London, england
{05-05-2012}

UK criticises Falklands Olympic advertisement
bbc

Lima, peru
{04-17-2012}

Peru troops free Shining Path hostages
Associated Press

    The Peruvian government says a group of gas workers kidnapped by Shining Path rebels on Monday has been freed.

Officials said hundreds of troops surrounded the rebels, forcing them into a hasty retreat, during which they left their captives behind.

The government said all 36 hostages were safe.

There had been conflicting reports about the number of workers abducted, with some reports putting the number as high as 43, and others as low as 7.

"As a result of the energetic pressure and the tactical and intelligence operations carried out by the Armed Forces and the National Police, the criminal narco-terrorists were surrounded and forced to flee, freeing their hostages in the process," a statement by the Ministry of Defence said.

The government said it had not paid any ransom for the hostages' release.

The rebels had reportedly demanded a one-off payment of $10m plus an annual "war contribution" of $1.2m, as well as explosives.

But Justice Minister Juan Jimenez told a local TV station on Thursday that the government did "not negotiate with terrorists, the government acts within the law".

The authorities sent 1,500 troops to the area.

A policewoman was killed on Thursday during the search for the rebels, when the helicopter she co-piloted came under fire by alleged rebels.

Two other crew members were injured.

The workers were abducted on Monday morning in the Apurimac and Ene valleys, the last remaining stronghold of the Shining Path rebels.

The Maoist group posed a major challenge to the Peruvian state in the 1980s and early 1990s, but is now reduced to small gangs involved in cocaine trafficking.

Last week, Peruvian President Ollanta Humala said the Shining Path had been "totally defeated" in the Alto Huallaga Valley, once one of its key regions.

The hostages were building a new plant for gas from the huge Camisea field.

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, who is attending the Summit of the Americas in Colombia, said he would fly to the area to meet the released hostages as soon as he returned to Peru.
 

Mexico city, mexico
{03-26-2012}

Pope decries Mexico violence, urges change in Cuba
Nicole Winfield //  Associated Press

     On Monday, Benedict will head for Cuba, and said it is "evident that Marxist ideology as it was conceived no longer responds to reality," and he urged Cubans to "find new models, with patience, and in a constructive way."

The comment about Marxism, in response to questions from a journalist, was as blunt as anything his predecessor, John Paul II, made during his groundbreaking 1998 trip to Cuba, though the earlier pope is widely credited with helping bring down socialism in eastern Europe.

Benedict cautioned that "this process requires patience and also decisiveness."

Asked about reports that dissidents in Cuba are still routinely harassed and arrested, including in the weeks leading up to his visit, Benedict said that the church wants "to help in the spirit of dialogue to avoid trauma and to help bring about a just and fraternal society, as we want in the whole world." "We want to collaborate in this sense, and it's obvious that the church is always on the side of freedom, freedom of conscience, freedom of religion," the pope said.

Benedict said John Paul's visit to Cuba ushered in a slow process of dialogue and cooperation between church and state on the island. During that trip, John Paul made a clear if cautious call for then-President Fidel Castro to open up Cuban society, take steady if gradual steps toward democracy and give the church a greater voice. He also called for the release of political prisoners while giving Castro what he wanted, a condemnation of the U.S. embargo.

Asked about Benedict's statement, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the government respects all opinions. "We consider the exchange of ideas to be useful. Our people have deep convictions developed over the course of our history," he said, adding that the Cuban system "is a democratic social project ... which is constantly perfecting itself."

In Mexico, Benedict said, violence is destroying the nation's young. The "great responsibility of the church is to educate the conscience, teach moral responsibility and strip off the mask (from) the idolatry of money that enslaves mankind, and unmask the false promise, this lie that is behind" the drug culture, he said.

It is a message that Enrique Abundes, one of thousands lining the papal route, was waiting to hear. The 46-year-old shoe-factory worker and father of five said he believed Benedict would inspire Mexicans to keep their children away from the temptations of organized crime. "The pope's visit to our city will call attention to the violence and, for us, to be good examples to our children," he said.

acapulco, mexico
{03-20-2012}

22 killed in drug violence in south Mexico state
Associated Press

      Gunmen ambushed and killed 12 police officers who had been sent to investigate the beheadings of 10 people in southern Guerrero state, Mexican authorities said Monday.

