agreement with its Brazilian counterpart, Petrobras, for ''long-term'' supplies of ethanol as a renewable substitute for gasoline.

Until just a few weeks ago, the leftist Chávez was pressing ahead with a five-year project to sow almost 700,000 acres with sugar cane to produce ethanol. With the technical support of Brazil and Cuba, 15 new sugar mills were planned to produce 30,000 barrels of ethanol a day.

Even in early March, Havana and Caracas announced an agreement to build 11 ethanol plants in Venezuela, using Cuban expertise. The agreement also included the modernization of 10 plants in Cuba and the construction of a further eight, based on Brazilian production methods.

But after Bush visited Brazil and signed an ethanol deal with President Luíz Inacio Lula da Silva, both Chávez and his close ally, Fidel Castro, converted to the anti-ethanol camp. Chávez is among the most vocal critics of Bush, and has frequently referred to him as ``the devil.''

HAVANA -- (AP) -- Cuba's government on Wednesday issued the second article in a week about ethanol production signed by Fidel Castro, with the ailing leader reiterating his charge that the use of food crops to produce biofuels for automobiles could leave the world's poor hungry.

''Where are the poor countries of the Third World going to get the minimum resources to survive?'' asked the article, Reflections of the Commander in Chief. ``I'm not exaggerating or using unmeasured words. I am sticking to the facts.''

As for Brazil's continued support of ethanol production, Castro wrote: ``It is not my intention to harm Brazil, nor get mixed up in affairs related to the internal politics of that great country.''

But, Castro wrote, key questions remained unanswered about plans for biofuel production following weekend talks between Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and President Bush on that and other trade matters.

''From where and who are going to supply the more than 500 million tons of corn and other cereals that the United States, Europe and the rich countries are going to need to produce the quantity of gallons of ethanol that the big companies of the United States and other countries demand in return for their many investments?'' he asked.

HAVANA, April 4 (AP) — The ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro returned to the public debate — if not view — for the second time in less than a week on Wednesday with a column in the Communist Party newspaper Granma.

Mr. Castro, 80, chided the Bush administration for its support of ethanol production for automobiles, a move that he said would leave the world’s poor hungry.

It was his second article on the issue in less than a week, indicating that he is increasingly eager to have his voice heard on international matters, eight months after stepping down as Cuba’s president because of illness.

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration says it has doubled annual U.S. aid to Latin America to $1.6 billion. Critics say the aid number is more spin than reality.

Who is right?

As is often the case, that depends on how you cut the numbers.

Although Bush has stepped up aid to the region, the big numbers hardly tell the whole story. In fact, the administration is redirecting funds to a few select programs and countries and slashing many other programs, budget watchers say.

By highlighting its aid, the Bush administration hopes to counter Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's push of a leftist agenda that mixes aggressive state intervention in the economy, harsh anti-U.S. rhetoric and much-touted oil sales on soft terms that U.S. officials say seek to increase the Venezuelan leader's influence.

Demócratas de la Cámara de Representantes han presentado su plan de reformar futuros acuerdos comerciales. Como era de esperarse, su "Nueva Política Comercial para Estados Unidos" se revela como una respuesta directa a la ansiedad ante la globalización y el comercio que ayudaron a regresarles el control del Congreso en noviembre.

La propuesta busca castigar a China y Japón por prácticas comerciales injustas y abrir más el mercado sur coreano. También incluye amplias promesas a trabajadores estadounidenses de entrenamiento laboral, programas de salud, beneficios pensionarios y asistencia salarial con el fin de suavizar los efectos de la globalización.

Para América Latina, ciertos elementos de este plan no podrían haber llegado en mejor momento. La imagen del libre comercio es negativa en la región y la mayoría de los países que no tienen un tratado con Estados Unidos están ahora liderados por políticos de centroizquierda que se rehúsan a firmar tratados comerciales o que afirman que acuerdos comerciales sin ciertas modificaciones dejarían a muchos de sus electores en una situación extremadamente vulnerable.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- A lawyer representing the Venezuelan government on Monday accused the United States of shielding a Cuban militant from standing trial for allegedly planning the deadly 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner.

