Posted on Wed, Jun. 11, 2003 By Catherine Wilson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MIAMI - Prosecutors proved to a judge's satisfaction Tuesday that a Colombian rebel in their custody is Nelson Vargas Rueda, but his attorney questioned whether the man is one of six rebels wanted in the killing of three American aid workers.

U.S. Magistrate Judge William Turnoff ruled that prosecutors met the minimum legal standard for identifying Vargas because he acknowledges that's his name, but the judge said the disputed issue may come up again in future court hearings in Washington.

"The only issue before me is whether the person in court is the person named in the indictment," Turnoff told the defense. "The arguments you've made may be significant down the line."

Vargas was identified in a Colombian lineup as one of the gunmen who killed Americans helping set up a rural school system near the Colombia-Venezuela border in 1999, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Hugo Black. Vargas, 33, was extradited to the United States on May 28.

Celeste Higgins, Vargas' attorney, claimed Colombian investigators thought Vargas was a different indicted rebel known as "El Marrano," Spanish slang for "The Pig," for two of the three years he has been in custody.

"El Marrano" is now thought to be someone else. The indictment issued last year listed two other aliases for Vargas: Alfredo and Hugo.

"Clearly they didn't know who it was they had detained," Higgins told the judge. "They simply injected his name into the indictment and brought him over to the United States."

Indictment vague on identities

Some of the questions are raised by the indictment itself, which offers full names for only three of the six suspects. Two suspects are listed only with a single name matched to a photograph.

The murky operations of the rebel group, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, add to the confusion. The FARC has been at war with the Colombian government for nearly 40 years and has more than 15,000 soldiers.

Vargas is the only suspect to be arrested so far.

The decision lets agents move Vargas to Washington for a bail hearing.

Vargas' attorney also challenged the indictment's reference to his using the alias Alfredo. Higgins said Alfredo was a rebel who was part of the group blamed for the murders but was killed about six months ago.

The FARC considered the three victims to be either U.S. military advisers or CIA agents, the indictment said. The kidnapped Americans were handed over to "El Marrano," who insisted the three were CIA agents using the school project as a front.

Terence Freitas, 24, of Los Angeles, Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, of New York City, and Lahe'ena'e Gay, 39, of Pahoa, Hawaii, were shot to death a week after they were forced into a commandeered taxi.

The bodies were dumped near the Venezuelan town of La Victoria across the Arauca River from Colombia on March 4, 1999. FARC leaders admit executing the three and blame a rogue commander.

The murders prompted the United States to suspend all contact with the leftist rebel group. The United States lists the FARC as an international terrorist organization.

Vargas is the first Colombian rebel ever to be extradited to the United States.

The Miami Herald Posted on Wed, Jun. 11, 2003 BY TIM JOHNSON tjohnson@herald.com

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has yanked the U.S. visa of a retired Venezuelan army general, accusing him of scheming to overthrow President Hugo Chávez and citing U.S. antiterrorism legislation.

The U.S. action affects retired Gen. Enrique Medina Gómez, who served as military attaché at the Venezuelan embassy in Washington until his dismissal from the post following a failed military coup against Chávez in April 2002.

Chávez alleged that Medina had secretly supported the coup, but he was never officially accused.

Medina denied the charge but late last year led a group of some 100 active-duty and retired military officers who set up camp in a Caracas square to demand Chávez's ouster. The active-duty officers were later cashiered.

The camp in the centrally located Plaza Altamira remains a center of activity for civilians and retired military officers who want Chávez, a leftist populist whose rule has seen once-stable Venezuela plunge into a nearly continuous crisis, to leave office.

''A significant body of evidence indicated that [Medina Gómez] was coup plotting,'' a senior U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The visa revocation, which occurred last month but became public Tuesday, appeared aimed at signaling the opposition to Chávez that it should focus on legal means to end his mandate, rather than violent ones.

The official said the State Department acted using a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that was altered following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to block entry of foreigners who ``endorse or espouse terrorist activity, or persuade others to support terrorist activity or a terrorist organization.''

U.S. officials did not reveal what evidence they have of Medina Gómez's alleged coupplotting, saying only that it did not appear to present a current threat to the Chávez government.

The Bush administration clearly dislikes Chávez, who maintains a close friendship with Cuban President Fidel Castro, frequently criticizes free-market policies that Washington espouses and has angered much of Venezuela's middle and upper classes.

Following the brief coup against Chávez last year, the Bush administration has tried to lower the profile of its involvement in Venezuela's political crisis, stung by perceptions that they cheered on the coup.

Washington previously yanked U.S. visas of Venezuelan Navy Vice Adm. Carlos Molina, who participated in the four-day coup, and businessman Pedro Carmona, appointed by the military to succeed Chávez. Carmona now lives in Colombia and Molina is believed to be in Europe.

Chávez and his opposition reached an agreement in May, brokered by the Organization of American States, to hold a binding referendum on his rule sometime after Aug. 19, which is halfway through his current term.

Dubai, June 11, IRNA -- Iranian Minister of Finance and Economy Tahmasb Mazaheri arrived in Abu Dhabi early Wednesday to attend the annual two-day meeting of the OPEC International Development Fund.

During the meeting, finance ministers from member states of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are to discuss the future agenda and policies of the organization.
               
A United Arab Emirates plan to put up a 10-million-dollar credit fund to support the Palestinian cause and to help African states fight AIDS is on the agenda of the meeting.
                             
