O U R   A M E R I C A

• More than 4,000 Panamanians have benefited from Operation Miracle
December 11, 2006
HAVANA — Operation Miracle has benefited thousands of low-income Panamanians who would not have been able to obtain operations in their own country, Camilo Alleyne, Panamanian health minister, told Prensa Latina.

• BOLIVIA
The days of the latifundia are counted
December 7, 2006
EVO Morales has not failed once since he became president of the Quemado Palace after being the favorite at the polls with 53.7% of the vote, despite certain people doubting his victory. On November 28 he dealt another blow to neoliberalism and internal interests by the passing, despite right-wing opposition, of the Agrarian Reform Act with which the days of the latifundia are counted.

• Cochabamba: capital of South American integration
December 6, 2006
COCHABAMBA, Bolivia Dec. 6 —. This Bolivian city is becoming the capital of continental unity, according to organizers of the Social Forum for Integration of the Peoples, which begins today, and the 2nd South American Summit of Nations (CSN), to open this Friday.

• Latin America is in better conditions for integration, Chávez affirms
December 6, 2006
CARACAS, December 5.—President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela has assured that Latin America is now in better conditions than ever before to achieve genuine integration and highlighted Cuba’s “exceptional” role in this new era in which “horizons are continuing to brighten.”

• VENEZUELA
December 6, 2006
WITH the resounding reelection of Venezuelan President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías on December 3, with more than seven million votes, a series of important definitions and advances by the continent’s leftist forces has come to a close, announcing not just the inevitable end of the neoliberal model and dependence on the empire, but also the growing awareness that capitalism is not a safe port for our people. 

• Felipe Calderón sworn in as president of Mexico
December 1, 2006
MEXICO. — Felipe Calderón was sworn in today, Friday, at 06:00 GMT as the constitutionally-elected president of Mexico, in a transfer of power ceremony unprecedented in this country’s history. At the event in the Los Pinos presidential residence, Calderón received the national flag that will accompany him throughout the six years of his mandate.
• Candidate Correa still in the lead, according to official Ecuadorian survey
November 27, 2006
QUITO, November 27 (PL) —. Ecuadorian presidential candidate Rafael Correa of the Alianza País coalition is maintaining a strong lead of more than 30 percentage points over his rival, Alvaro Noboa, with 47.73% of the vote counted. Correa, whom exit polls showed as the winner of the previous day’s election, with a 13-point lead over Noboa, appeared to be winning 68.28% of the vote. The latest official figures from the Electoral Supreme Court (TSE) showed banana magnate Noboa, of the Institutional Renewal Party (PRIAN), with 31.7% of the vote after the ballot count at 17,476 polling stations out of a total of 36,613.

• Venezuelan electoral process enters decisive week
November 27, 2006
CARACAS, November 27 (PL).—The Venezuelan electoral process enters a decisive week today, marked by the close of campaign activities, the installation of polling stations and final preparations for the vote on December 3. At midnight this Sunday the ban on voting surveys went into force, while in those already taken the common element is the clear intention of voting in favor of the president of the Republic, Hugo Chávez.

• Much more than a second bridge  over the Orinoco
November 24, 2006
THE ascent to power of revolutionary, popular, progressive and authentically democratic governments in Latin America, has cleared the way for the elimination of the neo-liberal economic model with the implementation of social justice programs, participatory democracies, and a new type of integration in the areas of economics, credit and trade is aimed at achieving a sustainable development and equality in the region, without the need for debt or dependence on a transnational imperialist power.

• Will the Condor fly again?
November 24, 2006
RECENTLY, the U.S. newspaper USA Today reported a decision by the Republican administration of George W. Bush to end the ban on training the armies of 21 Latin American countries, in the belief that the prohibition had caused the U.S. to lose influence in the region and encourage progress – dramatic for Washington – of leftist governments. Imperial arrogance was the reason why, in 2002, via an executive decree, the practice of training Latin American military forces was abandoned, in reprisal against those nations that refused to grant immunity to Yankee soldiers charged with war crimes or human rights violations.

