OPPOSITION ALLIANCE MEETS GAVIRIA TO STOP AUDIT ON VOTING MACHINES 

    Timoteo Zambrano, a leader of the political opposition in Venezuela, said some members of the opposition alliance Democratic Coordinator are to meet César Gaviria, Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS), and the representatives of the U.S. Carter Center Jennifer McCoy and Francisco Diez to demand the suspension of an audit that is scheduled to start Wednesday on the ballot boxes containing the ballot receipts the voting machines printed during last Sunday recall vote on President Hugo Chávez.

    "We are submitting concrete evidence on the way we think this vote fraud operated. We are delivering the evidence to Gaviria, in the presence of the representatives of the Carter Center. (We want them) to stop the audit, because under the conditions that have been set and considering the evidence we have, no audit should be conducted," Zambrano claimed. According to the opposition leader, the vote "fraud was selective, they chose the electoral tables (where the fraud was to be committed)." "We have provided to the observers clear evidence of electronic vote tampering that helped President Hugo Chavez win Sundayçs recall referendum.î

    VENEZUELA OPPOSITION BOYCOTT RECALL AUDIT PROPOSED BY CARTER CENTER AND THE OEA 

     Opposition leaders refused Wednesday to participate in an audit of a referendum that failed to oust Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, dealing a setback to international efforts to dispel allegations of vote-rigging and prevent more upheaval in the politically divided country. Opposition leaders claimed they had unearthed new evidence of fraud, which they insisted the audit - proposed by former President Jimmy Carter and the Organization of American States - would fail to detect.

    "Under these conditions, we won't accept this audit," said anti-Chavez lawmaker Nelson Rampersad after a meeting between opposition leaders, Carter and OAS Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria. There was no immediate comment from Carter and Gaviria, who had planned to be witnesses Wednesday as local election officials checked a random sampling of results from 150 voting stations - a rare follow-up move to an election they have already said looked clean.

    Rampersad claimed touch-screen voting machines in at least 500 polling sites produced the exact same number of "yes" votes in favor of ousting Chavez, a result he said was statistically impossible. He said the supposed finding indicated the machines were rigged to impose a ceiling on "yes" votes. The audit intended to compare electronic and paper ballots. But Rampersad said opponents were concerned the paper ballots - which have been under the care of Venezuela's military - may have been tampered with since Sunday's votes. He said the opposition wanted the audit to include an examination of the internal workings of the machines' software.

    DYSENTERY OUTBREAK AMONG MEDICAL GRADUATES 

     At about six in the morning August 10, a special train arrived at the Santa Clara station with an unusual load: medical sciences graduates from the eastern provinces, all suffering from acute diarrhea. Municipal health authorities converged at the station, led by director Regla Angulo, along with every available ambulance. The staffs of three hospitals were called in to deal with the unexpected development.

    The graduates, doctors, dentists, nurses, and technicians, were on their way to Havana for graduation ceremonies. Instead, many of them were taken to hospitals, to polyclinics, and some even to the local school for social workers. Police and agents of the Department of State Security cordoned off the station, presumably to help in their investigation for the source of the disease, which was initially attributed to a chicken meal that had been fed to the recent graduates.

    WATER SCARCE IN HAVANA FROM CHARLEYçS PASSAGE

    City workers distributed water in tanker trucks and urged some 1.4 million residents of the Cuban capital with no running water on Monday to remain calm four days after Hurricane Charley roared through the area. A government official in a car with loudspeakers on the roof urged residents to conserve water and said it could take several days to restore services to 70 percent of the city with no water.

    The Aguas de La Habana water company said the hurricane had disrupted power supplies needed to pump water into the city of 2 million from outlying areas and eight Havana districts were without running water. Engineers worked to rebuild eight high-voltage towers knocked down by Charley outside a thermoelectric power plant at the port of Mariel that feeds Havana and the western province of Pinar del Rio.

    The water shortage angered Havana residents who were forced to line up at tanker trucks and carry water home in pails. "We have very serious water problems. Four days have gone by and there is no sign they are solving this situation," said a 60-year-old man who filled a pail. "Municipal services are too slow. People are complaining, but discreetly, because protests don't pay in Cuba," he added. In the hillside El Cerro district, residents complained they had been without water and electricity since late Thursday. Some residents filled plastic containers from a puddle in the street formed by a broken pipe.

    CHAVEZçS FOES FIRM AND CATEGORICALLY REJECT THE RESULTS OF THE REFERENDUM

    Venezuela's opposition on Monday rejected as a fraud results showing Hugo Chavez had won a referendum on his rule, and said they would contest the outcome. "We firmly and categorically reject the result ... we're going to collect the evidence to prove to Venezuela and the world the gigantic fraud which has been committed against the will of the people," opposition leader Henry Ramos Allup told a news conference.

    He spoke shortly after Venezuela's top electoral officer, National Electoral Council President Francisco Carrasquero, announced to the nation preliminary official results showing that Chavez had survived the recall vote. Carrasquero said in a national broadcast the "No" option opposing Chavez's recall had obtained just over 58 percent of the vote, while the "Yes" vote obtained nearly 42 percent. "Our numbers ... are very different," Ramos said, adding the opposition would ask international organizations who observed the referendum to check the voting machines and ballots.

    Two pro-opposition members of the five-member National Electoral Council leadership earlier also questioned the result and said certain required checks had not been carried out. 