Guerrero state police spokesman Arturo Martinez said six state and six local officers were killed Sunday night on a road leading out of the town of Teloloapan. Another 11 officers were wounded.

The attack on the officers occurred as they were traveling in six patrol pickups and searching for the bodies of seven men and three women whose severed heads were dumped outside the town's slaughterhouse earlier Sunday, Martinez said.

The heads were left with a message threatening the La Familia drug cartel, whose home base is in neighboring Michoacan state.

Teloloapan is near the area shared by both Guerrero and Michoacan states and known as Tierra Caliente for its steamy weather.

The region is a violent, mountainous zone that has been used by drug traffickers to grow marijuana and opium poppies for years. It has been plagued by drug violence in recent years as drug gangs fight to control the area. Authorities say La Familia has been severely battered in the fighting.

Soldiers have been sent to the area but that hasn't stopped gunmen from killing priests, politicians, police chiefs, or anyone else who gets in the way.

Two years ago, nine police officers were kidnapped in Teloloapan when they were investigating the death of a man in the village of El Revelado. The bodies of eight of the officers were found days later. Six had been dismembered. One was found alive.

More than 47,000 people have died in drug violence nationwide since President Felipe Calderon began a crackdown on drug cartels in December 2006.
 

London, England
{03-10-2012}

Argentina pursuing policy of confrontation, says No 10
BBC

Downing Street has accused Argentina of pursuing a "policy of confrontation" over the Falkland Islands. It comes amid reports that top Argentine companies are being told by their government to stop importing goods from the UK.

PM David Cameron's spokesman said the move was "counterproductive" and was a misreading of British resolve over the disputed islands. Tension has been rising ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War.

According to the state news agency Telam, industry minister Debora Giorgi called the bosses of at least 20 firms to urge them to replace imports from Britain with goods produced elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Argentina's top diplomat in the UK - Osvaldo Marsico - was summoned to the Foreign Office on Wednesday to explain the import ban.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We made clear that such actions against legitimate commercial activity were a matter of concern not just for the UK, but for the EU as a whole, and that we expect the EU to lodge similar concerns with Argentine authorities."

Officials were also expected to discuss Argentina's decision to turn back two cruise ships from the Argentine port of Ushuaia on Monday, apparently because they had visited the Falklands - which Argentina claims as the Malvinas.

Mr Cameron's spokesman told reporters at a regular briefing in Westminster: "It is clearly very sad that Argentina continues with their policy of confrontation instead of co-operation.  "We think that is counterproductive and also a complete misreading of Britain's resolve on this issue.

"The UK is also a major investor in Argentina and we import goods from Argentina. It is not in Argentina's economic interest to put up barriers of this sort. "The right approach here is one of co-operation, not confrontation," he added.

Buenos Aires has complained to the United Nations of British "militarisation" of the south Atlantic after the deployment of a new Royal Navy warship to the Falklands and Prince William's tour of duty on the islands.

The UK, which has controlled the Falklands since 1833, says there can be no negotiations on sovereignty as long as the 3,000 Islanders wish to remain British.  On 2 April, both nations will mark the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War, which began with an Argentine invasion of the islands and ended in victory for a British task force sent to recover them.

BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS
{02-28-2012}

Top Venezuela firm files arbitration against Chavez
Brian Ellsworth //Reuters

A Barbados-based holding company led by executives of Venezuelan food and beermaker Empresas Polar has filed an international arbitration claim against President Hugo Chavez's government over its nationalization of a fertilizer project, documents show.

The move may set a precedent for Venezuelan companies seeking access to international courts to settle disputes with the socialist government that otherwise would be litigated by local judges, who critics say are controlled by Chavez. The case is highly delicate as Chavez has repeatedly threatened to nationalize Polar, the South American nation's largest private employer. Its products range from beer to corn flour and reach nearly all of Venezuela's 29 million people.

Arbitration claims by Venezuelan companies could become more frequent if Chavez begins a more widescale expropriation of local businesses after five years of taking over assets of many of Venezuela's top foreign firms.

The World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID, says the Barbados-based "Gambrinus, Corp." registered a claim against Venezuela on December 2 in relation to a "fertilizer enterprise."