• ECUADOR
At a moment crucial to its future
November 24, 2006
BY the time this edition goes into circulation, more than nine million Ecuadorians will be exercising their right to vote, and the results might even be coming in regarding one or the other of the candidates vying for the presidential seat at Carondelet Palace: banana industry Álvaro Noboa — who led the first round of elections with 26.6% of the vote —, and the Alianza País (Homeland Alliance) candidate, the young economist Rafael Correa, who won 22.51% of the vote. Anything could happen in a country where 80% of the population is poor, and where, in addition...

• Presidents Lula and Chávez inaugurate second bridge over Orinoco River
November 14, 2006
BOLIVAR.— Presidents Hugo Chávez Frías and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Venezuela and Brazil, respectively, have inaugurated the Orinoquia Bridge, the second over the Orinoco River, considered to be the most important work of infrastructure in Latin America in recent years. At the same time, they oversaw the placement of the foundational buoy for a third bridge, which will also be constructed by firms from the two countries and will be named the MERCOSUR Bridge.

• Oliver North in Nicaragua: The height of cynicism
November 3, 2006
IN reality, the empire does not know what else to do in its campaign to create fear and discredit around Daniel Ortega’s campaign leading up to the November 5 elections in which, according to all sides, he would be the leading candidate in the first round and possibly the winner. With that in mind, Dan Burton, the fascist U.S. legislator and associate of the Cuban-American mafia, and Donald Rumsfeld, the discredited U.S. Secretary of Defense, have been visiting Managua in an active and overt sapping operation.

• Carlos Lage heads Cuban delegation at 16th Ibero-American Summit
November 3, 2006
CARLOS Lage Dávila, vice president of the Council of State, has traveled to Montevideo, Uruguay, at the head of the Cuban delegation participating in the 16th Ibero-American Summit that takes place in this capital from November 3 to 5. Within the framework of this Summit, the Ibero-American countries will debate the subject of migration for mutual development.

• Guatemalan vice president hoping to extend trade relations
November 2, 2006
With agreements signed in the fields of cooperation, trade and exchange, the four day visit by Eduardo Stein, the vice president of Guatemala, leading a delegation of public officials and business people, came to an end on Saturday October 28. The Central American vice president stated on his arrival in Cuba that “we have worked hard to bring together this diverse delegation, with the hope of intensifying and extending trade and cooperation relations between Cuba and Guatemala.”

• THE BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA
An instrument for violating the spirit and the letter of U.S. law
November 1, 2006
THE liquor company Bacardi was accused for the second time this year of using its corporate resources to influence U.S. politics.  The organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which monitors political corruption, said in a press released that it has filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) regarding Senator Bill Nelson and Senator Mel Martínez, Bush’s former housing secretary, charging them with having illegally accepted more than $60,000 each from the Bacardi beverage company for their Senate election campaigns.

• From Uruguay
The Ibero-American Summit begins
November 1, 2006
MONTEVIDEO, October 31.— Documents in hand, dozens of officials, including deputy foreign ministers and specialists from Ibero-American countries, swarmed through the lobby and other areas of the Radisson Hotel, in Montevideo’s old quarter, the day before the 16th Ibero-American Summit opens its doors under the auspices of the Uruguayan hosts. The principal documents to be analyzed, both the Final Statement and the Montevideo Accord, according to this journalist...

• Oaxaca governor rejects congressional demand for his resignation

October 31, 2006
MEXICO.— Ulises Ruiz, governor of Oaxaca, has confirmed that on no account will he resign and returned yesterday to the regional government building that had been taken over by more than 4,000 members of federal police riot squads (PFP).

