<a href=reuters.com>Reuters Fri April 25, 2003 11:29 AM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Two more dissident Venezuelan military officers have asked for political asylum in the wake of last year's short-lived coup against President Hugo Chavez, a source close to the case said on Friday.

An army captain and a sub-lieutenant sought refuge at the Peruvian Embassy in Caracas on Thursday and were inside the diplomatic mission, the source told Reuters.

An embassy official declined comment.

Their application came after two officers who took part in the April 2002 rebellion against Chavez, army captains Ricardo and Alfredo Salazar, asked for asylum in the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Caracas on Thursday.

The brothers escorted Chavez to an island off the Venezuelan coast during the coup before he returned to power 48 hours later.

Their attorney said the brothers, who faced charges of military rebellion and of holding the president prisoner, feared threats and political persecution.

Dominican officials said the pair would stay at the diplomatic mission while their application was reviewed.

The flurry of asylum applications came a month after Costa Rica granted asylum to Venezuelan union chief Carlos Ortega, who led an opposition strike in December and January to try to force Chavez to resign.

Businessman Pedro Carmona, who briefly replaced Chavez in the coup, was allowed to leave last year for Colombia and navy Rear Adm. Carlos Molina, under investigation for his coup role, fled to El Salvador.

Chavez, who was elected in 1998 on a populist platform, has sought to bring to trial rebel military officers and the opposition leaders who organized the two-month strike by charging them with treason and rebellion.

Foes of the leftist former paratrooper accuse him of dictatorial rule and of driving the world's fifth largest oil exporter into political and economic ruin.

But he says his political enemies seek to undermine his self-styled revolution aimed at easing the plight of the poor.

<a href=www.lapress.org>LatinAmericaPres.org Defining times  Armando Chávez.  Apr 24, 2003

Following a decade of neoliberal policy in Latin America, grassroots movements dedicated to fighting unemployment, hunger, poverty and the business avidity of transnational economic groups, have emerged across the region.

Rooted in Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay, and backed by figures such as Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, these movements have succeeded in arousing public interest in who they are and what they represent.

By Peter Wilson

Caracas, April 25 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria said talks between Venezuela's government and the opposition for a referendum on President Hugo Chavez have stalled.

Gaviria told reporters last night that a tentative agreement reached April 11 is no longer valid, and will have to be renegotiated.

``There are major differences between the two sides,'' Gaviria said. He gave no indication when talks would resume. They started eight months ago.

A referendum may end two years of protests and strikes by the opposition demanding that Chavez, a former army lieutenant colonel, resign or call early elections. Opponents agreed to a binding referendum to be held after August, the midpoint of Chavez's six-year term, after a two-month national strike failed

Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement political party said earlier this week it had at least six objections to the 22-point election accord, which calls for a referendum by Nov. 19. to force a non-binding vote in February. Last Updated: April 25, 2003 09:26 EDT

<a href=www.outlookindia.com>OutlookIndia.com WASHINGTON, APR 25 (PTI)

US career diplomat Jeffrey Davidow is likely to be the next Ambassador to India in place of Robert Blackwill, who recently resigned to pursue academics at the Harvard University, according to sources.

Currently the US ambasaddor to Mexico, Davidow is one of only three American diplomats to hold the State Department's highest personal rank, Career Ambassador.

Ambassador Davidow studied at the University of Massachusetts (BA, 1965), the University of Minnesota (MA, 1967), and at Osmania University in Hyderabad.

While in the Foreign Service, he spent one year as a Fellow of the American Political Science Association working a s a Congresional staff aide (1979) and another year as a Fellow of the Centre for International Affairs at Harvard University (1982).

He was appointed Ambassador to Mexico in 1998 as been serving in that capacity since. He has previously served as Ambassador to Zambia and Venezuela, and was Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs in 1996.

He has spent much of his 29-year career focusing on Latin America. In addition to his Ambassadorial positions, he has served in U.S. Embassies in Gu temala, Chile and Venezuela He was also posted to South Africa and Zimbabwe.

A Jewish-American, Davidow is married to Joan Labuzoski and the couple have two daughters.

<a href=www.sun-sentinel.com>Sun-Sentinel.com Travel Columnist : Thomas Swick Published April 27, 2003

"Well, I won't be going to France this year, not after the way they behaved toward this country. And no trips to Germany or Russia, either."

"No big sacrifice. There's a huge world beyond those three malcontents. Italy for example -- they supported us."

"Are you suffering from amnesia? They fought against us in World War II, with that fascist Mussolini."

"Of course. Well, how about Spain -- the glories of El Greco, Cervantes, Almodóvar?"

"The horrors of Franco. Besides, I haven't forgiven Spain for 1492, when they kicked out all the Jews."

"And Muslims."

"There you go."

"You seem to have overlooked Greece -- birthplace of Plato and democracy."

"Land of Papandreou and anti-Americanism."

"And neutral Switzerland?"

"Full of smug bankers who've never come clean about what happened to Jewish fortunes after the war."

"There's always Eastern Europe -- the Polish mountains, the beautiful islands of Croatia ..."

"The old anti-Semitism."

"Alright, forget the Continent. Go to England -- `that green and pleasant land,' our staunch ally, cradle of our mother tongue."

"With its brutal history of imperialism?!?"

"Ireland then."

"And support the IRA?"

"I've got it! Iceland."

"Three-fourths of the population would like to see the return of whale hunts. And they eat puffin."

"Perhaps you should look at another part of the globe. What about Asia?"

"Asia's got SARS."

"Africa?"

"Repression AND disease."

"Australia? You can't say anything bad about Australia."

"Unless you're an aborigine."

"New Zealand has the Maori problem."

"Now you're getting it."

"I take it you're not crazy about South America."

"Unrest in Bolivia, crime in Brazil, economic crisis in Argentina, guerrillas in Colombia, kidnappings in Guyana, demonstrations in Venezuela -- what's not to dislike?"

"There's always the Caribbean."

"Ah, yes -- Cuba. Why don't I just defy our government and travel illegally to a country ruled by a megalomaniac dictator whose response to the war in Iraq was a crackdown on dissidents?"

"I was thinking of someplace a little less political, say, St. Martin?"

"Half French."

"Jamaica?"

"Formerly British."

"What about Mexico? Mexico is a cheap, colorful, gracious country."

"That brazenly puts down peasant rebellions in Chiapas."

"I suppose you don't like Canada now because they didn't support our intervention."

"Bingo! Plus, they have SARS and French-speakers."

"Well, it looks as though you're going to have to stay in the United States. Nothing wrong with that. You know, this year Louisiana is celebrating the 200th anniversary of its purchase from the ..."

"French!"

"The Gulf coast of Mississippi has gumbo as good as in New Orleans -- and gambling."

"And the horrific legacy of slavery."

"New England is lovely in the summer."

"If somehow you can put out of your mind the slaughter of American Indians, the burning of `witches,' the mistreatment of non-Anglo immigrants."

"Chicago. Everybody likes Chicago, a living museum of American architecture."

"Shameless glorifier of American gangsters."

"The hearty Wild West."

"The hapless Cherokee and Shoshone."

"California! Home of movie stars and computer wonks."

"Founded by culturally insensitive missionaries."

"Then forget it. Just stay home."

"Like this place is faultless!"

"I hate to say this, but short of suicide ..."

"No, there's one last option."

"Yes?"

"Circumnavigation."

Travel Editor Thomas Swick can be reached at tswick@sun-sentinel.com.