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International Briefs...

ARGENTINA
(New York Times) -- Farmers in Argentina began cutting off grain exports after the breakdown of talks to resolve a conflict over government agricultural policies. Farmers north of Buenos Aires in Gualeguaychú, a hot spot during crippling strikes in March, once again blocked major roads used by trucks to take corn, wheat and soybeans to other South American countries.

In Córdoba, Entre Ríos and Santa Fe provinces, farmers also gathered on roads to prevent trucks from passing. Alfredo de Ángeli, a leader in the Argentine Agrarian Federation, said the protests would continue until next Thursday. But unlike during the 21-day strike in March, which caused widespread food shortages and crippled exports, farm leaders have vowed that this time they will not block food deliveries to Argentine citizens. "We will only stop grains and international exports," Mr. de Ángeli said in a television interview.

The protests threatened to exacerbate global food shortages and to damage Argentina's economy, which relies on agriculture for more than half its export earnings. Argentina is the world's second largest corn exporter and third largest soybean supplier. Farmers have been protesting a tax increase imposed in early March by the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. She has sought more revenues from the agricultural sector, which has been benefiting from a global surge in commodity prices and a growing demand in China and India for Argentina's grains.

BOLIVIA
(BNAmericas) -- Bolivia's government has decided to nationalize local telecoms operator Entel, which is majority controlled by European holding company Euro Telecom Internacional (ETI), state news agency ABI reported. Through supreme decree 29,544, issued on May 1 by Bolivia's President Evo Morales, the telco will now be fully controlled by the state.

The government also said that within the next two months, the value of ETI's shares will be determined to start a negotiation process with shareholders. According to the report, the final value the government will pay for Entel will be based on investment made by the company. ETI's main shareholder is Telecom Italia.

According to the report, the government is also ready to face international court hearings if ETI decides to take legal action.

BRAZIL
(Prensa Latina) -- President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said to be in favor of a moderate, but lasting economic growth for Brazil. I have never worked under the assumption of Brazil growing wildly 10 or 15% a year, as in the 70s, said Lula. He reiterated to be working with the idea of a five, six or 4.5% growth, but in good time and on solid foundations.

The Brazilian also challenged the firms which assess the country's risk and said they are reversing the matters. He also said to be surprised by the zero-risk grade granted to the United States, despite the magnitude of its current crisis. Lula made his remarks while visiting the CASENE Southeast-Northeast gas pipeline in Pojuca. This work of state-run firm PETROBRAS, running from Catu (Bahia) to Cacimbas (Espirito Santo), is part of the government social- economic investment plan called PAC (Growth Acceleration Program). Once completed in 2010, this gas pipeline will carry 20 million cubic meters of gas to the Northeast, which is double the amount currently used by the region, according to Lula.

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil's Real rose to a nine-year high as the U.S. Dollar slumped and investor demand for commodities and higher-yielding assets increased. Speculation that the strengthening Brazilian economy will prompt Fitch Ratings to follow Standard & Poor's in giving the nation's debt an investment-grade credit rating helped fuel gains for a second day. S&P upgraded the debt on April 30, sending the Real and benchmark stock index to records and yields on Brazilian dollar bonds to an all-time low.

"Overall, the market has abandoned its extreme pessimism with the U.S. economy", said Flavia Cattan- Naslausky, an interest-rate and currency strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland in Greenwich, CT. "As long as U.S. data isn't terrible, risk appetite should be sustained."

The Real rose 0.8% to 1.6410 per dollar from 1.6545. The currency touched 1.6402, the strongest since April 1999. The Real has gained 19% over the past 12 months, the second-best performance among the 16 most-traded currencies after the Norwegian Krone. The yield on the Brazilian government's zero-coupon bond due January 2010 fell 16 basis points, or 0.16% point, to 14.23%, acording to Banco Bradesco SA. Investor risk aversion declined after the Commerce Department said U.S. housing starts rose in April to a 1.032 million annual pace, from a revised 954,000 in March. The median forecast of 73 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for 939,000.

RATINGS SPECULATION
Brazilian exports have tripled since President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office in January 2003 on rising world demand for soybeans, iron-ore, beef and cars. The economy expanded 5.4% in 2007, the fastest rate in three years, buoyed by rising exports and falling interest rates. "We cannot comment on speculation and in general Fitch does not provide advanced notice of its planned rating actions," said Kenneth Reed, a spokesman for Fitch in New York. Fitch rates Brazil's foreign currency debt BB+. S&P raised the nation's long-term foreign currency debt rating to BBB- from BB+ last month, saying Brazil should be able to maintain annual growth of as much as 4.5%."That kind of talk strengthens the outlook for rising dollar flows to the market,'' said Hideaki Iha, a trader at Fair Corretora de Cambio in Sao Paulo. Iha added that forecasts of higher interest rates in Brazil are also attracting investors to fixed-income markets. The central bank raised the rate a half-point from 11.25% last month, the first increase in three years, in a bid to stem inflation. Policy makers next meet on June 3-4.

