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NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico (AP) -- The United States is closing its consulate in this violence-wracked border city for a week following a shootout in which assailants used machine guns, grenades and even a rocket launcher to attack a home, the U.S. Ambassador said Friday evening. In a statement from Mexico City, Tony Garza said "in light of this alarming incident and continued violence along the border, I have decided to suspend all operations except for emergency services for American citizens," for one week beginning Aug. 1. He said temporarily closing the consulate would allow officials to "access the security situation...

I have created a public register of "bump lists" here on Free Republic. I define a bump list as a name listed in the "To" field used to index articles. Free Republic Bump List Register

<p>How many Chinese bras -- and televisions and Barbie dolls and VCRs -- can fit through the Panama Canal?</p> <p>It's a question bedeviling canal authorities and many huge U.S. retailers who are betting on the waterway to get goods from Asia to the East Coast. Booming Chinese exports, and the increasing popularity of the all-water route from Asia to the Atlantic seaboard, made 2003 the busiest and most profitable year in the canal's 90-year history.</p>

From time to time I read the news and articles of the PT (Worker’s Party), www.pt.org.br, official site. And it's not old news from old notebooks, it is this year’s declarations. It’s possible to see that old aspirations – suffering metamorphosis, or not – still live. Look at this affirmation of José Dirceu, head of Civil House: We are retaking the political agenda of 1964 because problems like cultural democratization, agrarian reform, national autonomy and citizenship are still ongoing since then. (http://200.155.6.3/site/noticias/noticias_int.asp?cod=16887) For the reader who doesn’t know what happened around 1964, I can explain in three words: Brazil's counter-revolution....

The imprisoned leader of a Peruvian rebel group that was once involved in a lengthy hostage drama says his group has given up armed conflict and now wants to become a political movement. In an interview published in Wednesday's Peru21 newspaper, Victor Polay acknowledged that the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement has been defeated. "The moment has arrived for the MRTA to actively join the political fight, within the framework of democracy," said Polay, using the group's initials in Spanish. He said he would like authorities to grant amnesty to imprisoned MRTA guerrillas. "I hope there will be a political way...

A citizen decides to drive from one city to another, say, 100 miles away. He decides to start at dusk, when the temperature is more pleasant. Only 30 minutes along the way he, she sees an object being thrown across the road. It is a big boulder. The driver maneuvers as best as he can, to avoid it and manages to stop by the side of the road. At this moment a horde of savages jumps the car, killing the driver. Why? ... to rob him, her... Are we in the Africa of Idi Amin or Mugabe, in the old...

Potentially damaging to the opposition is that the ruling appears to exclude from participation in future referendum petitions the nongovernmental organization Súmate, which coordinated the February operation. Súmate has a network of tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the country, ready to assist with a fresh petition. But the electoral council's view is that Súmate ''does not represent civil society'' and cannot therefore play any role. There was no immediate reaction from the organization itself.……………………….………………………Flores told reporters that Article 72 of the constitution, which establishes the recall referendum, ''makes it clear that there can only be one request'' for such...

CARACAS, Venezuela - Election officials rejected a petition Friday signed by millions of Venezuelans calling for a referendum on Hugo Chavez's presidency, a major setback in opposition efforts to oust the leftist leader. The petition was thrown out because the signatures were gathered before the midpoint of Chavez's term, an election rule violation, said National Elections Council President Francisco Carrasquero. The council is considered an impartial body by rival political groups. Thousands of Chavez supporters outside the council headquarters cheered and pumped their fists upon learning of the decision. Dozens of National Guardsmen surrounded the building to keep order. The...

<p>Having recovered from the worst of his own socialist deliriums, George Orwell wrote, after viewing the carnage of the Civil War in Spain: "At an early age, I became aware that newspapers report no event correctly. But in Spain, I read for the first time articles which bore no relation to the facts, not even the relation implicit in an ordinary lie." Of no nation since would that doleful observation apply more keenly than to the Chile of Salvador Allende and of Augusto Pinochet.</p>

Imagine a Californian losing her job or a student grant simply because the governor didn't approve the fact that she signed a recall petition. That would be outrageous in a democracy that checks abuses of power. Yet it is what's happening today in Venezuela, where President Hugo Chávez's heavy-handed campaign to block his recall is threatening constitutional democracy. The Organization of American States, the Carter Center and other friends of Venezuela should remind Mr. Chávez that he mustn't break his own constitutional rule. Yes, he was elected legitimately in a landslide vote and shouldn't be ousted by force or any...