But a source close to the case, who asked not to be identified, confirmed the dispute was over fertilizer-maker Fertinitro, which Chavez nationalized in 2010. Polar had a 10 percent stake in it. Others partners included state petrochemicals company Pequiven, an indirect subsidiary of Italian oil company ENI and U.S.-based Koch Industries, which in July filed for ICSID arbitration over its 35 percent stake in Fertinitro.

Gambrinus company documents obtained by Reuters show a clear link between that firm and Polar. At least two Gambrinus directors are Polar executives, and all seven Gambrinus directors listed in the documents are linked to Polar in some capacity.

Asked to confirm or give details of the Gambrinus case, a Polar spokeswoman said the company had no comment. The office of Venezuela's attorney general, named as a respondent in the case, did not respond to requests for comment. Koch Industries and Pequiven also did not respond to requests for comment. Gambrinus - the name of a medieval European king who according to legend invented malt beer - filed its claim shortly before Venezuela said in January it was withdrawing from ICSID, which is hearing more than 20 claims against the OPEC member.

Chavez, who says his widespread nationalizations have redressed decades of inequality and unscrupulous business practices, has lambasted the World Bank tribunal as an instrument of colonial domination. It has not commented on Venezuela's stance.

International arbitration allows companies with investments in foreign countries to resolve disputes with governments without having to litigate in local courts. Countries allow international arbitration because it makes it more likely that foreign companies will invest there since they feel protected from arbitrary use of the local judiciary. Investment arbitration must be carried out under agreements known as bilateral investment treaties that are meant to protect foreign companies against unfair treatment.

Venezuela signed a bilateral investment treaty in 1994 with Barbados and currently has more than 20 such treaties active. Other Venezuelan companies facing threat of seizure, such as the country's banks, also appear to be creating foreign subsidiaries that would let them pursue disputes through international arbitration rather than local courts. "It is generally known among lawyers doing this kind of work that Venezuelan companies have structured investments through other nations, with one consideration being that justice is not even-handed in the Venezuelan courts," said Michael Nolan, a partner at law firm Milbank in Washington, who has represented clients in arbitration cases against Venezuela.

Venezuela's withdrawal from ICSID, which takes effect in mid-2012, will not affect litigation of cases currently pending such as the one filed by Gambrinus or those that are filed in the next few months, Nolan said. "Whatever he says on his Sunday television show, these are legal and binding commitments," he said, referring to Chavez's lengthy weekend broadcasts. "Chavez can't unilaterally decide he's taking his marbles and going home." The lawyer said many foreign firms and possibly Venezuelan offshore companies will still have access to arbitration because of Venezuela's bilateral investment treaties.

Chavez has said he will refuse to pay out any claims ordered by ICSID, but legal experts say 140 other member nations would see judgments as enforceable, meaning companies could obtain court orders to seize Venezuelan assets abroad. The maker of Venezuela's most beloved beer and of popular brands of household products, Polar has been frequently criticized by government officials over the years.

Chavez has accused it of refusing to supply a state-run supermarket and of contributing to food shortages by hoarding. Polar, which began making beer in 1941, has always denied those charges but sought to avoid public confrontation with Chavez. After years of sparring with Polar, Chavez in 2010 ordered the expropriation of some of its beer and Pepsi-Cola warehouses in the city of Barquisimeto, arguing the area should be used to build homes.

Last year, the government expropriated land in the capital Caracas that Polar said was destined for the expansion of a children's nutrition program. Authorities have also nationalized key suppliers to the company, including glassmaker Owens Illinois, which has also filed for arbitration, and seed-producer Agroislena.

But Chavez has backed away from threats to take over Polar, in part because the move might aggravate periodic shortages of basic products that upset his poor supporters. Though sympathizers generally back his takeovers in the oil, telecom and finance industries, they routinely say they do not want the government at the helm of Polar. Many laud it for providing high-quality products despite heavy state pressure.

LIMA, PERU
{02-13-2012}

Leftist rebel leader found badly wounded
Frank Bajak 

    Peruvian troops captured on Sunday the badly wounded leader of a remnant of the once-powerful Shining Path rebel group, effectively dismantling a well-armed faction that lived off the cocaine trade, President Ollanta Humala said.

