[Cincinatus' Wife]

Venezuela: We Have Suspects in Bombings Fingered - Chavez pulls an Arafat *** CARACAS, Venezuela - The government has identified suspects in this week's bombings that damaged Colombian and Spanish diplomatic missions, President Hugo Chavez said Friday. "We have them fingered. Let them rear their heads and they'll see," Chavez told the state television station, Venezolana de Television, during a visit to an electricity plant in southeastern Venezuela. He did not elaborate. It was the president's first comments on the blasts, which occurred minutes apart Tuesday at the Spanish embassy and the Colombian consulate in Caracas.

The explosions slightly injured four people and damaged nearby buildings. Spain, Colombia, the United States and other nations demanded a swift investigation and warned Venezuela's protracted political crisis may have entered a new, more violent phase. The U.S. Embassy reopened Friday after closing the previous day, citing "credible information of a threat to its security." The government sent more than a dozen federal agents, national guardsmen and municipal police to the mission after U.S. Ambassador Charles Shapiro requested increased security.

The bombings came a day after Chavez lashed out at Colombia and Spain for allegedly interfering in Venezuela's domestic affairs. Colombia and Spain had expressed concern over the arrest of Carlos Fernandez, head of Venezuela's largest business chamber. He faces rebellion and other charges for leading a 63-day general strike. Leaflets supporting Chavez were found near both blasts, prompting opposition leaders to accuse the government. Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel suggested radical Chavez opponents trying to destabilize the country may have been responsible. Federal investigators have not said what type of explosives were used. ***

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Families fear search will endanger hostages - Asks U.S. to consider prisoner exchange BOGOTA - Magdalena Rivas watches the news in horror, as hundreds of rifle-toting men dressed in camouflage file past. The soldiers are searching for three American government workers kidnapped by leftist rebels after their plane crashed more than two weeks ago. The same leftist rebels captured her son, a police officer, in the same cloud-capped mountains of Caquetá state. Elkin Hernández Rivas, 26, has been missing four years and 138 days.

Like other relatives of kidnap victims, Rivas feels for the families of the missing Americans, but wants the search to stop. Elkin Hernández is one of 72 Colombian soldiers, police officers and politicians now held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC. Since the three Americans literally fell from the sky and into the FARC's hands, the captives have become part of an international tug-of-war.

The rebels are seeking a broad prisoner exchange and are using the Americans as pawns, saying they will only release the Americans -- and the several dozen Colombian soldiers, police and politicians they are holding -- if the government frees about 3,000 of their jailed leftist allies. Both the United States and Colombia have refused the overture. The search in the mountain highlands continues.***