The yield on Brazil's interest-rate futures contract for January delivery fell 3 basis points to 13.06%, more than 1 percentage point above the central bank's 11.75% benchmark rate.

CHILE
(Bloomberg) -- Chile's government announced a plan to rebuild towns in the country's southern Lakes region damaged by a volcano that continues to erupt. President Michelle Bachelet also said the government would give financial aid to families in the area, according to a statement posted on the government's Web site.

The volcano began erupting on May 2 for the first time in 9,000 years, sending a plume of gas and debris as high as 31 kilometers (19 miles) into the sky. Residents of Chaiten, 10 kilometers from the volcano of the same name, were evacuated this week. The volcano continues to discharge ash, causing electricity supply interruptions and blocking roads in the area, the country's emergency office said on its Web site. About 6 million tons of farmed salmon in the area, worth about $50 million, are at risk, Santiago- based El Mercurio reported.

COLOMBIA
(New York Times) -- Colombia extradited 14 jailed paramilitary leaders to the United States on Tuesday last week, in an effort by President Álvaro Uribe to take a hard line against the warlords and defuse a scandal that has tied them to senior lawmakers in the Colombian Congress and members of his own family.

The extraditions of so many paramilitary leaders at once was unprecedented in Colombia's long history of trying to dismantle the hydra-headed syndicates that export cocaine to the United States. They come at a delicate moment for Colombia's government, which is trying to win approval of a trade agreement with the United States.

Senior Democrats in Congress have opposed the trade deal, saying that Mr. Uribe has not made enough progress in curbing human rights abuses and prosecuting those responsible.

The extraditions seemed to indicate a new push by Mr. Uribe's government to prevent the rearming of the paramilitary armies after years in which violence in Colombia's internal war has waned.

The extraditions were carried out by surprise in the early hours with dozens of elite police officers gathering the men from three high-security prisons in Colombia. Interior Minister Carlos Holguín said the men were put aboard a plane in Bogotá bound for the United States, where they will face drug-trafficking charges. "Most of the top bosses are there," Mr. Holguín said, speaking on Colombian radio. "In some cases they were still committing crimes and reorganizing criminal structures."

The extraditions are likely to add fodder not only to the fierce debate around the trade agreement, but also to the debate in Colombia about the best way to prosecute those accused of committing some of the worst atrocities in Colombia's long war.

Human rights groups say the extraditions will put the warlords outside the reach of Colombia's judicial system. While the men may now face lengthy sentences in the United States for drug-trafficking offenses, their crimes related to the war in Colombia may go unpunished, they said. "These men are not going to be held accountable for the human rights violations they committed," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch. "Victims in Colombia will not be able to confront their tormentors and receive the reparations they deserve."

Still, some of the men extradited to the United States could spend more time in prison in the United States on drug trafficking charges than they would in Colombia for their actions during the war. It was also clear that some warlords had effectively controlled their armies from prison, thwarting efforts to prevent a paramilitary resurgence. Reports of an increase in extrajudicial slayings this year, in particular a rise in killings of union members, have plagued Mr. Uribe's attempts to win approval of the trade deal in the United States Congress. In the past, paramilitaries were responsible for many of those killings, though it was unclear whether any of the extradited leaders were directly linked to the recent crimes.

In any case, the move by Mr. Uribe demonstrates a resolve to confront the paramilitaries despite a slow- burning scandal of revelations of ties to the militias that had ensnared the president's political supporters, including top lawmakers and Mr. Uribe's former intelligence chief.

"This is an astonishing move for Uribe, who is trying to demonstrate to the U.S. Congress that rumors of his ties to the paramilitaries are false," said Bruce Bagley, an expert on the Andean drug war at the University of Miami. "This should go over well with the Democratic Congress."

Still, perceptions of justice will depend on the sentences meted out. Mr. Bagley said human right groups would closely follow the sentencing, especially after moves by the Bush administration to reduce prison terms for top drug traffickers in exchange for information about the functioning of their networks.

American officials were vague as to whether prison sentences would be lenient or long. The Justice Department in Washington said in a statement that it had assured Colombia's government that it would not seek life sentences for any of the defendants.