Humala, a former army lieutenant colonel, flew to the remote coca-growing Upper Huallaga Valley of central Peru to congratulate the police and soldiers who had snared the 50-year-old rebel, Comrade Artemio, and two of his confederates.

He said Artemio, whose given name is Florindo "Juan" Flores, was undergoing medical treatment and would be airlifted to Lima.  "Mission accomplished," he told state TV from the police counter-narcotics base where Artemio was taken.

He said that with the capture of Artemio and several of his top lieutenants in recent weeks security forces had eliminated its leadership and pacified the Upper Huallaga, making agribusiness, cattle ranching and tourism now possible.

Analysts consider Artemio's capture a crippling blow to a roughly 150-strong band that represented roughly half of what remains of the Shining Path, which killed thousands during the 1980s and 1990s. He was apprehended three days after being wounded under circumstances neither Humala nor other officials immediately explained.

The other faction, also involved in the drug trade, is centered further south in the valley of the Apurimac and Ene rivers. Humala said security forces would now focus efforts on fighting that group, which was blamed for an attack on a remote police station last Monday in which two police officers were wounded.

Defense Minister Alberto Otarola said Artemio had "practically lost his right arm" when he was wounded. Other officials said he had at least one serious chest wound. Humala expressed pride at announcing the capture of the guerrilla who was the Shining Path's regional chief in the early 1990s when Humala commanded a local army garrison. He said security forces had been "closely following" Artemio in recent weeks and had acted at an opportune moment when civilians wouldn't be in harm's way.

Otarola said Friday that Artemio was wounded in combat with government forces early Thursday in the village of Puerto Pizana, but local journalists have reported that at least one of his own men may have turned on him.

The mayor of the La Polvora district encompassing the village, Nanci Zamora, told The Associated Press that Artemio was brought before dawn Thursday to an emergency medical technician in the nearby town of Santa Rosa de Mishoyo. Zamora said he had suffered a chest and leg wound. She said that after he was treated subordinates took him down the Mishoyo river, a tributary of the Huallaga.

The United States had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest. Such rewards have proven highly effective in neighboring Colombia in persuading some rebels to turn against their leaders.

The Shining Path has shrunk since its 1980s heyday when it controlled large swaths of the Peruvian countryside. Troops captured leader Abimael Guzman in 1992 and his successor Comrade Feliciano in 1999. The group has since split into the two factions.

In December, Artemio told visiting journalists that his cause was lost and he was seeking a truce with the government. The self-described Marxist said he wrote Humala twice but received no response. Previous Peruvian governments refused to negotiate a truce, he said. He said the only way to change the capitalist system was through a socialist government, "but at this moment that is not possible."

Peru is the world's No. 2 producer after Colombia of coca, the basis for cocaine, although the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says it has now surpassed its Andean neighbor in potential cocaine production. DEA officials say that's because comparatively little coca crop eradication occurs in Peru, where plantations tend to be more mature and higher-yieldling.

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
{02-12-2012}

Argentina accuses UK of deploying nuclear weapons near Falkland Islands
AFP

Argentina has accused Britain of deploying nuclear weapons near the Falkland Islands and "militarising" the south Atlantic.

The Argentinian foreign minister, Héctor Timerman, lodged a formal protest at the United Nations on Friday and showed slides of British military bases in the region, saying they represented a threat to all south America.

He said Buenos Aires had intelligence that a Vanguard submarine was operating in the area. "Thus far the UK refuses to say whether it is true or not," he told a press conference in New York. "Are there nuclear weapons or are there not? The information Argentina has is that there are these nuclear weapons." Quoting John Lennon, he added: "Give peace a chance."

Britain's ambassador to the UN, Mark Lyall Grant, said London did not comment on the disposition of nuclear weapons or submarines but that it was "manifestly absurd" to say it was militarising the region. Britain's defence posture remained unchanged, he said.

The Daily Mail reported this week that Britain had deployed a Trafalgar-class nuclear-powered submarine armed only with conventional weapons.

Timerman said such a nuclear-armed submarine would violate the Treaty of Tlatelolco for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean.

After receiving Timerman's protest the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, issued a statement expressing "concern" about the escalating row and reportedly offered to mediate.