    VENEZUELA STOCK EXCHANGE DROPS ON CHAVEZ VICTORY

    Venezuela's small stock exchange fell 5.73 percent on Tuesday, dragged down by a sell-off in market-leading stocks after leftist President Hugo Chavez's victory in a weekend referendum, traders said. The Caracas stock exchange index (.IBC) traded down 1,639.52 points to 26,955.94 points at midday, in its first trading session since the Sunday poll that ratified Chavez's mandate for another two years.

    "What we have are sales due to the referendum. There were people who positioned themselves in local stocks expecting a rally in the scenario of a Chavez defeat," one trader said. Venezuela's stock exchange trades less than $1 million every day.

    PRESIDENT BUSH ANNOUNCES MAJOR TROOP REALIGNMENT AROUND THE WORLD

    Promising "a more agile and more flexible force," President Bush announced on Monday a major realignment of U.S. forces around the world. Bush said about 60,000 to 70,000 uniformed personnel would move from overseas to posts in the United States over the next decade. The move would also involve about 100,000 family members and civilian employees, Bush said.

    "The new plan will help us fight and win these wars of the 21st century," Bush said in a speech before a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The announcement -- tagged on the end of a political speech -- drew quick criticism from the Democratic presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry. Surrogates for Kerry -- who is taking a break from the campaign trail -- said the redeployment would undermine U.S. security.

    But Bush said it makes no sense to continue an armed posture that was forged during the Cold War, when the Soviet Union represented the nation's biggest threat. Terrorism, he said, is now the chief threat.  "The world has changed a great deal and our posture must change with it," Bush said. He said the plan had been in the works for three years, and U.S. allies and Congress were consulted on it. The nation's commander in chief predicted the plan would result in stronger alliances and reduce the stress on U.S. troops and their families. Pentagon and senior administration officials said that most of the reductions will come from Europe -- the rest, from Asia.  

    STATE DEPARTMENT DOES NOT SEE EVIDENT PATTERN OF FRAUD IN VENEZUELA

    There was no evident pattern of fraud in Venezuela's balloting that left President Hugo Chavez in office but a final judgment depends on what observers report, the State Department said Monday. Press reports about a couple of irregular incidents do not suggest "a broader pattern or problem of abuse," spokesman Tom Casey said.

    The State Department stressed its support for a spirit of reconciliation with Venezuela. Casey called the vote part of a process of national reconciliation, although he said allegations of fraud lodged by opponents of Chavez should be investigated. "The important thing about this process is that it helps achieve a peaceful, democratic, constitutional solution to Venezuela's ongoing political crisis," Casey said. "That's the starting point that we went into this with. That's where we are now," he said. The State Department would not support any kind of violent reaction in response to the referendum, Casey said.  

    FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER AND CÉSAR GAVIRIA ENDORSE CHÁVEZ WIN IN VENEZUELA

    Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said the partial results announced Monday morning by election officials showing a wide margin of victory for Chavez ''coincided'' with his own team's findings. Though the opposition swiftly rejected the results, saying they were fraudulent, Carter and the head of the Organization of American States, who led observer teams, said the voting appeared clean. ''Now it's the responsibility of all Venezuelans to accept the results and work together for the future,'' he said.

    OAS Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria said observers ''have not found any element of fraud in the process.'' There was no immediate opposition reaction to the comments by Carter and Gaviria. Earlier, opposition leaders refused to accept the results and demanded a manual recount, claiming their own exit polls showed almost 60 percent of citizens voted to oust Chavez.  

    FORMER CNE PRESIDENTS DEMAND RESULTS OF CHÁVEZ REFERENDUM ARE AUDITED 

    A number of former presidents of the National Electoral Council (formerly known as Supreme Electoral Council) met on Monday to analyze the results of Sunday recall vote on President Hugo Chávez, and claimed that a comprehensive investigation on the way the results were obtained needs to be conducted.

    "There are several indications that make people believe that the results do not match reality," said former Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) president Carlos Delgado Chapellín. The fact that the opposition players were not allowed to witness the vote count is another serious indication that "results were tergiversated," said Isidro Morales Paúl, another former president of CSE. According to Delgado Chapellín, the automated electoral system utilized on Sunday recall should be subject to a thorough investigation and audit, to determine what is the real correlation of political forces in Venezuela.

CARACAS, August 16

   VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION CALLED THE RESULTS OF THE REFERENDUM "A GIGANTIC FRAUD" 

    Venezuelan leftist President Hugo Chavez on Monday declared victory in a referendum on his rule but the opposition called the results "a gigantic fraud." According to National Electoral Council President Francisco Carrasquero, Chavez won backing from 58 percent of voters with 94 percent of electoral rolls counted in the referendum on whether to recall him before his term ends.

    But the opposition said it had won by almost the same margin and called the official results a fraud engineered through the use of electronic voting machines. "We firmly and categorically reject the result ... we're going to collect the evidence to prove to Venezuela and the world the gigantic fraud which has been committed against the will of the people," a senior opposition leader, Henry Ramos Allup, told a news conference.

    He said the opposition, a loose coalition of political parties, unions and business groups united by their distaste for Chavez, would ask international organizations to investigate. International observers, including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, praised proceedings as voting got underway on Sunday but have still to give their final verdict on the referendum.

