<a href=www.lapress.org>LatinoAmericaPress.comFriday,  June 13,  2003 John Ludwick.  Jun 5, 2003

Intent on “cleaning” its border region, Panamanian National Guard violently expels asylum seekers.

The sudden expulsion of more than 100 Colombians who had sought refuge in Panama’s Darien region, accusations of mistreatment and torture, and the separation of mothers from their children has caused alarm on both sides of the border.

There is concern for those once again exposed to persecution by Colombia’s armed groups as well as for the thousands of asylum seekers left behind.

"[The Panamanian government] doesn’t want Colombia’s problems spilling over onto our side of the border, so they’ve adopted a policy of deportations thinking this will solve the problem," said Manuel Acevedo, who helps Colombian refugees for the Catholic Vicariate of Darien.

Panama has mounted numerous mass deportations in recent years but none quite as shocking as that of the weekend April 18-21 when 109 refugees, including 63 children, were ferried in helicopters from the eastern Panamanian town of Punusa to the Colombian side of the border where they were dumped without food, water or shelter. Some mothers were forced to abandon their Panama-born children.

"There are allegations of mistreatment; there were threats, and there are families separated from loved ones," said Gerard Fayoux, head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in northwest Colombia. "Two girls aged two and eight remained behind with Panamanian relatives but without their Colombian mothers; and a 13-year-old girl has disappeared after fleeing into the hills when the Panamanian National Guard unit occupied the town," he said.

Their ordeal began April 18 when officials from the government National Organization for the Protection of Refugees (ONPAR), accompanied by National Guard soldiers and numerous police officers, arrived by helicopter.

"They said they had come to help us, and that is what we believed," one expelled Colombian said, requesting anonymity. "It turned out to be a lie."

People tried to escape, some successfully, but most were led back to Punusa at gunpoint. According to testimonies, two young Colombian men were bound to a tree just outside the town for several hours and tortured. Their fate remains unclear.

The group was forced to clear an area of vegetation; supposedly so more helicopters could fly in humanitarian assistance. The army commander directing the operation, however, accused the Colombians of being guerrillas or guerrilla sympathizers and told them that paramilitaries were coming to kill them.

Finally, the authorities announced that the group would be repatriated and that the UNHCR and Colombian officials would be there to welcome them, a claim that proved false.

"They pushed us into the small one-room school where we were forced to sign documents," in some cases with guns at their heads, according to a refugee leader. The documents turned out to be declarations of voluntary repatriation.

Some were stripped of identity cards proving their refugee status. Carrying little more than a change of clothing, all were forced onto waiting helicopters, flown to an abandoned outpost in Colombian territory and left there as night fell.

The deportation was the latest displacement for these Colombians. All come from the northern edge of the Chocó province, where the country’s two dominant illegal armed groups, the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and rightwing paramilitaries, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), wage a territorial battle.

In 1997 more than 3,500 Colombians were forcibly displaced from their land when the Colombian Army, along with the AUC, carried out a massive operation in the Lower Atrato region of northern Chocó.

Many displaced persons have since returned to the Lower Atrato area, among them 2,500 members of the Cacarica self-determination community — a commune seeking to express its neutrality in the conflict. In December, fearing possible actions by paramilitary groups, 32 community members fled to Punusa, where they joined 77 others who had sought refuge there in 2001. The group of 32 returned to Cacarica just days after being deported; most of the remaining deportees have since joined the self-determination community hoping it will provide some protection.

Colombia’s Human Rights Ombudsman worries not only for the safety of all of those deported, but also for inhabitants of the Cacarica community.

"The return of the 32 in addition to the 70 or so other deportees could increase the risks faced by Cacarica. It’s a high-profile case because it’s known who’s arriving, why they’re arriving and where from," Miguel Angel Afanador, regional ombudsman, said. "It’s very worrisome because the AUC already have the community in their sights."

Since 2002, incursions by Colombian armed groups into Panamanian territory have left at least seven dead. On Jan. 18, four Panamanian indigenous people from Darién were killed by the AUC (LP, Feb. 26, 2003).

Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso and her Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe Velez, exacerbated this risk by accusing the civilians of links to insurgent groups. Moscoso denied any violation of human rights.

It is estimated that each day more than 1,100 Colombians are forcibly displaced because of the war. Most disperse to other parts of the country but some manage to cross into Venezuela, Ecuador or Panama.

The UNHCR says Panama contravened international accords protecting asylum seekers and has called on the government to cease such actions. But some are skeptical that the government will take heed. Acevedo said the Panamanian government is intent on "cleaning" the border region of Colombians, meeting the aim stated in the Panama Declaration by the presidents of various countries to apply international norms to combat the Colombian irregular armed groups (LP, April 23, 2002).

"It’s good to be returning, but now we don’t know what to expect," a leader of the Cacarica community said. "We were looking to live and work in peace and protect our families (in Panama), so now we’ll have to try and do it back here."

Copyright Noticias Aliadas/Latinamerica Press 2002 Independent news & analysis Editor Ernesto Galmez. Programmer Alfredo Yong                                                                                                                                                                 Related articles:

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Every Sunday around noon ...  About 60,000 Peruvians live in Chile, according to official figures. 5/20/2002

Legal backing for refugees  11/9/2001

Reuters, 06.05.03, 11:53 AM ET By Louise Egan

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - The Chilean government is as euphoric as proud parents of a newborn baby -- after a long and tortuous labor it is about to give birth to a bilateral free trade agreement with the United States.

Chile's Foreign Minister Soledad Alvear and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick will sign the treaty Friday in Miami, sealing 11 years of negotiations that ended last December. Both Congresses are likely to approve it this year. An oasis of calm in a continent swirling in economic and political turmoil, Chile is the only country in Latin America, apart from Mexico, to win Washington's blessing as a preferred trade partner.

For U.S. President Bush, the deal has mostly symbolic value -- it is a potent message he is serious about jump-starting talks for a wider hemispheric free trade zone.

But for Chile's socialist President Ricardo Lagos, the deal with his biggest export market and foreign investor is a giant stamp of approval for over a decade of free market, export-oriented policies and political stability.

"We have our own internal problems but we're way better off than other (Latin American) countries," said Jaime Lean, a gas-mask manufacturer whose exports to the United States skyrocketed after the Sept. 11 attacks there.

The deal will set Chile further apart from much of Latin America, where countries like Argentina have defaulted on their debt, Peru and Venezuela are rocked by violent street protests and Colombia is gripped by a leftist guerrilla war.

Visitors to Santiago are amazed by its ultra-modern airport and highways and orderly traffic. Unlike neighboring countries, police hand out fines in disgust if someone attempts a bribe. One in five Chileans has a home computer, over half use mobile phones and 75 percent own their homes.

Washington's dismay at Lagos' opposition to the Iraq war cost only a minor delay in the signing of the deal.

"Being in a bad neighborhood right now actually helps Chile," said Patricio Navia, a political scientist. "Because it's the best behaved country in the continent, the U.S. rewards that. The U.S. wants to show other countries the way."

But Chile hopes its closeness with Washington won't hurt relations in the region. Foreign Minister Soledad Alvear said in Argentina that Chile is committed to integration with its neighbors as an associate member of the Mercosur trade bloc. Surprisingly, it is small players like Lean, the gas-mask maker in search of niche markets, who will benefit most with the trade deal, which cuts import duties on 85 percent of industrial goods traded between the two countries.

U.S. consumers will not see a flood of copper, salmon, wine and grapes -- Chile's top exports to the United States. In fact, traditional trade is expected to climb only marginally because most goods already are traded duty-free.

Critics say Chile's zeal for globalization has not bridged the income distribution gap, the worst in Latin America after Brazil. Others fear an invasion of U.S. fast-food chains and cheap products could bulldoze local culture.