• 16th Ibero-American Summit begins in Montevideo tomorrow
October 31, 2006
MONTEVIDEO.— The 16th edition of the summit for the heads of state and governments of Ibero-America is set to begin this week in Montevideo, Uruguay, with an agenda in which the issue of migration and development will establish the model for dialogue and cooperation.

• Lula reelected
October 30, 2006
BRASILIA, October 29.— This Sunday President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was reelected to a new mandate to lead Brazil until 2010, by defeating his Social Democratic rival Geraldo Alckmin with a landslide of 57 million votes in the second round of presidential elections.  “Candidate Lula da Silva is reelected,” announced Marco Aurelio de Mello, president of the Electoral Supreme Court, with praise for the swiftness of the vote count and the announcement of the outcome at 19:30 (21:30 GMT), two hours ahead of schedule, the AP reported. “People voted for Lula for a number of reasons,” said Alexandre Barros, an analyst with the Early Warning Company in Brasilia.

• Venezuela proposes Bolivia as candidate for Security Council
October 25, 2006
LA PAZ, October 24.—President Evo Morales of Bolivia announced today that his counterpart Venezuelan Hugo Chávez had suggested to him proposing that Andean nation as a candidate for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council in the event of Caracas not being elected.

• Bolivia and Argentina sign strategic accord
October 20, 2006
LA PAZ, October 19.— Argentine President Néstor Kirchner has welcomed the agreement on exports of Bolivian gas to his country, which could total some $20 billion over 20 years, whilst his host Evo Morales took the opportunity to assure President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that Brazil “will never lack gas”.

• Cuba satisfied with main proposals of Ibero-American Summit
October 19, 2006
MONTEVIDEO.— To date, Cuba has expressed its satisfaction with the content of the main proposals to be discussed at the 16th Ibero-American Summit, scheduled to take place in this capital from November 3-5, said an official source yesterday. “To date, the principal documents are in line with our expectations,” Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno told Prensa Latina. The high-ranking official attended a meeting of national coordinators, the final one prior to the meeting of heads of state and government, in order to discuss and clarify details on the content of the Montevideo Commitment.

• Noboa and Correa to second electoral round in Ecuador
October 16, 2006
QUITO, October 15.—The second round in Ecuador is forecast to be a close-fought battle between two candidates with totally distinct positions: millionaire Alvaro Noboa and the left-wing economist Rafael Correa, said political analysts today. According to the Electoral Supreme Court, with 50.31% of the votes counted, Alvaro Noboa had 736,236 votes (27.4%), followed by Rafael Correa with 590,736 votes (21.98%).

• Huge demonstration in Bolivia reaffirms people’s support for Evo Morales
October 13, 2006
LA PAZ.—Thousands of indigenous people and campesinos came together today in La Paz, seat of the Bolivian executive, for a huge demonstration that turned into a show of support for President Evo Morales, whose government is facing rumors of a coup d’état. “With or without Evo Morales this cultural democratic revolution is going ahead, nobody is going to stop the change in Bolivia, sisters and brothers,” the leader affirmed.

• THE U.S. POLICY OF DOUBLE STANDARDS...
“Good” walls and “bad” walls
October 12, 2006
WITH the disgraceful approval of a law permitting the construction of a wall of more than 2,000 square kilometers along the country’s southern border, the Republican administration of George W. Bush has paid back Mexican President Vicente Fox with a slap in the face for six years of docile servility on the part of his government, even to the point of betraying the principles that have prevailed in that country’s foreign policy. That is not to mention that he is leaving newly-elected Felipe Calderón...

• BOLIVIA
They are not going to halt it
October 11, 2006
THE three horsemen of the Apocalypse are galloping wildly through Bolivia. The national right, the media power that represents it and the empire have joined forces to destroy the project that, under the leadership of Evo Morales the indigenous president, aspires to ensure that the country is no longer the illiterate beggar of Latin America, subject to...