Argentina's president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, said Britain's dispatch of a modern destroyer, HMS Dauntless, to replace an older vessel, as well as Prince William, in his role as a search and rescue helicopter pilot, were provocations and presented a "grave risk for international security". Britain said the deployments were routine.

Argentina claims Britain stole the islands, situated 300 miles off the coast of Patagonia, in 1833. Argentina calls the archipelago Las Malvinas.

On Thursday, David Cameron reiterated British sovereignty, saying: "As long as the people of the Falkland Islands want to maintain that status, we will make sure they do and we will defend the Falkland Islands properly to make sure that's the case."

Tensions between the two countries have surged in the run-up to the 30th anniversary of the Falklands war.

Relations thawed in the 1990s but cooled again in 2010 when British firms started drilling for oil, triggering a diplomatic and commercial squeeze by Argentina's president. She recently convinced much of Latin America to ban ships flying the Falkland Islands flag from their ports.

The islands have since experienced shortages of fresh fruit, notably bananas, but otherwise claim to be unaffected. However, they fear Argentina will close its airspace to a weekly commercial flight between Chile and the islands, their main link to south America and the world.

Port Stanley, Falkland Islands
{02-09-2012]

'No negotiations' on Falklands, Britain vows
CNN Wire Staff

Britain on Wednesday dismissed a complaint from Argentina about the "militarization of the South Atlantic" as tensions rise over the Falkland Islands, over which the two countries fought a war 30 years ago.

"The people of the Falkland Islands are British out of choice," the British Foreign Office said in a statement. "They are free to determine their own future, and there will be no negotiations with Argentina on sovereignty unless the Islanders wish it."

It was responding to a warning from Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner that her country would file a protest at the United Nations.

"I have instructed our chancellor to formally present before the U.N. Security Council and the U.N. General Assembly this militarization of the South Atlantic, which implies a great risk for international safety," she said during a speech in Buenos Aires.

Britain and Argentina fought a war over the Falkland Islands, which Argentina calls Las Malvinas, in 1982. Though Britain won the war, expelling an Argentinian military force, Argentina claims the territory, which has been under British rule since 1833, as its own. Britain maintains that the 2,500 residents of the Falklands have the right to determine their allegiance, and so far that has been staunchly British.=

"The UK has no doubt about our sovereignty over the Falklands. The principle of self-determination, as set out in the UN Charter, underlies our position," the Foreign Office said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said residents have a right to decide.

"We support the Falklands' right to self-determination, and what the Argentinians have been saying recently I would argue is actually far more like colonialism, because these people want to remain British, and the Argentinians want them to do something else."

Addressing Cameron directly in her speech, Fernandez said: "I simply want to ask the prime minister of England to give peace a chance."

Tensions between London and Buenos Aires were raised even higher this month when Britain sent Prince William to the Falklands as a military helicopter pilot.

The prince's deployment comes as Britain is making other moves to support its 1,700 personnel at the Mount Pleasant military complex in the Falklands.

"We are having what in game theory is called tit-for-tat ... I don't see an end in sight right now, but I'm sure that war is not the end," Federico Merke, a professor of international relations at San Andres University, said after the president's speech.

So why, besides supporting the Falklands' inhabitants, does Britain want to hang on to the islands? The answer may lie in the lucrative fishing grounds around the islands as well as a growing oil drilling industry.

Argentina, of course, has economic interests as well, but analysts say the current standoff has much to do with internal politics.

"The government is being squeezed from lots of different areas, so one way to distract from the economic problems facing the country is to raise the Malvinas issue," said Mark Jones, an expert in Latin American politics at Rice University in Texas. "It's one of the few issues outside football that you can get universal consensus on."
 

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
{08-02-2012}

FARC aumenta ataques en Colombia y Santos defiende su estrategia militar 
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dos atentados explosivos de las FARC que dejaron al menos 15 muertos y un centenar de heridos esta semana en Colombia muestran una creciente actividad militar de esa guerrilla, que el presidente Juan Manuel Santos prometió este viernes enfrentar con mayor dureza.

Los ataques en los pueblos de Tumaco (departamento de Nariño, sobre el Pacífico) y Villa Rica (Cauca, suroeste) buscan “desviar a nuestras Fuerzas Armadas de su plan de guerra, que está siendo efectivo”, dijo Santos.