Finance and economic ministers of Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela are taking part in the meeting which will discuss, among other matters, funding of new projects. 
                          
The meeting ends on Thursday.    
                             
With a capital of 3.435 billion dollars, the OPEC Fund granted a total of 953 loans amounting to 5.146 billion dollars up until the  end of 2002.                              

<a href=www.falkland-malvinas.com>MercoPress Falklands-Malvinas Wednesday, 11 June

The Organization of American States, OAS, 33rd. General Assembly meeting in Santiago de Chile approved by acclamation the resumption of negotiations between Argentina and United Kingdom in order to find as soon as possible a solution to the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty dispute.

Last meeting in Chile The resolution was proposed by Argentina and sponsored by Brazil and Chile expressing OAS satisfaction given the Argentine government’s willingness to continue exploring “all possible avenues for a peaceful settlement of the controversy and its constructive approach towards the inhabitants of the Malvinas Islands”

The General Assembly also decided to continue to examine the issue “at its subsequent sessions until a definitive solution is reached”.

The proposal was presented by Argentine Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs Jorge Taillán who described the recovery of the disputed Islands as a “permanent, indeclinable objective” for Argentina. Mr. Taillán added that the Argentine government reiterates its full willingness “to resume Malvinas sovereignty discussions”, convinced of the need to find “a peaceful, definitive and negotiated solution” to the protracted controversy.

Delegates from Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, Paraguay, Panama, among others, reiterated their support requesting a quick resumption of sovereignty talks between Argentina and the United Kingdom.

The United Kingdom is a permanent observer of OAS since 1995.

<a href=www.falkland-malvinas.com>Mercosur Press Wednesday, 11 June

Unites States Secretary of State Colin Powell in a brief visit to Buenos Aires (two and a half hours) met Tuesday morning with Argentine President Néstor Kirchner and described the event as an “encounter of friends”.

"Encounter of friends" This is the first top official of the George Bush administration to meet with the new, relatively unknown Argentine president, (in office since May 25), and was interpreted as a first positive approach for both sides given the almost undisputed Washington position in world affairs, and Argentina’s recent political and economic turbulence including a massive default on its foreign debt in January 2002.

Mr. Powell arrived in Buenos Aires in an Air Force One aircraft carrying as a special guest Argentine Foreign Affairs Minister Rafael Bielsa with whom he participated in the Organization of American States General Assembly hosted by Chile.

The Buenos Aires Powell stop was just a few hours before president Kirchner left for Brazil on an official state visit to meet with counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to ratify the consolidation of a “strategic Argentina-Brazil alliance”, and strengthen Mercosur, the South American trade block that also includes Uruguay, Paraguay and associate members Chile and Bolivia.

During the press conference in the Casa Rosada after meeting with President Kirchner, Mr. Powell underlined the good relations between both countries adding that the Bush administration was willing to grant Argentina strong support to address the still very difficult economic decisions lying ahead.

Argentine Foreign Affairs Secretary Bielsa indicated that Mr. Powell also agreed that the coming discussions of Argentina with the international multilateral credit organizations, (IMF, World Bank), must be focused on the long term and can’t be expected to have an immediate response.

Regarding the US sponsored Free Trade Association of the Americas (FTAA) that should be operational by 2005, Mr. Powell said that the Bush administration supports regional agreements and Mr. Bielsa added that during the meeting with President Kirchner there were “no excluding economic formulations”, highlighting Argentina’s support to the recently free trade agreement signed between United States and Chile.

“It took the Chileans twelve years of negotiations; we’ve just managed four years, so Argentina has a long distance ahead”.

Mr. Powell also admitted that with President Kirchner they discussed the clash between the Argentine Executive and the Supreme Court, highlighting that the Bush administration has no particular position on the issue besides the strict honouring of the Argentine legal process and Constitution.

President Kirchner is attempting to impeach several of the magistrates arguing they have dishonoured the Supreme Court with some of their rulings and attitudes. Actually the Argentine Judicial branch is quiet discredited before public opinion and Mr. Kirchner is determined to end what is described as the “automatic majority” of the Supreme Court, a faithful legacy of the ten years of former president Carlos Menem administration who had them appointed.

The possibility of Argentina sending gendarmes to help with law and order in Iraq as requested by Washington, was not specifically considered. Argentina under previous president Eduardo Duhalde, as most of Latinamerica, criticized the US-UK war against Iraq but now has shown willingness to collaborate in the reconstruction effort however under United Nations initiative. The US Secretary of State recalled that Argentina was a staunch ally during the first Gulf war in 1991.

Mr. Powell who arrived in Buenos Aires at 09:40 took off for the United States at12:15.

Meantime in Brasilia, Presidents Lula da Silva and Kirchner and their closest officials will have a full day of discussions this Wednesday.

However in spite of the different emphasis regarding trade policy and regional blocks, Mr. Lula da Silva is scheduled to meet President Bush in Washington next June 20 and Mr. Kirchner sometime in the coming three months.

In Buenos Aires analysts with some degree of sarcasm speculated that Mr. Powell actually was interested in personally finding out who Mr. Kirchner was closer to: Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, a constant motive of concern for the State Department given his erratic policies, or the more mature, sober and responsible Socialist Chilean president Ricardo Lagos, who in spite of differences over the Iraq conflict has become a reference point for the Bush administration.

With President Kirchner it was a “meeting of friends”, a description long disappeared from the Venezuela-US vocabulary.