• Lula in the lead but second round in Brazilian elections
October 2, 2006
BRASILIA, October 1.—President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva emerged from this Sunday’s elections in the lead, but without obtaining the absolute majority he needed for being declared the winner, according to an official statement from the Supreme Electoral Court.

• Initial agenda of Mexican president-elect surrounded by protests
September 7, 2006
MEXICO, September 10 (PL).— President-elect Felipe Calderón has presented his initial agenda in the midst of protests against him and under the shadow of doubts that remain regarding alleged electoral fraud.

• Evo Morales exposes conspiracy against nationalization
August 24, 2006
LA PAZ, August 24.— In a message to the nation, Bolivian President Evo Morales today accused the opposition parties of organizing a new conspiracy against the nationalization of hydrocarbon resources, which was decreed on May 1.

• Chávez inaugurates largest children’s cardiology hospital in Latin America
August 21, 2006
CARACAS, August 20.—Today Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez inaugurated in the capital the Latin American Children’s Cardiology Hospital, considered the government’s most important achievement in the public health field.

• MEXICO
Playing with fire
August 7, 2006
WHILE many predicted it, there was always a question. After so many years of hearing about the "independence" of the three branches of government in "representative democracy," more than a few people believe in it, and speaking of belief, some...

• Mexico demanding a response
August 1, 2006
ONE month after Mexico’s elections uncertainty still remains over who actually won them, while tensions is growing in expectation of a decision by the Electoral Court of the Judicial Power of the Federation (TEPJF), which has the faculty of ordering a recount or even annulling the election.

• More that two million López Obrador supporters gather
at the Zócalo
July 31, 2006
MEXICO, 31 July (PL)— Hundreds of people awoke Sunday in the Plaza de la Constitución (Zócalo) and many more did so in various camps installed in diverse points of the Mexican capital, in response to the call of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

• President Kirchner to receive today presidents attending MERCOSUR Summit
July 20, 2006
CORDOBA, Argentina, July 19—Tonight President Néstor Kirchner is to receive the presidents, foreign ministers and associated members of MERCOSUR countries, and guests at an official dinner that will initiate the final portion of the 30th Summit of this regional integration block.

• Experts begin to discuss agenda for the 30th MERCOSUR Summit
July 19, 2006
CORDOBA, Argentina, July 18.— The national and technical coordinators and other experts of the five member countries of Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) are meeting this Wednesday to draft an agenda for the 30th summit of this Common Market Council and for the meeting of heads of states scheduled for Thursday and Friday at the Fairground Complex where they are still making the finishing touches befitting such an important meeting.
- Trade unions and social organizations support South American integration

• El Salvador says NO to Posada
July 18, 2006
"WE do not like terrorism and we are not going to give asylum to a foreign terrorist," René Figueroa, Salvadoran minister of government, announced after a cable from the AFP news agency referred to contact between Luis Posada Carriles and "influential government" figures, including President Antonio Saca.

• More than one million people respond to Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s call
July 17, 2006
MEXICO.—Presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador called yesterday for civil resistance in defense of democracy in Mexico and the legitimacy of the July 2 elections, according to various news agencies.

• López Obrador fights back
July 14, 2006
TWO weeks have passed since the overwhelming majority of the 41 million Mexicans entitled to vote decided to go to the polling booths to elect the new president of Mexico in a contest in which there were two options: either to vote for the continuance of a neoliberal model that privileges a minority plus everything in that country that has represented genuflection before the empire; or, on the basis of a program for social justice and national dignity, to attempt to construct a society in which there is space for everyone.

• Mexican opposition presents new evidence of fraud
July 12, 2006
MEXICO CITY, July 11.—The opposition coalition For the Good of All today presented fresh evidence of fraud in the July 2 elections as part of its arguments to contest the results. The evidence consists of two filmed recordings of 23 and 30 minutes, where one can see the violation yesterday of a location where ballot slip packages are stored (the first video) and the annulment of votes favoring the coalition (the second).