<p>Argentine Stocks, Currency May Gain in Loan Accord (Update1) Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Argentina's stocks and currency may gain after an International Monetary Fund-led group of lenders pledged $21 billion in new financing, improving the chances the country will renegotiate debts and spur the economy.</p>

Colombia is investigating instances of Venezuelan air force planes entering its airspace to cover left-wing Colombia guerrillas who were retreating into sanctuaries across the border, internal government documents obtained by United Press International show. The Colombian army is investigating more than a dozen reported Venezuelan military incursions to aid narco-guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in their decades-long struggle against Colombia's U.S.-backed government and right-wing paramilitaries. The most serious clash took place March 21. Some diplomats say Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez may want to pick a fight with Colombia to deflect the attention of his armed...

He has been dead for 30 years but Chile's former president, Salvador Allende, is still idolized and demonized in his country, three decades after the Sept. 11, 1973, coup that toppled him. The doctor who became the world's first democratically elected Marxist president is idolized by the left for his dream of a peaceful socialist revolution, cut short by Gen. Augusto Pinochet's brutal 17-year anti-communist crusade. Allende's horn-rimmed glasses and neat mustache have been omnipresent for weeks as an Allende-mad media has inundated Chileans with details about the charismatic, upper-middle-class orator who sent Cold War shivers through Washington. "Allende is...

Argentina Defaults on $3 Billion IMF Debt September 09, 2003 10:28:00 PM ET By Simon Gardner BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) - Argentina defaulted on a $3 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday, the biggest single missed payment in the IMF's history and likely to further isolate the precarious economy. The default, which comes nearly two years after Argentina racked up the biggest sovereign debt default ever in the throes of economic collapse, means Latin America's No.3 economy joins the ignominious ranks of IMF defaulters like Liberia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. ``To avoid compromising 25 percent of (Central...

CARACAS, VENEZUELA - The 17 volunteers gathered in a central Caracas apartment have at least one thing in common: most have President Hugo Chávez to thank for getting them involved in politics. Now they're determined to end his political career by having him recalled from office. In a poor neighborhood across town, Paula Bastida has also turned into an activist - but for the opposite cause. A passionate supporter of Mr. Chávez, Ms. Bastida volunteers for a government-sponsored literacy program in her hillside neighborhood of tin-roofed shacks. She believes Chávez to be the savior of the nation's poor. Welcome to...

President Alvaro Uribe on Monday said human rights groups critical of his crackdown on leftist rebels are cowards and terrorist sympathizers. Uribe's sharp words, delivered during a speech at a military ceremony in the capital, came the same day a group of 80 human rights groups and other non-governmental organizations released a report critical of Uribe's crackdown. International human rights officials condemned Uribe's remarks. Since being elected by a landslide and taking office in August 2002, Uribe has led a campaign to restore order in a country afflicted by 39 years of guerrilla warfare that takes about 3,500 lives...

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned the United States Sunday to back off after its envoy in Caracas met with electoral officials who must decide whether to allow a referendum on the leftist leader's rule. Populist Chavez, whose anti-capitalist rhetoric often targets the U.S., cautioned Washington against meddling after ambassador Charles Shapiro held talks with the National Electoral Council that is considering an opposition petition for the referendum. "This is a sovereign nation, ambassador, and you must respect this country and your government must respect this country," Chavez said during his regular Sunday television program. "What prerogative...

Allende's image appears everywhere The family of Augusto Pinochet has claimed that Chilean history is being distorted in the lead-up to the 30th anniversary of the nation's military coup. The general's daughter said her father was being falsely portrayed as a demon while Salvador Allende was being turned into a saint. Thousands of Chileans are paying tribute to the former socialist president, who died during the military coup of 11 September 1973. The image of the socialist president wearing horn-rimmed glasses appears everywhere from street posters to newspapers. 'Tense time' More than 45,000 people attended a tribute concert called "The...

Standing amid his medals and gold-encrusted ceremonial sword, Gen. Roberto Clemente Noel, now retired, says his wartime past is full of heroism and sacrifice. The way he sees it, his work as military chief in the Peruvian highlands during a barbarous civil conflict in the 1980's stopped rebels from toppling the state. Stepping into the study of his elegant colonial-style home, General Noel showed off proclamations in his honor and his book, "Testimony of a Soldier," in which he defends himself against accusations of vast human rights abuses. "I am proud of the work I have done," said General Noel,...

September 7, 2003 30 Years Later, a Coup's Scars Have Been Masked By LARRY ROHTER SANTIAGO, Chile — The first thing a visitor is likely to notice on entering La Moneda presidential palace here after a prolonged absence is that the bullet holes that once pockmarked the exterior have been plastered over. But while the visible scars of the coup that overthrew Salvador Allende Gossens on Sept. 11, 1973, and installed Gen. Augusto Pinochet may have finally been erased, the same cannot be said of the deeper, interior trauma that was inflicted. As it prepares to mark the coup's 30th...