[Cincinatus' Wife]

Venezuelans Struggle to Adapt in Miami *** MIAMI - At the Venezuelan fast-food restaurant El Arepaso in suburban Miami sits a pile of newspapers near the cash register with articles such as "Five steps to installing oneself in the United States."

Step 1: Buy a business, a franchise if you can. "Once the deal is closed, the buyer will feel the sweet sound of the cash register announcing cash flow in his favor, without losing time," the article says. But also: "Be happy with what you have while you go after what you want." It is timely advice for the Venezuelans flooding into Florida these days. Driven by political and economic instability in their homeland, many prosperous Venezuelans accustomed to visiting Miami as weekend tourists are putting down roots here. In a slow and sometimes painful settling-in, they are investing in real estate, starting businesses and establishing cultural institutions.

Many of them say how long they stay depends on whether they can oust leftist President Hugo Chavez. But others have decided to settle here. "I won't go back to Venezuela," said Manuel Pita, owner of a gas station and El Arepaso, where recent immigrants stop for arepas, or fat corn tortillas drenched in margarine and filled with meat or cheese. Pita said Venezuela is no longer livable, and adapting to the United States is not hard: "You just have to keep your head about you and work." The 2000 Census estimated there were 41,000 Venezuelans living in Florida, more than half of them in Miami-Dade County. Some experts speculate the population has increased by as much as 80 percent since then. ***

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Latin Americans hail the new U.S. policy chief***WASHINGTON - After years of feeling all but forgotten by Washington, Latin American officials Wednesday welcomed Roger Noriega's confirmation as the first Senate-approved assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs since 1999. ''This is one of the best decisions the Senate has made in more than five years,'' El Salvador Ambassador Rene Antonio León Rodríguez said after the Senate vote late Tuesday. ``U.S. policy will have a champion now. And the region will finally get the attention it deserves.''

Noriega's confirmation came after a long delay because Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., had been blocking the vote for months in an effort to force a Senate vote on his proposal for easing restrictions on U.S. travel to Cuba. ''We had all been waiting for so long that we stopped watching,'' said Ana Navarro, a longtime Miami lobbyist and friend of Noriega, the current U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States.

Until Tuesday, the Senate had refused to confirm a series of nominees for the State Department job, in charge of relations with Washington's hemispheric neighbors, since 1999 because of a string of political disputes. The post had been held since then on an interim or appointed basis by four officials.The unanimous approval on a voice vote, as Congress headed toward its summer recess this week, drew praise from Latin American officials as well as U.S. supporters. ***