• López Obrador fights back
July 11, 2006
TWO weeks have passed since the overwhelming majority of the 41 million Mexicans entitled to vote decided to go to the polling booths to elect the new president of Mexico in a contest in which there were two options: either to vote for the continuance of a neoliberal model that privileges a minority plus everything in that country that has represented genuflection before the empire; or, on the basis of a program for social justice and national dignity, to attempt to construct a society in which there is space for everyone.

• López Obrador contests elections in Mexico
July 10, 2006
MEXICO, July 10.—The challenge to the presidential elections of July 2 in Mexico has now been placed in a legal framework after the For the Good of All coalition opposition formally filed its disagreement before a judge on Sunday.

• Washington continues to interfere in Nicaraguan elections
July 10, 2006
TORONTO— Four months before the presidential elections, Nicaragua is a study in political pessimism. A ship adrift. Sin a pilot. Sin a rudder. Sin anything. Queen of Sin. In Spanish the word for sin is sin. In Nicaragua, national politics and Washington’s sinful interference have turned the word into an accursed, normal way of life.

• Calderón with a slim lead, Obrador to contest results
July 7, 2006
MEXICO, 7 July (PL).— Mexico has entered a period of post-electoral conflict given that the opposition coalition “For the Good of All” is challenging the results of the presidential elections.  Announcing the challenge, the leader of this coalition...

• Uncertainty over elections in Mexico continues
July 6, 2006
MEXICO, July 6.—The government presidential candidate Felipe Calderón today gained a slight advantage over his opponent Andrés Manuel López Labrador in the count following on from last Sunday’s elections in Mexico.

• Calderón pact with sector from the PRI revealed
July 5, 2006
MEXICO CITY, July 4.—Sources from the highest levels of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) have revealed to the daily Universal that the governors and one sector of the party have already agreed to a pact with Felipe Calderón, who considers himself the winner of last Sunday’s presidential elections, PL reports.

• Something is bothering Washington south of the Rio Grande
July 5, 2006
TO be uneasy is one of the human sensations that they have possibly never experienced given how difficult it is to battle with. So much the master of all situations and so sure of having control over everything human and divine, the empire’s representatives feel as if something is squirming beneath their feet and burning them.

• López Obrador exposes irregularities in Mexican elections
July 4, 2006
MEXICO, July 3— Andrés López Obrador, presidential candidate of the "For the Good of All" coalition in Mexico, yesterday rejected the results of the preliminary count by the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) which gave a slim advantage to his conservative rival Felipe Calderón, Prensa Latina reports.

• Uncertainty over election result in Mexico
July 3, 2006
MEXICO, July 3 (PL).—Mexicans woke up this morning to a day of uncertainty as to who is to be their president for the next six years, increased by the decision of two of the candidates to proclaim themselves the winner.

• Bolivian government consolidated after MAS triple victory
July 3, 2006
LA PAZ, 3 July (PL)— Today the Bolivian government has entered a consolidation phase after a Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) triple victory in the Constituent Assembly elections and in a referendum regarding autonomy, affirmed President Evo Morales.

• Kirchner and Evo Morales sign integrationist agreement
June 30, 2006
BUENOS AIRES, July 29.—The presidents of Argentina, Néstor Kirchner, and Bolivia, Evo Morales, emphasized the Latin American focus and the integration oriented essence of the new energy sector agreements signed by the two countries.

• More than 2,000 Peruvians march against the FTT
June 29, 2006
LIMA (PL).—Thousands of Peruvians shook the center of Lima with a march against the ratification by Congress of the Free Trade Treaty (FTT) with the United States. During the mobilization, which covered various main arteries of this capital and ended up outside Parliament, the 2,000-plus participants described the 79 parliamentarians who supported the measure as traitors, Prensa Latina confirmed.