The paramilitary leaders extradited to the United States included a top warlord, Salvatore Mancuso, who oversaw atrocities like the massacre of 15 civilians and displacement of more than 600 people in 1997 in the town of El Aro, which has come to symbolize the path undertaken by the militias throughout the 1990s.

Mr. Uribe's government, the Bush administration's top ally in Latin America, has already extradited more than 700 Colombians to the United States since 2002. Most of those extraditions were of low-level operators in Colombia's resilient cocaine trade.

Despite the disbursement of more than $600 million a year in aid from the United States to fight drug trafficking and leftist guerrillas, Colombia remains the world's largest cocaine producer and the source of about 90% of the cocaine consumed in the United States. Paramilitary leaders came to control many of the thriving drug syndicates. Landowners established the private armies in the 1980s to combat the leftist insurgencies, but the paramilitaries eventually attained broad influence in Colombia's economic and political structures. Disclosures of ties between the paramilitaries and prominent political supporters of Mr. Uribe have recently shaken the country.

For instance, Mr. Uribe's cousin and close political collaborator, Mario Uribe, a former senator, was detained in April on charges of collaborating with the paramilitaries. And more than two dozen other members of the Colombian Congress have been arrested on claims of having similar ties.

Some of these revelations were obtained from the jailed warlords as part of a peace process that demobilized thousands of combatants in the private armies. That process is now thrown into doubt with these extraditions. "The idea that the United States will require the paramilitaries to collaborate with the victims is a lie that is being sold to the country," said Eduardo Bocanegra, the lawyer for Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, one of the extradited warlords. "The reparations were not only monetary," Mr. Bocanegra said. "They were also symbolic; the paramilitaries were providing information about the bodies found in mass graves."

But Mr. Uribe said on Tuesday that an agreement had been reached for the proceeds obtained from fines and confiscations of property from the paramilitary leaders in the United States to go to Colombian victims or their families. "This is notice," Mr. Uribe told reporters in Bogotá, "that the law must be respected."

CUBA
(Prensa Latina) -- Refining of over 5.5 million barrels of oil so far shows consolidation of productive performance of the Cuban-Venezuelan plant, one of its top officials said. Cuban Raúl Pérez, Deputy General Manager of the joint venture PDV-CUPET S.A., reported that the industry managed to produce up to 72,000 barrels of crude daily, or 7,000 barrels over its current design capacity. The plant belonging to the binational firm started operation on January 7 after a reactivation process worth $166 million carried out in 2007.

Considered as the main economic project of ALBA (the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas), the Camilo Cienfuegos refinery was inaugurated on December 21 2007 on the sidelines of the 4th Summit of PETROCARIBE, a regional pact for energy integration. Reactivation of the industry, built with Soviet technology in 1977-1990, involves an initial phase, which is the core of a petrochemical complex to be built in Cienfuegos, 155 miles southeast of Havana.

With a second phase expected to conclude by 2013, the plant will reach a daily refining capacity of 150,000 barrels of crude, the engineer recalled. A liquefied natural gas regasification plant is scheduled to be built as part of an extension process, with storage capacity expected to increase by 80,000 cubic meters, said Julio Sanchez, who is in charge of the extension project.

These works also involve the rehabilitation of the 116- mile Amistad oil pipeline, linking the industry with the supertanker base in Matanzas, in the northwestern coast of the Island.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
(BBC News) -- President Leonel Fernández has won re-election in the Dominican Republic as his main opponent admitted defeat. Miguel Vargas Maldonado conceded after partial results confirmed exit poll predictions giving the president a clear lead in his bid for a third term. With more than 90% of votes counted, President Fernández had 53% support - enough to avoid a run-off.

"I accept and recognise the results of the elections," said Mr Vargas Maldonado, the social democrat leader. But he refused to congratulate Mr Fernández, saying the election had been marred by "the most shameful use of state resources". The Organization of American States, which observed the election, said Mr Fernández of the centrist Dominican Liberation Party, won a "clear and definitive victory". The OAS said the election went smoothly, but noted that there were isolated incidents of violence.

The central electoral commission said Mr Fernández had obtained 53% of the vote, after results from 99% of voting stations were tallied. Mr Fernández later told his cheering supporters that the first-round win meant that "no time will be lost in the continuation of our work and progress".

Correspondents say Mr Fernández is widely credited with having revived the Dominican Republic's economy during his four years in office, but has promised to do more to fight poverty if re-elected. Unemployment is running at 16%, according to official figures, and about 25% of people live in poverty. Mr Fernández had earlier served as president from 1996 to 2000. He was prevented from a new election bid at that time because of a law barring presidents from seeking second terms. However, that law was rescinded in 2002, and Mr Fernández won re-election two years later.