The National Chamber of Commerce estimates, however, that trade deals with Washington and the European Union alone will boost economic growth by 2 percent a year.

June 5 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Brent crude oil fell a second day in London after a U.S. Energy Department report showed a larger-than- forecast weekly gain in crude-oil inventories, amid expectations OPEC probably won't cut output quotas next week.

U.S. supplies rose 2.8 million barrels to 289 million, the department said yesterday, more than the 350,000-barrel gain that was the average expected by nine analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Most analysts said OPEC won't change output quotas next week because it's too soon to gauge how much oil Iraq may soon export.

If there is no OPEC cut I think you'll see the bull run ending, Brent has risen a lot recently,'' said Bruce Evers, an analyst at Investec Henderson Crosthwaite in London. OPEC will want to wait and look at Iraqi exports, there's no real need to do anything yet.''

Brent crude for July settlement fell as much as 46 cents, or 1.7 percent, and was down 34 cents at $26.47 a barrel in early open- outcry trading on London's International Petroleum Exchange at 10:31 a.m. London time. Prices rose 11 percent last month, buoyed by optimism about U.S. summer demand for gasoline and earlier expectations for a cut in supplies from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries .

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for July delivery was down 32 cents at $29.73 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading. New York prices fell 2 percent yesterday to $30.05.

It was always a big ask for it to stay above $30,'' said David Thurtell, commodities strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. The risk was always that stocks would rebound, which they have.''

`Wall of Crude'

U.S. crude oil inventories gained for a third week as imports jumped close to a record, the Energy Department report showed. Imports leapt to 10.5 million barrels a day, the highest since a record in April. U.S. gasoline inventories also rose, reversing most of the prior week's decline.

The long-awaited wall of crude is arriving,'' said Deborah White, commodities economist at Societe Generale in Paris. Saudi crude arrivals are holding up and Venezuela's, targeted at U.S. Gulf Coast refiners, have increased significantly.''

OPEC meets June 11 in Doha, Qatar, to consider whether to cut output because of the resumption of Iraqi oil exports, which were halted when the U.S.-led invasion in March.

Iraq has begun resuming exports with a tender to sell 2 million barrels of Basrah Light crude oil stored at its southern port and 8 million barrels of Kirkuk crude oil held at the Turkish port of Ceyhan, according to a statement distributed in Baghdad.

Delivery is between June 17 and 30, and bids are to be submitted by 5 p.m. London time on June 10. Preference will be given to oil refiners, the statement said.

``We have already received a lot of interest,'' said Mohammed Al Jibouri, the director-general of Iraq's State Oil Marketing, in an interview in Baghdad.

OPEC

Iraq pumped about 2.5 million barrels of oil a day before the war, or about 3 percent of world supply.

OPEC should keep quotas unchanged and only cut them when Iraqi supply reaches pre-war levels, OPEC President Abdullah bin Hamad al- Attiyah said in an interview this week. Iraq may pump that much by September, according to U.S. officials.

Iraqi officials in Baghdad ``are talking about clearing inventory at Ceyhan as a one-off tender but you still have major issues over (oil) quality and the state of the infrastructure, pipelines and so on,'' before there's a constant flow of exports, Investec Henderson's Evers said.

Even without a formal cut in quotas, Saudi Arabia may reduce the extent to which its exceeding its OPEC quota if prices begin falling fast, Evers said. Saudi Arabia pumped 9.1 million barrels a day last month, which was 14 percent greater than its quota for that month, and 10 percent more than a new lower quota that took effect June 1.

``I think you will see the Saudis cutting back some, without any song and dance,'' he said.

By Bradley Brooks <a href=www.upi.com>UPI Business Correspondent Published 6/5/2003 7:42 AM

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, June 5 (UPI) -- Stocks were generally up across Latin America this week with local news mostly moving markets.

The biggest driver in the short to medium term for Brazil -- the region's biggest economy -- will be the fate of badly needed reforms to the country's pension, tax and legal systems.