“Son una demostración de irracionalidad, de locura. Nadie entiende un grupo guerrillero que habla de paz, de reivindicaciones sociales, cometiendo esos actos de terrorismo”, resaltó, al aseverar que “si buscan ablandar al gobierno, lo que hacen es todo lo contrario: nos endurecen”.

Las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), con casi medio siglo de lucha armada y unos 9,000 combatientes, ha sufrido duros golpes durante el gobierno de Santos, en particular la muerte de su jefe militar Jorge Briceño (’Mono Jojoy’), en el 2010, y la de su comandante máximo Alfonso Cano, en 2011.

En los años recientes, las FARC se han visto arrinconadas a las regiones más apartadas del país y han concentrado su estrategia militar en ataques de pequeños grupos de guerrilleros, causando sin embargo importantes bajas a la fuerza pública.

León Valencia, director de la Corporación Nuevo Arcoiris, que estudia el conflicto colombiano, destacó que los golpes a la cúpula de las FARC no se han traducido en una disminución de sus acciones.

“La actividad de las FARC que registramos para 2011 es la más alta de los últimos 10 años. El año pasado las FARC incrementaron el uso de explosivos y carros bomba. Se trata de una modalidad operativa que están utilizando a fondo”, dijo Valencia a la AFP, al señalar que el conflicto con la guerrilla es “una verdadera guerra” que desde 2009 deja unos 1.500 muertos y 4.500 heridos en la fuerza pública.

En medio del rechazo que causaron los ataques de esta semana, el ministro de la Defensa, Juan Carlos Pinzón, aseveró que el atentado del miércoles en Tumaco (extremo suroeste) fue realizado por las FARC en alianza con la banda criminal Los Rastrojos para “defender una ruta del narcotráfico”.

Valencia dijo al respecto que Tumaco, por donde saldría el 40% de la cocaína de Colombia, es “un lugar donde por momentos las FARC se confrontan con las bandas criminales y en otros momentos se alían, por un asunto de negocios, desprovisto de toda carga ideológica”.

Además, Fernando Giraldo, profesor de Ciencias Políticas de la privada Universidad Javeriana, destacó que la guerrilla dejó atrás la estrategia de “defender posiciones y entrar en combate, para privilegiar más bien los atentados”.

“Ha habido un reacomodo estratégico y una readaptación de guerra que pone en dificultades a la fuerza pública”, dijo Giraldo a la AFP.

En ese sentido, Santos pidió este viernes al ministro de Defensa “reforzar nuestra capacidad” a través de “un paquete de medidas adicionales a las que ya hemos venido tomando, porque al terrorismo hay que combatirlo también en todas las formas posibles”.

Los dos ataques ocurrieron horas después de que las FARC anunciaron el aplazamiento indefinido de la liberación de cinco policías y un militar, secuestrados desde hace más de doce años, que la guerrilla había ofrecido entregar en diciembre.

Las FARC indicaron que postergaban esas liberaciones, presentadas como “un gesto de paz”, debido a la supuesta militarización de la zona donde iban a ser entregados los rehenes, versión que el gobierno rechazó.

Desde 2008, las FARC han liberado en diversos operativos a 20 secuestrados. Además, las fuerzas militares han rescatado a otros 15. Pero en noviembre pasado cuatro rehenes fueron asesinados por guerrilleros en medio de un combate con las fuerzas militares.Las FARC, fundadas en 1964, cuentan actualmente con unos 9.000 guerrilleros, según el ministerio de la Defensa.

VILLA RICA, COLOMBIA
{02-08-2012}

6 dead, 20 wounded in new attack on Colombia cops
CARLOS JULIO MARTINEZ

Assailants in pickup trucks fired homemade mortars at a police station in this western town Thursday, killing at least six people and wounding more than 20, the regional police chief said.

The Cauca state police chief, Col. Ricardo Alarcon, said it was too early to assign blame.

But President Juan Manuel Santos and his defense minister both said they had no doubt the authors were the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's main insurgency.

The 1 p.m. attack in this town of 15,000 people about 15 miles (25 kilometers) southeast of Cali, the country's third-largest city, came a day after a bomb planted in a tricycle killed nine people and wounded 76 outside a police station in the Pacific port of Tumaco as lunch hour was ending.

