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Venezuelan Newsprint Stocks Running Low Under Chavez’s Restrictions [Full text] CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez is using currency controls to limit press freedom by denying Venezuelan newspapers the dollars needed to import newsprint, a newspaper director said Wednesday. Nationwide newsprint stocks are down to one month's supply, said Miguel Otero, director of Caracas' El Nacional. "Nobody knows how the newspapers are going to operate after April," Otero said. "The government wants to silence us."

Chavez accuses Venezuela's news media of conspiring to overthrow his leftist government. Many newspapers endorsed a recent, failed two-month general strike to demand early presidential elections. Chavez's term ends in 2007. Chavez suspended dollar sales to businesses and citizens Jan. 22 to stem a rapid devaluation of the bolivar currency and capital flight. The government published a list this week of 6,000 imported items, such as medicine and food, that will be eligible for private dollar purchases at a date to be announced. Newsprint is not on the list, although the government says it may be in the future.

"This is undoubtedly an attempt against freedom of expression. It's becoming a government policy," Otero said. The bolivar lost a quarter of its value against the dollar this year before currency sales were halted. [End]

U.S. offering reward for FARC hostages – Americans held*** BOGOTA, Colombia -- The United States is offering Colombians $300,000, a U.S. visa and a new life in America for information leading to the rescue of three U.S. military contractors captured by rebels last month. Authorities Tuesday began distributing color fliers outlining the offer, complete with pictures of a jetliner, a visa application and a clean, modern metropolis lying along azure waters -- presumably an American city.

The Americans were captured by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- known as the FARC -- Feb. 13 after their U.S. government plane went down in rebel territory during an intelligence mission. A fourth American and a Colombian on the plane were killed near the scene. The U.S. State Department years ago classified the FARC as a terrorist group, but the U.S. Embassy denied that the offer of the money -- equal to more than a lifetime's pay for many Colombians -- and the hard-to-get U.S. visa is tantamount to negotiating with terrorists. ***