ECUADOR
(Prensa Latina) -- Ecuador proposed the foreign oil companies a pre-contract agreement offering additional profits due to the rising oil price generate. Oil and Mining Minister Galo Chiriboga says they plan to cut current taxes from 99 to 70% if the companies continue investing and withdraw their suit against Ecuador at international court.

Under the current decree, Ecuador will sever oil company taxes from 90% (99% the climbing oil price profits) to 70%. If accepted, the agreement would be in force four months, the official deadline to replace participation contracts for service contracts, added the Minister.

At the meeting with PETROBRAS (Brazil), Repsol-YPF (Spain), Andes Petroleum (China), PERENCO (France) and City Oriente (US), Chiriboga voiced President Rafael Correa's interest to keep good trade and relations.

Daily oil production in Ecuador, 5th Latin American oil exporter, rounds 511,000 barrels, and transnationals produce 49%.

EL SALVADOR
Prensa Latina) -- The 2007 population census in El Salvador showed an average of 60.7 murders for every 100,000 inhabitants, emphasized La Prensa Grafica newspaper. The recent figures came with the new population count in the country, which showed a total population is of 5.7 million. Data from forensic medicine noted that there were 1,491 murders in 2007.

The World Health Organization pointed out the rate of 10 murders for every 100,000 inhabitants is considered an epidemic.

GUATEMALA
(Prensa Latina) -- A 400% rise in transportation prices in Guatemala may lead to an unprecedented social outbreak, warned unions. Edgar Guerra, representative of the Association of Urban Transportation Users warned of the problems that could occur if the owners of the sector follow through their threat of increasing prices from one to five quetzals (about 14 to 68 cents of the Dollar).

"Guatemalans cannot manage the increase. This would cause a social outbreak," assured the union leader who called on authorities to intervene. Guerra told Prensa Latina that the population is already having problems with the basic food supply and electricity and gas services and cannot handle an increase in transportation.

The day before bus owners rejected a government monthly subsidy of 12 million quetzals (1.6 billion Dollars) to keep down prices. In a meeting with the executive, the transportation owners said that a subsidy was not the solution and called for authorities to lower the price of diesel or they will raise fares in June.

Victoriano Zacarias, representative of the transportation drivers union condemned the decision that implies a heavier burden on Guatemalan families. Union leaders recalled recent protests over rising transportation costs in the Fraijanes municipality, with riots, 12 arrested and several wounded.

HONDURAS
(Prensa Latina) -- Honduras summoned Central American Presidents to a Summit to evaluate actions destined to fight the effects of climatic change in the area, an official report from Honduras Presidency headquarters indicates.

The meeting will take place on May 26-28 in the northern city of San Pedro Sula. Spanish Government Head Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Mexican President Felipe Calderón were in addition invited, the document reads.

Honduras National Radio specified that the event will try to boost policies and strategies to strengthen cooperation among those countries involved and to preserve the atmosphere. The official report from Honduran government insists on the intention of preventing climatic changes.

Belize Prime Minister Barrow Dean Barrow, and Presidents Alvaro Colom (Guatemala), Elias Antonio Saca (El Salvador), Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua), Oscar Arias (Costa Rica) and Martin Torrijos (Panama) are some of the guests invited.

MEXICO
(Prensa Latina) -- The price of the tortilla, Mexican emblematic and popular food, will increase 40% because of the high international prices of corn. A national industrial association informed the cost of corn for consumers will increase from 0.70 cents of a Dollar to 1.20 dollars a kilogram, also due to the speculation of the great monopolies, which are hiding the product.

Industrial entrepreneurs are complaining on the price reached by the corn and the lack of subsidies by the government, alleging it is inevitable to keep increasing the price of the product, because that would mean the bankruptcy for more than 10,000 establishments where the corn tortilla is sold and leaving 50,000 persons jobless. The tortilla is a main component of the Mexican popular diet. People use it daily to prepare the famous "Mexican tacos" which are practically indispensable in their food.

NICARAGUA
(Prensa Latina) -- The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will give Nicaragua near $100 million dollars to start the harvest season and help achieve food safety. Armando Cerrato, associate representative of FAO, said the aid will go to small rice and corn producers for two spring crops.

The FAO arranges a comprehensive plan with the government to seek donations to get certified seeds, input and technical aid. Nicaragua hopes to become granary of Central America and be able to export surplus productions.

PANAMA
(Prensa Latina) -- Panama Minister of Government and Justice Daniel Delgado ruled out the possibility of accepting the presence of foreign troops in Panama. Delgado denied media versions on that eventuality, which aroused after the visit of President Martin Torrijos to US, where he met with the Defense Secretary Robert Gates, among others.

