January 19, 2003 - Latin America's Political Compass Veers Toward the Left***BOGOTA, Colombia, Jan. 18 - Latin America's four most visible left-leaning heads of state came together for the first time this week at the inauguration of one of them as president of Ecuador. Ecuador's new leader, Lucio Gutierrez, is a former army colonel and coup plotter who has promised to fight the "corrupt oligarchy" in his country. The others are Luiz Inßcio Lula da Silva, a former union leader elected to the Brazilian presidency in October; Fidel Castro of Cuba, the grand old man of the Latin American left; and Venezuela's embattled president, Hugo Chavez. The four basked in applause at Ecuador's cavernous Congress on Wednesday and held meetings to discuss the future of a troubled region.
Bad news in the southern front of the war on terrorism*** A little-noticed -- and preposterous -- development is taking place in the southern front of the war on terrorism: Colombia's narco-terrorist guerrillas have scored a big diplomatic victory following the decisions by Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela not to brand them as ``terrorists.'' It was more than a propaganda victory for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the 17,000-strong guerrilla group that, according to Colombian and U.S. officials, was behind the bomb that leveled Bogotá's El Nogal social club last month, killing 35 people -- including six children -- and injuring 175 others. It was a public snub to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe that seems to have emboldened the FARC, courtesy of the Brazil-Ecuador-Venezuela axis of diplomatic spinelessness.***