• Detailed analysis of construction of the South gas pipeline
June 28, 2006
CARACAS, June 28 (PL).—Engineering plans and construction costs were among issues discussed at the 2nd meeting of the Ministerial Committee of the Great Gas Pipeline of the South, an integration project currently being promoted by the Venezuelan government.

• Bolivia rejects latest U.S. attacks
June 28, 2006
LA PAZ, June 27 — The Bolivian government today accused the United States of launching new attacks on the country’s stability, qualifying them as political provocations. Juan Ramón Quintana, minister of the presidency, responded in those terms to a statement by Washington’s top anti-drug official, John Walters, who said that the Bolivian administration is not cooperating sufficiently with Washington in the combating drug trafficking.

• BOLIVIA
Another desperate obsession for the empire
June 27, 2006
WHEN Bolivians go to the polls this Sunday, July 2 to elect their representatives in the Constituent Assembly, responsible for giving the country a new Charter whose words and spirit protect their equal rights and defend their national heritage from foreign plunder, attempts by the opposition and Washington to bring down the first indigenous government of Latin America and close the door on further experiences of this kind in the region could be interred.

• MEXICO
The forgotten six years
June 26, 2006
MEXICO’s six-year presidential mandate is about to conclude; hence, Vicente Fox is in his final moments as that nation’s leader, even though the official handover of power to the new president is not until December 1.

• Lula confirmed as candidate for reelection in Brazil
June 26, 2006
BRASILIA.— Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva received a strong ovation as the candidate for reelection during the Workers Party (PT) convention here on Saturday. The meeting also confirmed José Alencar, from the Brazilian Republican Party (PRB), as vice president.
• Chávez urges acceleration of real Latin American integration
June 23, 2006
PANAMA, June 23 (PL).— Setting all protocol aside and visibly enthusiastic, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez today urged the peoples of Latin American to fight for true integration and open the road to the development of their countries.

• Hugo Chávez and Martín Torrijos hold talks
June 23, 2006
PANAMA CITY, June 22 (PL).—Hugo Chávez and Martín Torrijos, the presidents of Venezuela and Panama, respectively, had official talks this morning at the beginning of a visit to this capital by the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution.

• Bolivia claims that U.S. soldiers are entering Bolivia in disguise
June 22, 2006
LA PAZ, June 21.— Bolivian President Evo Morales has claimed that U.S. soldiers are entering the country disguised as tourists and students.

• ECUADOR
U.S. threatens reprisals for cancellation of Oxy contract
June 21, 2006
A few days ago, the world was echoing the fulfillment by the Ecuadorian government of a long-time demand of that country’s indigenous population by nationalizing the Occidental oil company, which began its operations in the country in 1999 and was failing to comply with important state regulations regarding hydrocarbon extraction.

• Ecuador and Cuba seal collaboration
June 7, 2006
QUITO, June 16 (PL).— Ecuador and Cuban today demonstrated their support for the lives and the well-being of this Andean people by inaugurating two ophtalmalogical centers in this country with Cuban equipment and doctors.

• Evo Morales on first literacy campaign graduation: historic
June 7, 2006
COCHABAMBA, BOLIVIA, June 6 (PL).— Bolivian President Evo Morales described as "historic" the graduation of the first 1,000 students who completed the "I can do it!" literacy campaign, advised and equipped by Cuba.

• Uribe says he will maintain good relations with Cuba and Venezuela
June 5, 2006
BOGOTA.— Colombian President Alvaro Uribe says that he will maintain excellent relations with his counterparts in Cuba, Fidel Castro and Venezuela, Hugo Chávez.

• Kirchner gives tough speech to military
"As president, I am not afraid; I am not afraid of you"
June 1, 2006
THE Argentine president repudiated military sectors that continue to vindicate procedures of the last dictatorship, telling them he was "not afraid," and calling on the Army to remain "at a definitive remove from state terrorism."