Delgado expressed during a meeting with foreign media, that his country will maintain cooperation in areas of security and the fight against drug trafficking with all the nations of the region and of other parts of the world. He disclosed having received an invitation of Gates to travel to Washington in July to treat those issues, which was confirmed.

PARAGUAY
(Prensa Latina) -- The number of Paraguayan extreme poor people will increase this year, if mechanisms are not implemented to reduce the price of food, revealed an investigation of the United Nations. According to newspaper Neike, the UN study, called "Investing in People" said extreme poverty will go from 19.4% to 21.3%, so a total of 140,000 people will fall into abject poverty.

The same way, a recent study by Luis Galeano, director of the Strategy Plan to Fight Against Poverty, points out that of each 10 Paraguayans, four are sunk in poverty, and two of them are in extreme poverty. Galeano assured that "poor people are second class citizens" because of lack of access at decision levels. The new Paraguayan government, headed by former bishop Fernando Lugo, who will take power on August 15, will attack poverty and generate employment as a priority, Paraguayan future Finance Minister Dionisio Borda stated.

PERU
(BBC News) -- Leaders from 50 European, Latin American and Caribbean nations recently met in Peru to address poverty and the rise in world food prices. There have been few signs of compromise in trade negotiations ahead of the summit. Talks will be held in private.

Simmering regional conflicts in Latin America threaten to overshadow any final agreement. Some 50,000 police were drafted in for the summit, the fifth meeting of its kind in 10 years.

Even before his arrival in Lima, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez had already ruffled feathers both in Latin America and Europe. He has upped his hostile rhetoric towards Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and he has accused the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, of being supported by the same German political right as supported Adolf Hitler.

This is probably why Peru's government made sure that all the meetings were held behind closed doors. Political divisions within Latin America are also holding up trade negotiations. The European Union wants the region to open up their markets, but several Latin American nations are extremely resistant. Britain's Foreign Office Minister for Latin America, Kim Howells, said it would be a mistake not to liberalise trade.

"In a number of Latin American countries there's a rhetoric which is putting off investment in those countries, no question about it, and I don't think it's doing anybody any good," he said. "It's certainly not doing the people of those countries any good, but the way to solve it is through dialogue and by keeping our trading markets open."

Bolivian President Evo Morales is probably one of those dissenting voices. On touching down in Lima, he went straight to an alternative forum known as the People's Summit where he played in a football match, scoring a goal. He showed his solidarity with the indigenous and labour groups which had organised the alternative summit, before speaking at the official event. He suggested Latin American countries hold referendums on whether they would accept a free trade agreement with the EU - which he described as an instrument of domination.

Peru's President Alan Garcia, who has been trumpeting his country's booming economy, has indicated he would be happy to leave trade blocs behind and negotiate directly.

PORTUGAL
Prensa Latina) -- Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said the huge oil reserves at Faja del Orinoco are behind the attacks on Venezuela and his government. Following the signing of 20 agreements and letters of intent with Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates during an official visit, Chavez said his country tries to fight terrorism, drug trafficking and violence.

The statesman exposed US intelligence efforts to repeat in Venezuela the recent military attacks on a camp of Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces rebels in Ecuador. Hence the importance to prevent here greater conflicts and keep contact with the guerrilla to "try and resume the humanitarian and peace accord with Colombia."

He also mentioned recent talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the Colombia affair and pledged to do all in his power to release Colombian ex presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and all other FARC prisoners. Chavez also denied that Venezuela threaten the US and called convenient to seek "new levels of respect and relations with the world."

For his part, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates said the agreements with Venezuela are new opportunities for bilateral cooperation and will boost friendship and industrial development. Some of the agreements expand exchange on health care, fishing, off shore gas extraction, electrical systems, alternative renewable energy and ship construction. Socrates arrived Monday in Caracas with a delegation of 80 businessmen from different sectors, being the top achievement of this visit a $300 million dollar accord to purchase Venezuelan oil. The visiting delegation was also made up of Foreign Minister Luis Amado, Manuel Pinho (Economy), Mario Lino (Public Works) and Bernardo Trinidade (Secretary of Tourism).

URUGUAY
(BNAmericas) -- Uruguayan government authorities have launched a public information program to promote an integrated mass transport system in capital Montevideo. Local bus operator CUTCSA has already purchased 245 new vehicles. The buses are equipped with electronic fare collection and GPS systems. The vehicles will also have large illuminated signs displaying the bus number and route. While this may seem irrelevant, it was one of the aspects transport ministry officials noted as one of the faults in Chilean capital Santiago's Transantiago system.

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