FARC rebels are active in both areas and their arsenals include homemade mortars. Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon blamed Wednesday's attack on the insurgents in league with a drug-trafficking gang.

"What is the FARC looking for?" Santos said as he toured Tumaco on Thursday. "Why do they speak in the language of peace but on the other hand commit acts of terrorism like this?"

The peasant-based FARC, which has been fighting a succession of governments since 1964 demanding a more equitable distribution of wealth, is seeking to open a peace dialogue with Santos.

But Santos insists the rebels must first halt hostilities and release 12 security force members who the insurgents have held captive for more than a decade.

The dead in Thursday's attack included the Villa Rica police post's commander and five civilians, Alarcon said. He said 35 officers were in the police station when at least three mortars were fired at it from a moving pickup truck about 150 feet (50 meters) away.

Among the dead were 3-year-old girl and a 19-year-old woman, state health chief Oscar Ospina said. He said the wounded had to be evacuated from Villa Rica because its hospital is next to the police station and was damaged in the attack.

This week's attacks were the most serious affecting civilians since a car bomb killed six people and wounded more than 30 in March 2010 in the Pacific port of Buenaventura.

Like Tumaco, Buenaventura has long been a hub for cocaine smugglers, who include leftist rebels and far-right militias.

The region where Thursday's attack occurred is a key corridor for cocaine-smuggling to the Pacific coast. Its craggy mountains and steep valleys were also where FARC's commander, Alfonso Cano, roamed before he was killed by government troops in November.

The FARC numbers about 9,000 combatants. Although it has suffered major setbacks in recent years, analysts say its hit-and-run attacks have been rising. In January alone, it staged 133 attacks on police and military targets, according to the independent think tank Nuevo Arco Iris.

The main FARC analyst for Nuevo Arco Iris, Ariel Avila, said the rebels are seeking "to show themselves stronger in order to put on pressure for a peace dialogue."

Another security analyst, Alfredo Rangel, said last month saw the most FARC attacks in a single month since January 2004, when there were 45.

WASHINGTON, D.C.
{02-05-2012}

US fears Iran's links to Al Qaeda as officials believe country may have provided aid to terror group IN LATIN AMERICA
The Wall Street Journal

U.S. officials say they believe Iran recently gave new freedoms to as many as five top Al Qaeda operatives who have been under house arrest, including the option to leave the country, and may have provided some material aid to the terrorist group.

The men, who were detained in Iran in 2003, make up Al Qaeda's so-called management council, a group that includes members of the inner circle that advised Usama bin Laden and an explosives expert widely considered a candidate for a top post in the organization.

The assertions are likely to amplify tensions between Washington and Tehran. A U.S. Senate committee on Thursday moved to intensify sanctions to force Iran into negotiations on its nuclear program, while Tehran has largely defied pressure. This week, Iran prevented UN nuclear inspectors from gaining access to sites and scientists, according to diplomats.

Skeptics caution that intelligence on Iran's activities is limited and worry that some policy makers might use provocative reports to justify military action against Tehran. Iran has denied any connection with Al Qaeda.

U.S. officials believe there have been recent indications that officials in the Iranian government have provided Al Qaeda operatives in Iran limited assistance, including logistical help, money and cars, according to a person briefed on the developments.

Adding to the U.S. pressure on Iran, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told senators in an annual intelligence assessment that U.S. agencies believe the Iranian regime is now more willing to conduct an attack in the U.S.

"We have to be vigilant for more of that," Clapper told lawmakers Thursday.

The reports come at a time of growing concern about Iran's decision-making. President Barack Obama, in his recent State of the Union address, said, "America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal."

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
{02-02-2012}

BRAZIL'S PRESIDENT FLEXES CLOUT IN CUBA TRIP
JOHN LYONS & JOSÉ DE CÓRDOBA // ASSOCIATED PRESS

PRESIDENT DILMA ROUSSEFF OFFERED CLOSER ECONOMIC COOPERATION TO CUBA DURING A VISIT TO THE COMMUNIST ISLAND ON TUESDAY, marking Brazil's highest-profile bid to transform its growing economic might into diplomatic leadership in Latin America.