• Chávez to sign oil agreements, sparking optimism in Ecuador
May 30, 2006
QUITO, May 30 – Social movements, campesinos and Ecuadorian politicians today welcomed the visit of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and expressed optimism regarding the agreements that he will sign to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation.

• Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba to sign eight cooperation agreements
May 26, 2006
LA PAZ, May 24 — Eight cooperation agreements covering a variety of areas that will strengthen the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) are to be signed during a meeting between Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela.

• Ecuador rejects legal action by Oxy
May 19, 2006
QUITO (PL).— Fernando González, president of the state-owned oil company Petroecuador, this Thursday (May 19) rejected pressure from the transnational Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) transnational in its demands for the return of assets held in that country.

• Petroecuador takes over U.S. oilfields
May 18, 2006
QUITO, May 18 — The state-owned oil company Petroecuador today took over 100% of the oilfields belonging to U.S. transnational Occidental Petroleum (Oxy), after declaring that the company’s contract with the State had expired, PL reported.

• René Préval assumes presidency of Haiti
May 15, 2006
PORT-AU-PRINCE (PL).—With majority popular support, the former Haitian leader René Préval (1996-2001), was sworn in for the second time this Sunday.

• BUSH PROVOCATIONS AGAINST VENEZUELA
Military threat and striking out blindly
May 13, 2006
SINCE last April 4, the fundamentalist administration of George W. Bush has been provocatively hanging about in Caribbean waters with 6,500 soldiers, several aircraft carriers, an impressive number of F-16 fighter planes and a couple of nuclear submarines in tow, according to the Pentagon’s own statement, with the objective of "confront unconventional threats such as drug and human trafficking."

• EXTENSION OF PANAMA CANAL PROJECT
More than an apple of discord
May 12, 2006
ON April 24, Martín Torrijos, president of Panama, announced the official proposal for the extension of the Canal, consisting of the construction of a third lock with a view to the so-called Panamax boats, superior in depth to the current Panamax, transiting that inter-ocean route.

• National consolidation of hydrocarbons
May 10, 2006
Latin America PAZ, May 11 (PL).—Bolivia’s nationalization of hydrocarbons would appear to be consolidated today, while still pending arduous negotiations, after Brazil’s evident compliance with the measure.

• PUERTO RICO
Playing with fire
May 6, 2006
THE conflict between the Puerto Rican executive and legislative government branches could inflame too many passions on this Caribbean island, and backfire for the annexationists and autonomists.

• Four-party summit backs Bolivian nationalization
May 5, 2006
BUENOS AIRES – A long, very good meeting was how Argentine President Néstor Kirchner described four-party summit held yesterday in the city of Puerto Iguazú, where participants backed Bolivia’s nationalization of hydrocarbon resources.

• Bolivia and Venezuela agree energy alliance
May 4, 2006
LA PAZ.—The presidents of Bolivia and Venezuela agreed on Wednesday to create a "strategic alliance" between the state companies YPFB and PDVSA to develop projects including the industrialization of Bolivia’s huge reserves of natural gas.

• Negotiations start without Bolivia yielding
May 3, 2006
LA PAZ, May 3 (PL) — According to signs from both parties, the way appears to be clearing toward negotiations between the Bolivian government and the oil transnationals, on the basis that the nationalization of hydrocarbons is irreversible. 

•  General jubilation over hydrocarbons nationalization in Bolivia
May 2, 2006
LA PAZ, May 1 (PL).— The nationalization of the country’s hydrocarbon resources lent general jubilation to the celebration of International Workers Day in this and other Bolivian cities.

• GUATEMALA
Between the sword and impotence
April 26, 2006
AS during the crudest times of interventionism in banana republics, James Derham, U.S. proconsul in Guatemala, snuck into a session of Congress on April 18 to pressure legislators to approve – now! – a complimentary law being demanded by the United States so that the country definitely enters into a Free Trade Agreement.