A federal judge in Texas last week ordered Luis Posada Carriles freed on bail pending trial on charges he lied in an attempt to become a U.S. citizen. Prosecutors on Monday asked the judge to reconsider.

"If the White House doesn't want them to free Posada, the U.S. government can easily prevent his release," lawyer Jose Pertierra claimed in a phone interview from his Washington office.

"Either extradite him to Venezuela or try him in the United States for the 73 counts of first-degree murder," Pertierra said.

Asked about the lawyer's claims, U.S. Embassy spokesman Brian Penn said: "The judge has made a decision. It's the responsibility of the Department of Justice to respond to that."

Re recent stories on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and ethanol: I am not aware that anyone is proposing ethanol to fully replace gasoline as a transportation fuel for ''rich people's cars.'' Ethanol is being considered as a complementary fuel and/or blend to gasoline.

There is no basis for politically motivated scare tactics that ethanol would take away food from the mouths of the world's poor. I would encourage Chavez and Fidel Castro to analyze the economies of Vietnam and Zimbabwe to fully understand what it would take to feed the world's hungry.

In the early 1990s, communist Vietnam turned its collectivized agricultural system into a free and open market, turning Vietnam into the world's third-largest exporter of rice today. On the other hand Castro's friend, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, confiscated the agricultural sector, turning what was Africa's grain basket and largest exporter of grains into a country at the border of starvation.

CARACAS, Venezuela, April 9 — With President Hugo Chávez setting a May 1 deadline for an ambitious plan to wrest control of several major oil projects from American and European companies, a showdown is looming here over access to some of the most coveted energy resources outside the Middle East.

Moving beyond empty threats to cut off all oil exports to the United States, officials have recently stepped up the pressure on the oil companies operating here, warning that they might sell American refineries meant to process Venezuelan crude oil even as they seek new outlets in China and elsewhere around the world.

“Chavez is playing a game of chicken with the largest oil companies in the world,” said Pietro Pitts, an oil analyst who publishes LatinPetroleum, an industry magazine based here. “And for the moment he is winning.”

SANTA CRUZ, BOLIVIA - Forty miles in from the eastern city of Santa Cruz, down a rough dirt road lined by nothing save a few crude homes and the odd cow, stands a jungle of shiny silver and yellow tubes and tanks.

It's the property of the Spanish gas and oil company Repsol YPF, which earned $4.1 billion in net revenue in 2006 and is processing natural gas from nearby wells and pumping it via pipeline throughout Bolivia and Brazil.

It's this disparity between the wealth of the big foreign companies and the poverty of the local population that Bolivian President Evo Morales sought to reduce when he "nationalized" the country's natural gas industry by sending federal troops out to gas fields last May, insisting on more revenue from foreign operators. Bolivia has Latin America's second-largest gas reserves but is one of the region's poorest countries.

Mr. Morales joins other energy-rich Latin American nations in claiming more from – and depending less on – international investors and institutions, a movement led by Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez.

In multiple elections last year, voters in the region overwhelmingly rejected the orthodox free-market policies of the past few decades by electing leftist leaders.

CARACAS -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was on the ethanol bandwagon. Until, that is, President Bush jumped aboard. Now, it seems, ethanol is a threat to the poor.

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shrugged off what she called the "negative agenda" of leftist critics in Latin America such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, saying Tuesday the United States will pursue its own agenda as it sees fit.

The Bush administration's top diplomat defended U.S. policies in Latin America, and did not mention her fiercest critic in the region by name.

"The United States has a positive agenda for Latin America, and it's not in response to anybody's negative agenda toward the United States," Rice told journalists from around the world, in response to a question about Chavez and the rise of leftist politics.

President Bush's weeklong trip to Latin America last month was designed to emphasize U.S. aid for the region and counter criticism that the United States has neglected the region.