    CHAVEZ SAYS VENEZUELANS SHOULD PREPARE FOR ANY ELECTORAL RESULTS 

    Hugo Chávez Sunday called on Venezuelans to prepare their spirit to accept the results of Sunday recall vote on his mandate, adding that the "game continues" after Sunday election. "Lets prepare our spirit to accept results, even the people who may feel that their expectations were not fulfilled and that results are unfavorable. The most important things are peace and democracy, and the game continues," he said after casting his vote in a popular neighborhood in west Caracas.

    He stressed that Sunday election has been successful. He said that it should be considered "an example of peace and democracy to the world," and emphasized that the referendum is a proof against those who say he is a "dictator".

    "Here is a proof for everyone who said that dictator Chávez would not accept to test himself, that he would not recognize the signatures (to call a revoking referendum): Hugo Chávez, a citizen within the democratic system, is here expressing his opinion," he said. He also said the vote is equivalent to an "Olympics of democracy" in which records of attendance and international observers would be broken. "This is a historic day for democracy in Venezuela. I'm sure the great majority will accept the results and welcome them joyfully to keep walking through the path of a new homeland," he said.

   VENEZUELANS GO MASSIVELY TO VOTE

    Before dawn, Venezuelans were massively in the streets all over the country to wait for the opening of voting centers in a historical day marked by a recall referendum on President Hugo Chávez' mandate. Armed with umbrellas, chairs and food for a long wait, the voters are occupying the streets in long lines of hundreds of people formed outside ballot centers. In some centers, the process has suffered delays due to the absence of the fingerprint-reading machines or witnesses of voting tables. In addition, some centers had not opened their doors at 8:00 a.m. Electoral authorities said they are working to solve the delays.

    "The referendum will be honest, impartial, and transparent," claimed the leader of the Carter Center, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, during a news conference with the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS), César Gaviria, who reiterated he expects that results are disclosed timely and that said results are respected by the country's political players. Carter, speaking in Spanish, reminded that Sunday recall vote on President Hugo Chávez is the culmination of a process of dialogue and an agreement that both the government and the opposition signed on May 2003.

    "We are here in our capacity as international observers to protect the integrity of the election without interfering in the final result," he added. Carter argued that the recall vote alone is not going to solve the crisis facing Venezuela, and urged Venezuelans to avoid creating an excluding political leadership>

    CHÁVEZ GUARANTEE RESPECT FOR RESULTS OF REFERENDUM

    Hugo Chávez Saturday guaranteed the results of August 15 recall vote on his mandate will be respected whatever they are. He described his meeting with César Gaviria, Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS), and Jimmy Carter, former U.S. President and head of the Carter Center, as "very positive," but he would not disclose the issues they addressed.

    The Venezuelan President showed confidence that his leadership will be strengthened, as he will defeat the opposition in Sunday election. Once again, Chávez called his foes oligarchs, saying they serve the U.S. imperialism. "In democracy, the people rule, but I am confident we shall attain victory," Chávez added, indicating that he is going to bed early on Saturday in order to wake up at 3:00 a.m. Sunday and go to cast his ballot.

    Chávez announced he is to vote at a newly created electoral center in popular northwest Caracas neighborhood 23 de enero. In the previous election, Chávez cast his ballot at Caracas La Pastora neighborhood, where voters and neighbors booed him.

    U.S. TO GIVE CUBA $ 50,000.00 HURRICANE AID

    Cubans hit hard by hurricane Charley will receive $50,000 in U.S. assistance, the State Department said Friday. "The Cuban people can count on America's support in these difficult times," spokesman Adam Ereli said in a statement that avoided any sympathetic reference to the Cuban government.

    The United States "expresses its solidarity with the Cuban people," the statement said. It offered no sympathy to the government itself, which the Bush administration condemns as the one exception to democracy among Western hemisphere governments and as a sponsor of terrorism. The statement called on the Cuban government to make sure the Cuban people get the aid.

    The $50,000 will be provided immediately, and all American private organizations and religious groups with licenses will be urged to export humanitarian goods to Cuba. Ereli said. Most trade with Cuba is banned in an effort to weaken the Cuban economy and Fidel Castro's government, but medical supplies and food are excluded from the embargo. Of course, as in similar previous occasions, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, not the Cuban people, will receive enormous amounts of money from international humanitarian organizations.  

    FORMER CHAVEZ AIDE PREDICTS THE OPPOSITION WILL WIN 

    While polls say that todayçs recall referendum on leftist President Hugo Chávez is too close to call, Chávez's mentor and former top aide Luis Miquilena told a Miami Herald reporter Thursday that he has little doubt about the vote's outcome: The opposition will win. Miquilena, the former communist party politician, was Chávez's ideological guide after Chávez was released from prison following a failed 1992 coup attempt, and the two became close friends when Chávez took refuge in Miquelena's house and lived there for about five years in the late '90s.

    Miquilena says he parted ways with Chávez in mid-2002, frustrated by the president's failure to heed his advice to tone down his incendiary rhetoric, which was increasingly turning growing sectors of society against the government. Since then, the septuagenarian politician has remained largely silent. "I think the ‚yes' vote [calling for Chávez's immediate departure] is a majority in this country. I'm pretty sure about that,'' Miquilena said in a two-hour interview. "My only concern is that the government has already pulled so many tricks to try to avoid this referendum, that one can only imagine [the worst] about what they could do if they feel they will lose it.''