Brazil's state development bank is financing a $680 million rehabilitation of Cuba's port at Mariel. Work on the port is being managed by the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht SA, which may also provide support for Cuba's sugar industry, Brazilian officials have said.

Ms. Rousseff's closer engagement of Cuba—she is visiting the island before a trip to the White House— is the latest example of Brazil's strategy to expand its regional influence by offering subsidized loans to poorer nations. In recent years, Brazil has disbursed tens of billions of dollars around Latin America, and as far away as Africa.

But none of these efforts have the same symbolic resonance as in Cuba, which has opposed the U.S. since shortly after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution and remains a lightning rod in U.S. domestic politics and a sticking point for U.S. relations with other Latin nations.

"This is about growing Brazil's soft power on the international scale and raising Brazil's role in the world," said Matthew Taylor, a Brazil specialist at the American University's School of International Service. "Brazil is taking on a bigger role in the hemisphere in terms of aid and finance, and by helping out Cuba they really draw attention to this new role they are playing."

Although the U.S. has been the predominant power broker in Latin America since the introduction of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, experts say the U.S. doesn't oppose Brazil's bid for regional influence. Many analysts say they believe Brazil could become a stabilizing force in a region known for political and economic volatility.

In Cuba, for example, Brazil may provide a more moderate alternative to the impoverished island's main economic benefactor, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Mr. Chávez, a self-described foe of the U.S., delivers some 100,000 barrels of oil and refined products to Cuba a day in exchange for the services of Cuban doctors for Venezuelans in poor neighborhoods, along with other barter arrangements.

Cuba, meanwhile, is desperate for economic lifelines. Raúl Castro, who has taken over the presidency from his ailing brother Fidel, has experimented with limited economic overhauls in order to bring life into a moribund economy, where citizens are still issued ration books that allow them access to some basic foods at subsidized prices.

"The more normal Cuba's economic relations are, the easier normalization with the U.S. will be in the future," said Archibald Ritter, an expert on the Cuban economy at Canada's Carleton University.

"I would imagine that the U.S. would privately hope that Brazil will play a mediating role in issues that concern us, like human rights," said Cynthia Arnson, the director of the Latin American program at Washington's Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Still, during Tuesday's visit, Ms. Rousseff criticized the existence of the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, where terror suspects are held, and the U.S. trade embargo, which she said contributes to poverty on the island.

And it is unclear how far Ms. Rousseff might go to nudge Cuba toward a more democratic society. She declined requests for meetings by Cuban dissidents, and has said she won't press the Castro brothers on the island's human-rights record.

"Human rights aren't a stone to be thrown from one side to another," she said in Havana on Tuesday. This week, Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota said human rights aren't an "emergency" issue in Cuba. Last month, Cuban political prisoner Wilmar Villar died in jail after a 50-day hunger strike. Activists said he was protesting being jailed for taking part in a political demonstration. The Cuban government has said Mr. Villar was a common prisoner and wasn't on a hunger strike when he died of complications from pneumonia.

As a young woman, Ms. Rousseff participated in a Marxist guerrilla group in Brazil that was inspired by the Cuban revolution. But the fact that she was jailed and tortured by Brazil's military dictatorship had raised hopes that she might be more sympathetic to the plight of political prisoners than her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who over the years disparaged Cuban hunger strikers.

Observers said the case of Yoani Sánchez, a Cuban blogger who criticizes the Castro regime, may offer clues to changes in Brazilian human-rights policy. Brazil granted Ms. Sánchez a visa, and observers said if Cuba allows her to visit, then Ms. Rousseff may be using engagement to yield some human-rights advances.

In a blog post on Tuesday, Ms. Sánchez said she hoped Ms. Rousseff would meet with human-rights activists in Cuba and in so doing keep faith with "the many voices of democracy rather than opt for a complicit silence before a dictatorship."

For generations, Brazilian leaders have yearned for prominence in foreign affairs commensurate with its population of 190 million and sprawling geography. The country has lobbied, unsuccessfully, for decades for a seat on the United Nations Security Council.

Such aspirations were the butt of jokes during generations of economic and political turmoil. That started to change a nearly a decade ago, when Brazil began an economic expansion that lifted millions out of poverty and transformed the resource-rich nation into what some economists estimate is the world's sixth-largest economy—a notch ahead of the U.K.