[Cincinatus' Wife]

U.S. buys information about Latin Americans *** Over the past 18 months, the U.S. government has bought access to data on hundreds of millions of residents of 10 Latin American countries -- apparently without their consent or knowledge -- allowing myriad federal agencies to track foreigners entering and living in the United States. A suburban Atlanta company, ChoicePoint Inc., collects the information abroad and sells it to U.S. government officials in three dozen agencies, including immigration investigators who've used it to arrest illegal immigrants. The practice broadens a trend that has an information-hungry U.S. government increasingly buying personal data on Americans and foreigners alike from commercial vendors including ChoicePoint and LexisNexis.

U.S. officials consider the foreign data a thread in a security blanket that lets law enforcers and the travel industry peer into the backgrounds of people flowing into the United States. The information can also be used with other data-mining tools to identify potential terrorists, or simply unmask fake identity documents, company and government officials say. "Our whole purpose in life is to sell data to make the world a safer place," said ChoicePoint's chief marketing officer, James Lee. "There is physical danger in not knowing who someone is. What risks do people coming into our country represent? You may accept that risk, but you want to know about it." Privacy experts in Latin America question whether the sales of national citizen registries have been legal. They say government data are often sold clandestinely by individual government employees. ***

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Hugo Chavez boast: "The first great victory of the people this century in the whole world"*** CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez looked beyond Venezuela's simmering political crisis Sunday to celebrate the first anniversary of his return to power following a brief military coup. The festivities came one day after a bomb ripped through the building where Venezuela's government and opposition have been negotiating a proposed referendum on Chavez's presidency.

No one was injured in the pre-dawn blast but it renewed tensions in Venezuela just as rival groups appeared to be close to resolving some political differences. Chavez addressed tens of thousands of his supporters gathered on a central Caracas avenue after presiding over the closing ceremony of an international forum in support of his so-called "Bolivarian Revolution."

"Nobody is leaving! We will stay for ever, fighting battles," Chavez said to the cheering crowd. He promised to remain in power until 2021. Chavez railed against global imperialism and "savage neoliberalism," and claimed the coup against him had been promoted by foreign interests and carried out by "the fascist oligarchy" within Venezuela. "God bless April 13," Chavez said. "A miraculous day, the miracle of the start of the century. The first great victory of the people this century in the whole world." ***