    ''In his best moment, in the 1998 election, Chávez got 3.7 million votes,'' Miquilena said. ``You could feel in your skin that Chavismo was a winner at that time. But since then, he has lost support from all the groups that originally backed him.'' As an example, Miquilena cited the fact that Chávez had to bus in paid demonstrators from the countryside for his massive campaign rally in Caracas last Sunday. And many of these people left even before Chávez had finished his speech, he added.

HURRICANE CHARLEY KILLS AT LEAST THREE IN CUBA

     Hurricane Charley claimed at least three lives and injured four other people as it roared across Cuba early Friday, battering the capital with heavy rains, ripping apart roofs, downing power lines and yanking up huge palm trees before taking aim at Florida. The storm crossed the Caribbean's largest island shortly after midnight, with gusts of up to 125 mph reported in some areas. Before reaching Cuba, Charley drenched Jamaica, where one man died.

    At least 41 buildings in Old Havana's dilapidated neighborhoods collapsed overnight, civil defense authorities said. Cuba appeared to suffer minor, but widespread, property damage from Charley, which was a Category 2 storm with winds of up to 110 mph when it swept through here in less than two hours shortly after midnight.

  Charley began pummeling Cuba's Isle of Youth off the main island's southwestern coast with heavy rains and high winds Thursday afternoon. More than 149,000 people were evacuated in western and central Cuba as the storm approached, and Havana's international airport and major seaports were closed, Cuba's official National Information Agency reported.

    HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF CHAVEZçS OPPONENTS MARCHED THROUGH CARACAS

    Hundreds of thousands of opponents of President Hugo Chavez marched through Venezuela's capital on Thursday, their biggest display of strength in campaigning ahead of a weekend referendum on his rule. Chanting, "he's leaving, leaving, leaving," marchers wove through a city blanketed in posters urging citizens to vote on Sunday: "yes!" -- to recall Chavez -- or "no!" -- to leave him in office.

    "The 'yes' is going to triumph," said Luis Aparicio, 26, waving a Venezuelan flag as he marched. "I want a much better country for my children. That man has done too much harm." At stake is whether Chavez will serve out the remainder of a six-year term marked by huge public spending for the impoverished majority, a failed 2002 coup, and a general strike that failed to topple the 50-year-old former army paratrooper but crippled the economy.

    Thursday marked the last day of campaigning for the referendum, and a final chance for a strong show of force against a leader whose resurgent popularity among the poor has made unseating him a tough battle. Security officials estimated the crowd of opponents at more than 100,000. Addressing a news conference, Chavez lashed out as his opponents, calling them lackeys of the United States. He accused President Bush of funding the recall campaign; he said he wouldn't be surprised if the CIA was backing efforts to destabilize his government -- though he acknowledged he had "no proof."

     SYSCO CORPORATION EXPANDING SALES TO CUBA FOR TOURISTS  

    Sysco Corp, the largest U.S. food services distributor, signed an agreement with Cuba Wednesday to increase food sales, which go primarily to the island's tourist trade. As part of the agreement, David Dickson, president and CEO of Sysco Food Services of Central Alabama, signed a letter of intent with the Cuban food import agency Alimport and pledged to lobby for the lifting of U.S. trade sanctions against the communist-run country.  

    Since entering the Cuban market in November, Sysco Alabama has sold $500,000 worth of 195 food items to Cuba, including canned fruit and vegetables, tomato puree and other products. Dickson declined to say how much the sales would total. At a Havana hotel, the company exhibited goods ranging from breaded calamari and Italian meatballs, to refried beans, chocolate pudding mix, marshmallow topping and ice cream.

    Most of the items are destined for Cuba's tourist hotels and restaurants, as well as dollar-priced supermarkets, rather than the subsidized stores for the general Cuban population. But Dickson said the company plans to sell nutritional and dietary supplements to Cuba for hospitals and schools. Since the United States eased the embargo four years ago to allow food exports to Cuba for cash, Washington has authorized sales totaling $578 million.  

    BLACKOUTS IN CUBA ARE "PLANNED," OFFICIAL SAYS 

    Daily blackouts of up to 12 hours a day "are planned," said an official of the provincial power authority in Santa Clara. National electric union officials have not reported breakdowns or downtime due to maintenance affecting any of the power plants on the national electric grid lately, the usual reasons for blackouts during the summer months.

    Residents complain of having to sleep pestered by insects in 90-plus degree weather, and of school-age children on vacation who can't watch TV programming in the evenings due to the blackouts.

     THREE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SAID THE TIDES FOUNDATION, CONTROLLED BY TERESA HEINZ KERRY, PROVIDED MONEY TO THE CUBAN DICTATOR

     Three members of the United States Congress held a news conference yesterday claiming that money from the Heinz Endowments granted to Tides Foundation projects, controlled by Teresa Heinz Kerry, once gave money to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Political dueling for Florida voters -- especially Cuban exiles -- erupted in Miami on Tuesday as charitable donations from Teresa Heinz Kerry's fortune came under fire by three local Republican members of Congress. Among the allegations presented by the members of congress: The endowment Heinz Kerry oversees helped the Cuban communist government link up to the Internet over a decade ago.

    Angry local Democrats quickly denied the accusations and called them a ploy to link the wife of the party's presidential candidate to fringe groups, and worse, Castro's Cuba, a hot-button topic in Miami-Dade. In a press conference at the Inter-Continental hotel in Doral, Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, along with Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, all of Miami-Dade, detailed how the Tides Foundation ''services or funds radical and anti-American groups,'' including Cuba's Interests Section.