• ENERGY INTEGRATION AGREEMENT
Unease in Washington
April 25, 2006
THE U.S. government is concerned. It has been so engrossed in unleashing wars and fomenting conflict throughout the world that it has been minimizing the importance of what was happening in its back yard where its fanatic insistence on imposing neoliberalism has provoked not only the unmanageability of the model but also the formation – by majority decision in most of our countries – of new and viable alternatives with which to close the door on centuries of dependence and domination.

• Evo Morales blames Venezuela’s withdrawal from CAN on free trade agreements
April 24, 2006
LA PAZ (PL).— Bolivian President Evo Morales has blamed the free trade agreements (FTAs) signed by Colombia and Peru with the United States for Venezuela’s withdrawal from the Andean Community of Nations (CAN).

• Venezuela denounces assassination plans to international entities
April 21, 2006
CARACAS (PL) — Nicolás Maduro, president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, announced on April 20 that he will present public accusations before several international bodies regarding assassination plans against President Hugo Chávez.

• Venezuela, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay coordinate gas pipeline
April 20, 2006
ASUNCION, Paraguay—Before the end of the year, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay will know if they will be able to carry out their project to unite the three nations with a gas pipeline, a plan that already has partial funding assured by Venezuela, said the presidents of those countries.

• Venezuelans to repudiate U.S. maneuvers in the Caribbean
April 13, 2006
CARACAS, April 12 – Venezuelan groups today announced a mobilization to repudiate the U.S. military presence in the Caribbean, particularly a military exercise involving more than 6,500 Marines.

• Humala in the lead for second round
April 10, 2006
LIMA, April 9.—Nationalist candidate Ollanta Humala gained the highest number of votes in the Peruvian elections, according to exit polls, which also show a close duel between former president Alan García with 24.5%, and Flores with 24.2% according to Apoyo, one of the most important polling agencies in Peru, when voting closed, an AFP cable notes.

• Evo Morales: 80% approval
April 3, 2006
LA PAZ—Bolivian President Evo Morales has 80% of citizen support, according to the results of a survey published yesterday (Sunday, April 2), and in spite of intense efforts by the opposition and the media to discredit the government.

• Jamaican prime minister inaugurates her mandate
March 31, 2006
KINGSTON.—Portia Simpson Miller became the first woman prime minister of Jamaica yesterday. Thousands of people attended the inauguration of her mandate, including the principal Caribbean leaders; Ricardo Alarcón, president of the Cuban parliament; and Louis Farrakhan, leader of the U.S. religious movement Nation of Islam, among others.

• BOLIVIA
Washington opening another front?
March 28, 2006
EVEN before Evo Morales won the presidential elections on December 15, 2005 and took possession on January 22, his government entered one of Washington’s exclusion lists, in this case one of "populism," an epithet that serves the White House and the U.S. State Department, in charge of issuing warnings, to denote an executive that does not please or suit them.

• Indigenous movement proposes to assume its own power
March 24, 2006
QUITO, March 24 (PL).—Given the rejection by Ecuadorian president Alfredo Palacio of the demands made by the popular sector, the indigenous movement is today to assume power itself and convene a popular consultation on the Free Trade Agreement.

• Panama offers to host Operation Miracle
March 23, 2006
THE government of Panama has affirmed its readiness to establish an international center in that nation to contribute to the extension of Operation Miracle in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to reports on the conclusion of the visit to Cuba by Panamanian Vice President and Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro, who was received by President Fidel Castro.

• Attacks in Bolivia
March 23, 2006
LA PAZ, March 22 (PL)—A wave of condemnation swept through Bolivia today after the terrorist attacks that killed two people and resulted in the arrest of a U.S. citizen, while false alarms proliferated.

• Colombia-U.S.A.
The back door
March 21, 2006
WHILE Ecuador was once again erupting with popular protests and Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez was affirming that his country would not sign the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe was trying to justify himself during his visit to Bolivia by saying that "it is not a question of ideology, it is a question of markets."

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