Foreign and domestic investors are closely watching whether President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has the strength to power the reforms through a dizzying array of parties in Congress.

Leaders from Lula's Workers' Party in the lower house of Congress said Wednesday they had the votes needed to push the pension reform bill through the Chamber of Deputies.

According to Lula's economic team, the pension reform they're proposing would save the country nearly $20 billion over the next 30 years.

The momentum to get reforms through Congress is being aided by the mandate that voters gave Lula in his overwhelming electoral win, and the support they are still sending his way.

On Wednesday, a poll gave the leader a 78 percent personal approval rating, despite his having made little economic headway in his first five months in office.

Optimism is building on the economy as well, with foreign investors being lured back to the country.

On Tuesday, Fitch Ratings upped Brazil's debt to "positive" from "stable."

That is a remarkable transition for a country that six months ago was thought to be heading toward the world's largest sovereign default, a distinction still held by neighboring Argentina.

"The performance of President Lula's administration since taking office on January 1, 2003, has been supportive of sovereign creditworthiness and has eased one of Latin America's most marked political transitions from the center-right to a coalition dominated by the left," Fitch reported in a statement.

Meanwhile, over in Argentina, investors continue to keep tabs on new President Nestor Kirchner, whose economic ideas remain murky at best.

On the corporate front, telecommunications giant Argentina Telecom said Wednesday it will only buy back $290 million of debt, about half of what it wanted to purchase before a debt restructuring plan was frowned on by investors.

On Wednesday, Telecom Argentina's shares dropped 3.8 percent in Buenos Aires.

The company -- majority owned by Telecom Italia and France Telecom -- defaulted on some $3 billion after Argentina's peso was devalued in January 2002.

Some analysts said the paltry buyback may hurt the company's shares in coming days. But others argue investors have priced the poor buyback showing into the company's stock already.

Telecom Argentina was arguably the corporation hurt most when Argentina defaulted on its debt in December 2001, and many investors are watching the company's progress, trying to gauge how the business climate in Argentina might pan out in coming years.

Investors are also keeping a close eye on Telecom Argentina as the government decides if the sector can begin hiking prices.

Telecoms and utilities in Argentina are suffering badly, after the devaluation knocked more than 60 percent off the peso's worth, while the companies are stuck holding debt in dollars.

As for the markets, Brazil's Bovespa stock index ended last Thursday up 0.83 percent at 13,405, its third straight winning session. Investors were generally cheered by chances for having reforms pushed through Congress. Long-distance carrier Embratel rose 6.3 percent.

The index ticked up to 13,422 Friday, wrapping up a May that saw a gain of 7 percent and adding on to the nearly 20-percent rise in the Bovespa since Jan. 1. Analysts say June should be another solid month for investors, with an expected interest-rate cut likely to spark market action.

Monday brought a 1.4 percent loss to 13,229 for the index, with a retreat on Wall Street weighing. Fixed-line phone company Telemar fell 3.4 percent as the government signaled changes in pricing policies for the sector could be upcoming.

The Bovespa rose nearly 1 percent to 13,350 Tuesday. Investors were cheered by a Fitch report raising Brazil's credit rating to positive from stable. Banco do Brasil gained nearly 5 percent.

On Wednesday the index gained 2.76 percent to 13,718. Oil giant Petrobras gained 3 percent after announcing a big oil find. Aircraft maker Embraer rose more than 4 percent, and Telemar added 4.3 percent.

In Mexico, the IPC index fell 0.3 percent to 6,648. Analysts said profit-taking was seen after recent gains. Shipping company TMM fell 15 percent as the outfit faces legal woes and concerns on its debt.

Friday brought a 0.77 percent gain to 6,699 for the index. Investors tracked nice gains on Wall Street. Fixed-line phone company Telmex added 1.7 percent.

The index rose to 6,722 Monday. Broadcaster Televisa gained 1.8 percent, while America Movil, Latin America's biggest wireless company, tacked on 1.6 percent.