    Tides money, they said, helped Castro's Cuba by donating millions of dollars to the Institute for Global Communications, whose Canadian affiliate in 1991 used an undersea cable link from Havana to Sprint in the United States -- connecting Cuba to the Internet. ''They linked the Cuba government to the rest of the world,'' Lincoln-Diaz Balart said. The John Kerry campaign called the accusation ''lies'' and said the congressional members had "embarrassed themselves.''

   U.S REP. PORTER GOSS NOMINATED TO HEAD CIA

    President George W. Bush on Tuesday nominated U.S. Rep. Porter Goss to lead the CIA, an intelligence agency that has been under fire and under the microscope since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. "He knows the CIA inside and out," Bush said of Goss, a prestigious eight-term Republican congressman from Florida, a former CIA officer, and until Tuesday, the House intelligence chief . "He is the right man to lead this important agency at this critical moment in our nation's history."

    Goss's nomination was praised by Republicans, but key Democrats objected to Bush's choice, questioning whether any lawmaker could bring non-partisan objectivity to the post. And some questioned whether Goss was too close to the CIA to shake things up at the agency, which was the focus of some critical comments in a recent report by the independent 9/11 commission. The agency has also been faulted for its pre-war intelligence on Iraq.

    Goss' nomination is subject to Senate confirmation. Goss, 65, has been chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence since 1997, but he stepped down from that post Tuesday afternoon. Last month, the committee released a scathing report on operations at the CIA. Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nomination, called for "fair, bipartisan and expeditious confirmation hearings" for Goss, but he stopped short of endorsing the congressman for the job.

   CHAVISTAS AND OPPONENTS HOLD RALLIES

    A week before a recall referendum on President Hugo Chavez's rule, supporters and opponents of the Venezuelan leader held massive events in Caracas, each side confident of victory in the emotionally-charged election. Polls show the country is split evenly between those for and against Chavez. Supporters see him as a champion of the poor and a new hope after decades of corrupt governments, while opponents accuse him of seeking to install a communist dictatorship.

    "In seven days, Venezuelans will have a chance to stop the demon of intolerance, division, unemployment and hunger," said opposition leader Enrique Mendoza during an event with the immigrants. Tens of thousands of Chavez's followers, clad in red, marched with signs saying "No" to the recall and "Ahead with the Revolution," celebrating what they say is a sure win on the August 15 vote.

    Chavez spoke to the crowd, saying that a victory next Sunday would be a home run which would "fall on the gardens of the White House." Chavez, who survived a short-lived coup in 2002, has accused the Bush administration of backing alleged opposition plans to overthrow him. Both the United States and the opposition deny the claims. On the other side of town, the opposition gathered its followers in a caravan and a concert with rock artists and comedians. Immigrants pledged their support to the opposition in a separate event, dressed in their traditional costumes and bearing their flags.

    A SUSPENSION OF VENEZUELA OIL SUPPLY TO U.S. IS DISMISSED BY ANALYST 

    Venezuela is unlikely to suspend the oil supply to the United States - as Hugo Chávez has repeatedly threatened - since it would mean a setback to the country, said expert Roger Tissot, director of Markets and Countries Group/Latin America for Washington, D.C.-based PFC Energy.  "There is an economic reality: Venezuela needs to export oil and its natural market is the U.S. east coast," said Tissot.

    "Even though Chávez has been critical of President Bush (...) he has not attacked U.S. business interest" in Venezuela, because Washington depends on oil imports and Venezuela depends on its crude exports, he added. He reminded that companies such as Chevron Texaco, Exxon Mobil, and Conoco Phillips continue working in Venezuela without any complaint.

    CUBA WILL CONTINUE PURCHASES OF U.S. FOODSTUFFS

    Despite U.S. efforts to strangle the flow of dollars to Cuba and fresh exchanges of acrimony between President George W. Bush and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, the cash-strapped Cuban government intends to make record U.S. food purchases this year. By the end of August, Cuba will have purchased in eight months as much as it did in the whole previous year. Cash purchases of U.S. food have grown exponentially since November 2001, when hurricane-ravaged Cuba began taking advantage of the first breach of a trade embargo imposed in 1960 and maintained through 10 successive U.S. presidencies.

    Cuban purchases from what is now the nation's biggest food supplier, already nearing the $300-million mark by the end of July, are set to exceed $440 million this year, Alvarez said in an interview. That would represent at least a 25% increase over last year's purchases from U.S. producers. More significant, say analysts in both countries, the expanding food trade represents broader spending by the Cuban government on vital staples for the monthly food ration on which most in this country of 11.2 million depend for survival. More than 95% of Havana's purchases have been commodities such as wheat, corn, poultry and soybeans.

    The Cuban government has one remaining tool with which to lobby in the United States, and that is its food and agricultural purchases. Cuba's continuing dependence on the U.S. market also may reflect a greater degree of pragmatism among Cuban officials and those from predominantly Republican U.S. farm states than has been evident at the highest levels of their countries. The Communist government's commitment to U.S. food purchases probably is driven less by politics than need. A three-year drought has steadily eroded domestic food supplies, especially meat and dairy products, exacerbating shortages that U.S. analysts say were caused by the inefficiencies of a centrally planned economy. 

