U.S. attention to Latin America sinks to new lows***Bush administration officials say U.S. government interest in the region has grown in recent years, and to some extent they are right. They concede that it was derailed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but add that it will be restored in the coming weeks with Friday's signing in Miami of the U.S.-Chile free trade agreement, the planned visits of Lula and Kirchner to Washington and Bush's presence at a special hemispheric summit in Mexico at the end of the year. These events require a lot of preparation, which will require high-level attention, senior U.S. officials told me. Maybe so. More importantly, though, the explosive growth of the U.S. Hispanic population will force the U.S. government to look south.***
Colombia's Long Civil War Spreads Turmoil to Venezuela***Venezuela, however, has been the most affected. According to Colombian intelligence reports and Venezuelan landowners, Colombian guerrillas kidnap ranchers, extort money from businessmen and traffic in drugs. Colombian intelligence reports also say that the rebels have set up temporary camps in at least three Venezuelan states, eluding Colombian forces and their de facto paramilitary allies. "It is an area that allows them to rest, to reorganize and regain momentum to again come back into this country," a high-ranking Colombian military officer said in a telephone interview.***