On Tuesday the IPC ticked up to 6,739, with blue chips leading the day. Telmex gained 1.27 percent while the country's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart de Mexico, added 0.6 percent.

The IPC rose 2.24 percent Wednesday to 6,890. Industrial group Alfa gained 2 percent, Telmex added 3.5 percent, and America Movil rose 1.76 percent.

In Argentina, the Merval stock index closed Thursday down 0.54 percent at 674.3, as investors took profits. Losses were across the board. Telecom Argentina gained 2.8 percent, though, as investors approved of its efforts on restructuring debt.

On Friday, the index gained to 678.3 as investors were mostly sidelined, playing a wait-and-see with new president Kirchner's economic game plan.

The Merval hit a five-year high Monday, rising 3.6 percent to 702.8. Utilities and banks led the way, with the latter aided by a bill to restructure the sector being sent to Congress by Kirchner. Banco Frances gained 8.4 percent.

Tuesday saw a 0.7 percent gain to 707.8, with banks again leading the way. Banco Bansud gained 4.6 percent, while Grupo Financiero Galicia -- which controls the country's largest private bank -- added 1.1 percent.

The Merval slipped 0.85 percent Wednesday to end at 701.8. Steelmaker Acindar lost 2.85 percent and Telecom Argentina dropped 3.8 percent.

In Chile, the IPSA index gained 0.44 to 1,230 last Thursday, its highest mark this year. Investors were buoyed by the soon-to-be-signed free trade deal with the United States. Fertilizer maker SQM gained 2.1 percent.

Friday brought a flat session with the IPSA gaining 1 point.

On Monday, the index added 0.9 percent to 1,242. General optimism on Chile's economic direction buoyed investors. Retailers did well, with Falabella gaining 8.6 percent and Almacenes Paris tacking on 5.4 percent.

The inevitable profit taking took its toll Tuesday, with the IPSA easing to 1,240. Falabella lost 3.7 percent.

Wednesday saw a gain of 0.56 percent to 1,247 in uneventful trade.

In Venezuela, the IBC index continued to hit historic highs as tight capital controls prompted investors to dump available cash into the stock market.

Last Thursday, the index jumped 6.66 percent to end at 12,301, a new high. Telecom giant CANTV, which makes up 40 percent of the index, rose 8.3 percent.

On Friday, the IBC rose more than 4 percent to close at 12,800. CANTV rose 1.2 percent. The index gained a staggering 48 percent in May alone, as tight restrictions on the buying of dollars sent cash into blue chips.

The market was closed Monday for a holiday. Tuesday brought profit taking a loss of 0.8 percent to 12,692.

The IBC ended Wednesday down 0.6 percent at 12,616, with profit taking again to blame.

June 4 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Mexico's peso had its biggest decline in four years after a deputy governor of the central bank suggested the bank may be ready to reduce interest rates as growth slows and inflation remains under control.

The peso fell 2.7 percent to 10.5725 per dollar in New York trading at 4:15 p.m. The peso last had a bigger one-day decline on Jan. 13, 1999, when it fell 3.9 percent. Brazil's real rose on the central bank's offer to sell interest rate swaps.

Jesus Marcos Yacaman, one of Mexico's four deputy central bank governors, last night told Bloomberg in an interview in Buenos Aires the Mexican economy may grow less than the bank's forecast. Similar suggestions by bank officials have many investors expecting the bank to reduce interest rates by raising overnight lending to banks, said Guillermo Estebanez, a currency strategist at Banc of America Securities Inc. in San Francisco.

They're basically saying that they'll tolerate lower rates,'' Estebanez said. All the factors that were supporting the peso, like the sales of reserve dollars, have worn out.''

Mexico's Central Bank Governor, Guillermo Ortiz, in April cut the forecast for economic growth this year to 2.4 percent from 3 percent, after raising interest rates five times since September. Economists expect the central bank to meet its target for inflation of 2 percent to 4 percent.

Slow growth in the U.S., which buys 85 percent of Mexico's exports and accounts for 70 percent of the investments flowing into Mexico, has spurred concern Latin America's largest economy may stall.