    AN ISLAMIC GROUPS THREATENS EL SALVADOR FOR SENDING TROOPS TO IRAQ

    A group saying it has ties to al Qaeda vowed on Thursday to strike inside El Salvador if the country sends fresh troops to Iraq, according to a message posted on an Islamic Web site. El Salvador's President Tony Saca said on Wednesday a new contingent of Salvadoran troops -- approved by the legislature last month after heated debate -- would leave for Iraq in the middle of August.

    "Dispatching any troops from El Salvador would be a declaration of war against Iraq's Muslim people, prompting us to launch war against you and move the conflict inside El Salvador," said the hitherto unknown group Mohammed Atta Brigades - al Qaeda of Jihad. The authenticity of the statement could not be verified. The group is named after a leader of the hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

    "No citizen will enjoy security in El Salvador as soon as any soldier arrives in Iraq ... And do not hold us responsible for bloodshed in El Salvador as we have cautioned you against taking such a step," said the brief statement in Arabic. The first contingent of 360 Salvadoran troops went to Iraq a year ago and a second contingent of 380 troops relieved them in February. Insurgents have tested the will of states in the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq by kidnapping and in some cases beheading their citizens. Last month the Philippines, with one of its nationals under a death threat in Iraq, joined Spain, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras in pulling its troops out of the coalition.

    64-YEAR-OLD MAN IS MIAMI-DADEçS FIRST WEST NILE FATALITY

    A 64-year-old Miami-Dade County man has died of West Nile virus, public health officials said Friday, marking the county's first-ever death from the mosquito-borne illness. The man was hospitalized with fever, headache, nausea and weakness. The victim's identity and area of residence were not released.

    Roughly 2 percent of people who are infected with West Nile die from the disease. Anyone can be infected by the virus, but people older than 50 are more likely to develop serious symptoms. Miami-Dade has had seven West Nile cases so far this year -- one more than for all of 2003. The caseload usually peaks in August and September, when mosquito populations spike. Recent rains have prompted a mosquito boom.

    The county's first two cases of West Nile this year occurred in Coconut Grove and Coral Gables, Armbrister said. Officials would not say where later cases occurred. Miami-Dade has accounted for seven of Florida's nine cases of West Nile disease this year, a departure from previous years when most cases clustered in the northern part of the state. Mosquitoes transmit West Nile from birds to humans. Cases of West Nile can cluster in a given area because the birds that carry the disease don't migrate during the summer, when most human cases of the disease occur. The recent fatality was the state's first West Nile death of the year. Last year, Florida saw 94 cases of West Nile, with six fatalities.

    DROUGHT-STRICKEN CUBANS GETTING BY

    Eastern Cuba's worst drought in 40 years has affected thousands in Holguin city, 435 miles east of Havana in the area hardest hit. Surrounding towns in Holguin province and the eastern provinces of Camaguey and Las Tunas have also suffered.

    Yucca, banana and sugarcane crops have withered away, spiking up prices in local markets. Nearly 13,000 bony cows have been slaughtered this year. Authorities went on alert in Holguin, Cuba's fourth largest city, in July 2003, when rain failed to fill reservoirs. Two months later one of the city's three reservoirs dried up, then another in May when rainfall was 40 percent below normal. "Never before have two reservoirs dried up," said Holguin's deputy director of Cuba's National Institute of Hydraulic Resources. "It's been very tense here."

    Although things have improved lately with more frequent rain showers, it will be weeks before reservoirs and wells are replenished. The reservoir that dried up in May has recovered only enough to guarantee 30 days of water for hospitals and clinics in Holguin, a city of 300,000. Faucets run empty, and most wells dried up long ago.

  THE CUBAN DICTATOR IS CALLED "NO LONGER INVINCIBLEî

     Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has lost his ''prophetic, charismatic and inspirational abilities,'' leaving the island's political stability uncertain, the CIA's former top Cuba expert said Thursday. Castro is ''no longer invincible,'' said Brian Latell, now with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. He was addressing the annual meeting of the Miami-based Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE).

    Latell said Havana's leader, who will turn 78 on Aug. 13, has ''lost his prophetic, charismatic and inspirational abilities,'' and as a result has become more constrained by aides, who now even write some of his speeches. That implies that Cuba's political stability is uncertain, and that its people could even face chaos or a ''conspicuously military regime'' if Castro's leadership continues to deteriorate, Latell said.

    Latell was among four panelists who addressed the opening session of ASCE's three-day conference in Miami. ASCE is largely made up of academics and business people interested in Cuba issues. Adolfo Franco, assistant administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said that despite the Cuban government's crackdown on dissidents last year, ''there is an unstopable movement for change'' on the island.

  EXILES STRIKE BACK AT MICHAEL MOOREçS WRITINGS

    Weeks after Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 became a controversial blockbuster in the United States, the film and its maker are generating a new wave of attention -- this time from Cubans on both sides of the Florida Straits. In Cuba, where dictator Fidel Castro is in a heightened war of words with President George W. Bush, bootlegged copies of Moore's Bush-bashing documentary were shown to packed cinemas for a week, and the film was aired on state-run television July 29.

    In a Cuba with a long-held distrust of U.S. governments, the film has sparked widespread public interest and added to a recent barrage of official -- and personalized -- attacks on President Bush. However, the film shows a big contrast between the United States and Cuba -- this country allows criticism of the power structure, which the Cuban government doesn't.

    In Miami and elsewhere, Cuban Americans who support Bush are vilifying Moore on Spanish-language radio, the Internet and in e-mails. Their objection, beyond the new film: inflammatory pieces Moore wrote about Cuban exiles in 1997 and 2000 in which he called them ''Batista supporters'' and ''wimps'' who were wrong not to immediately send home child-boater Elián González.  

    TERROR LEVELS SPAN COLOR SPECTRUM FROM GREEN TO RED

    The federal government has adopted a multicolored Homeland Security Advisory System to warn of possible terrorist attacks. Since the system was first created in March 2002, the alert level has never dropped below yellow.

    Here are the levels and what they mean:

    GREEN (Low condition): Low risk of terrorist attacks. Federal agencies should assess potential vulnerabilities and train employees on the alert system.
    BLUE (Guarded condition): General risk of terrorist attacks. In addition to the previous precautions, federal agencies should review emergency response procedures, check emergency response communications and provide the public with any information that would strengthen its ability to act appropriately.
    YELLOW (Elevated condition): Significant risk of terrorist attacks. In addition to the previous precautions, federal agencies should increase surveillance of critical locations, coordinate emergency plans as appropriate with nearby jurisdictions and assess whether the precise characteristics of the threat require further refinement of preplanned protective measures.
    ORANGE (High condition): High risk of terrorist attacks. In addition to the previous precautions, federal agencies should coordinate security efforts with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies; take additional precautions at public events and consider alternative venues or cancellations; prepare to move to alternative sites or disperse work force; and restrict access to threatened facilities to essential personnel only.
    RED (Severe condition): A terrorist attack has already occurred, or there is a severe risk of a terrorist attack.

   EXILED UNION LEADER CARLOS ORTEGA RETURNS TO VENEZUELA

    Carlos Ortega, president of the Venezuelan Workers' Confederation, largest and most powerful labor union, Wednesday told Venivision television in a clandestine interview that he returned to Venezuela last "weekend" after his year and a half exile in Costa Rica.

    Ortega said he is to continue in shelter and will not attend court to face a series of charges brought against him, claiming that "in Venezuela there are no guarantees whatsoever." He said he returned to Venezuela "because serious and strong threat against democracy exists in our country."

    Ortega, a fierce opponent to President Hugo Chávez' administration, exiled in Costa Rica on March 2003, alleging political persecution. The Attorney General's Office brought charges of civilian rebellion, incitement to commit a crime, treason, devastation, and conspiracy against Ortega in connection with a general strike conducted from December 2002 to February 2003.

   CUBA TO SEND 5,000 "SPORTS COACHES" TO VENEZUELA 

    Hugo Chávez' government announced, with a lot of hype, a new social plan called Misión Barrio Adentro Deportivo, under which 5,000 Cuban "sports coaches" are to train Venezuelans willing to practice sports. With sports premises nationwide in a serious condition of abandonment and deterioration, Chávez is trying to use Misión Barrio Adentro Deportivo to complement Misión Barrio Adentro, which was designed to provide primary medical assistance to the Venezuelans.

    Under Misión Barrio Adentro Deportivo, the 5,000 Cuban "teachers of Physical Education" are to join 15,000 Cuban doctors. Thousands of "military advisorsî are presently advising Venezuelan military units at all echelons of the military command, from companies to divisions.  Chavez paid for all these political and military "advisorsî with the 53,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil per day that flows to Cuba daily, which analysts call a "lifelineî for Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. 

    CUBA ECONOMY HINGES ON CHÁVEZ REFERENDUM

    Just as Hugo Chávez' political future is riding on an upcoming recall vote, so is the fate of his closest ally, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. The two heads of states, united in their anti-American rhetoric and to differing degrees in their leftist policies, have developed a strategically critical relationship since Chávez was elected in 1998.

    Petroleum-rich Venezuela provides economically strapped Cuba with tons of oil, and Havana owes Caracas an estimated $800 million. It is an alliance so close that some analysts say each leader has become nearly dependent on the other for survival. And it is an alliance that some members of the opposition promise will end if the Aug. 15 recall vote succeeds. ''Our main goal is to stop being a Cuban colony,'' said opposition Congressman Julio Borges. The prospect of a reversal of Venezuela's friendly policies toward Cuba should give Castro reason to worry.

    EDWARDS MEETS WITH CUBAN AMERICANS IN MIAMI

    Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards stepped up the Kerry campaign's outreach to Cuban Americans today, meeting privately with a group of community leaders and vowing at a rally in Miami, as it has been done many times before during presidential elections, to ''keep the pressure'' on Fidel Castro. Edwards, who made Miami his first solo post-convention stop, told a crowd gathered at the James L. Knight Center that nominee John Kerry's pledge to keep the country strong includes a promise to "keep the pressure on Castro and support those who fight for freedom.''

    ''We know what needs to be done,'' Edwards said to a cheering crowd this morning at the Center. Edwards later met with about 20 Cuban American leaders, telling them, according to one participant, that "the Cuban vote is in play.'' The meeting comes as the democratic campaign believes it has an opportunity to pick up votes among the reliably Republican voting bloc of Cuban Americans, some of whom are angry with President Bush's recent crackdown on Cuban tyrant.