Yields

Lower inflation expectations have driven down yields on the country's benchmark 28-day Treasury note to a record low of 4.72 percent at yesterday's central bank auction, below the trailing 12- month inflation rate, which makes Mexican assets less attractive to overseas investors.

``Foreign banks have been the most active today buying dollars,'' said Omar Martin del Campo, a currency trader at Arka Casa de Bolsa SA in Mexico City. Martin del Campo said Citigroup Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. have both been selling pesos.

Estebanez said he expected peso traders to focus on U.S. economic indicators including payroll data, which is scheduled to be reported the day after tomorrow, and next week's retail sales figures. Indications that the data suggest slower growth in the world's largest economy could accelerate the peso's decline, he said.

Adding to the peso's decline, Mexico last month reported its trade deficit widened in April from a year ago on declining exports, which account for a quarter of its $600 billion economy.

Exports fell 5.7 percent from the same year-ago period, increasing some investors' concerns that rising production costs and a stronger currency may hold Mexico's share of the U.S. export market at about 10 percent.

The peso future contract for June delivery, the most-traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, fell for a second day, losing 2.9 percent to 9.4300 cents per peso from 9.7125 yesterday.

Brazil

Brazil's real gained for a second day after the government said it would sell investors more insurance against exchange-rate losses, reducing the chance companies will buy dollars to guard against a weaker real.

The real climbed 1 percent to 2.9160 per dollar, a three-week high, in Sao Paulo, boosting its gains in 2003 to 21 percent, the best performer of the world's 16 most-widely traded currencies. Earlier, it rose to a three-week high of 2.8920.

The central bank sold $260.25 million nominal value of interest-rate swaps of $330 million it offered at an auction today. The government two days ago refinanced 77.8 percent of the $1.4 billion of swaps due June 12.

Clearly the move is going to help the real, some may even interpret it as creating an anchor for the currency,'' said Flavio Farah head of the Treasury desk at the Sao Paulo unit of Dusseldorf, Germany-based Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale. Still, I don't know why they're doing it, with all the money coming in there was no need.''

2002

Brazilian banks and companies have sold almost $6 billion of bonds abroad on increased investor expectations that South America's largest economy can pay its roughly $400 billion debt, helping the real strengthen. At the same time, a stronger real makes it more expensive for companies and investors to buy swaps, reducing the demand for the contracts, said Daniel Vairo, a trader at Opportunity Asset Management Ltda., which manages about 7 billion reais of stocks and bonds in Rio de Janeiro.

The swaps, along with dollar-indexed bonds, were sold in the past several years to protect the real from declines as investors pulled money from the country on concern Argentina would default or Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, elected Brazil's president last year, would adopt policies that might bankrupt the country.

Bank Tally

All told, the central bank promised investors it would pay any currency exchange losses on $58 billion of investments. While the real's rally this year has turned central bank losses on the contracts into profits, the government says it wants to reduce the amount of the swaps held by investors.

``It seems to me it would be better to have the $300 million it could sell today available for later,'' Farah said.

Any such event might cause the dollar to surge against Brazil's real and require swap sales to limit declines, he added.

Brazil's benchmark 8 percent bond maturing in 2014 gained for the fourth day in six, adding 0.81 cent to 90.44 cents on the dollar, paring the yield to 10.35 percent, according to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

Regional Currencies

Argentina's peso rose for a fourth day, gaining 0.5 percent to 2.8225 per dollar, raising the currency's gains in 2003 against the dollar to 19 percent, the second-best performance among 59 currencies tracked by Bloomberg.

Colombia's peso rose for the third day in four, adding 0.3 percent to 2841.50 per dollar, while Chile's peso fell for a second day, declining 0.3 percent to 715.25 per dollar.

Peru's new sol rose for a second day in three, adding 0.3 percent to 3.4820 to the dollar. Venezuela's bolivar was fixed at 1598 per dollar this year.