    CUBAN TRAGEDY CONTINUES: SIX CUBANS MISSING SINCE THEIR JULY 6 DEPARTURE FROM THE ISLAND

    Six Cuban balseros are missing after they left for Honduras in a raft 15 days ago. The six were briefly mistaken for six other Cubans who arrived in Honduras. There was a moment of elation last week, when Radio Mambi announced six Cubans had landed in Honduras on a homemade raft.  However, the six, were another group of Cubans, hoping to get to the United States but unable to reach their relatives in Miami.

    Relatives in Cuba said that twelve men left Havana in the late-night darkness on July 6. They planned to go to Honduras, using a channel where the currents and winds were in their favor. Some days later, four of the men drowned. Six wanted to keep going, but the two remaining survivors fought to return to Cuba.  Finally, the two cut off a piece of the raft and split into two parties. When the two men were able to reach Cuba, they recounted what happened.

    FLORIDA SENATE RACE SPOTLIGHTS CUBA POLICY

    Fidel Castro and U.S. policy on Cuba have emerged as critical topics in the Republican race for the U.S. Senate, signaling the importance that the leading contenders place on support from South Florida's Cuban exile community. On Wednesday, the issue escalated into a spat between GOP front-runner Bill McCollum and his nearest rival, Mel Martinez, that culminated in McCollum filing a complaint with state Republican Party officials.

    McCollum, a former Orlando-area congressman, charged in a letter to state GOP Chairwoman Carole Jean Jordan that Martinez has attacked his integrity "in a manner that is quite simply deplorable."  The complaint arises from statements to reporters by Martinez and his aides suggesting that McCollum is "working in tandem" with Castro to keep Martinez out of office. Martinez, a former secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said on several occasions that McCollum is "working together" with Castro and Democrats.

    "This stoops to a new low," said Shannon Gravitte, McCollum's spokeswoman. "Comparing Bill McCollum to Fidel Castro is outrageous." Martinez's aides called McCollum's complaints a "silly campaign tactic." They said it comes on the heels of the distribution in South Florida of a McCollum campaign brochure touting McCollum's views on U.S. policy with Cuba and Castro, and promoting endorsements he's received from two influential South Florida GOP congressmen, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart. McCollum and Martinez share similar stances on Cuba policy, according to their advisers.

    "I'M 100 PERCENT AGAINST HIMî ú SAID MARINE AFTER TALKING WITH KERRY

    John Kerry's heavily hyped cross-country bus tour stumbled out of the blocks yesterday, as a group of Marines publicly dissed the "Vietnam Warî hero in the middle of a crowded restaurant.  Kerry was treating running mate Sen. John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, to a Wendy's lunch in Newburgh, N.Y., for their 27th wedding anniversary Ê an Edwards family tradition Ê when the candidate approached four Marines and asked them questions.

    The Marines Ê two in uniform and two off-duty Ê were polite but curt while chatting with Kerry, answering most of his questions with a "YES, SIRî or "NO, SIR.î But they turned downright nasty after the Massachusetts senator thanked them "for their service" and left.  "He imposed on us and I disagree with him coming over here shaking our hands," one Marine said, adding, "I'm 100 percent against [him]."

    A sergeant with 10 years of service under his belt said, "I speak for all of us. We think that we are doing the right thing in Iraq," before saying he is to be deployed there in a few weeks and is "eager" to go and serve the country. The Marines Ê all of whom apparently serve at nearby Stewart Air Force Base Ê wouldn't give their names. 

   PRESIDENT BUSH ADMINISTRATION PRODS CUBA ON DR. OSCAR ELIAS BISCET 

    The U.S. State Department called on Cuba Wednesday to allow humanitarian groups to monitor the treatment of jailed dissidents, including Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet. Biscet, a prominent Cuban dissident, was arrested in December 2002 and sentenced to 25 years in prison for calling for a peaceful political change in Cuba.

     The Cuban government does not allow Biscet's wife to bring him rations and food - a privilege other prisoners are allowed, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. Biscet -- now in solitary confinement -- is among 75 independent civil society activists currently imprisoned for their opposition to the Fidel Castro regime.

    "We call on the Cuban government to allow humanitarian organizations to monitor their treatment," Boucher said, adding the State Department fears Biscet's condition will become worse. "We do believe that his health is deteriorating, that he's been suffering in confinement, and would be expected to suffer even more in solitary confinement," Boucher said.

     VENEZUELANS, VOTE YES! ON AUGUST 15 -- OPPOSITION GROUPS PLEDGE TO CREATE GOVERNMENT "FOR EVERYBODY"  

    The National Pact for Social Justice and Democratic Peace defines the guidelines of the government that may replace President Hugo Chávez' administration - in the event that it is terminated in August 15 recall vote - until 2007 Every group comprising the opposition alliance Democratic Coordinator, including leftists and rightists, entrepreneurs and union leaders, and representatives from the civil society, on Sunday signed the National Pact for Social Justice and Democratic Peace.

    The document sets forth the guidelines of the government of unity that may replace Hugo Chávez' administration - in the event that it is terminated in the August 15 recall vote - until 2007. In a simple event, the opposition bloc presented the Pact for "Governability,î which was read by actress Eva Gutiérrez.

    The opponents of Chávez agreed to "have only one candidate for the Presidency of the Republic," and claimed said candidate would be "selected in primary elections" and "shall not run for immediate re-election." The goal of the pact is "constructing a new democracy" which demands the political parties "to behave in accordance with the needs of our time." The document warns: "We Venezuelans are not going to leave the streets and return home because we are committed to the restoration of democracy." The event was characterized by unity and cohesion.