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Brazil truth commission arouses military opposition

A package of reforms put forward by the Brazilian government to improve human rights is causing growing controversy.

A proposed truth commission to investigate torture during military rule is said to have so angered forces chiefs that they threatened to resign.

Parts of the Catholic Church have opposed moves thought sympathetic to abortion and gay civil unions.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is to consider how to deal with the row when he returns to work this week.

'Sense of one-sidedness'

The National Human Rights Plan first provoked a row when it was revealed that it proposed setting up a truth commission to investigate torture and killings carried out during the 21 years the military was in control, from 1964 to 1985.

Although the number of victims in Brazil was far smaller than under military rule in neighbouring Argentina and Chile, hundreds of people died and thousands were tortured or forced into exile.

In the period before democracy was restored an amnesty law was passed, in effect granting immunity to state officials involved in torture as well as those in the opposition who had resorted to violence.

Military chiefs believe the truth commission is an attempt to get round the amnesty law, while supporters argue it is simply designed to secure justice for the families of those who died and disappeared.

President Lula reportedly had to head off possible resignations by his defence minister and senior military figures, including the heads of the navy, air force and army, by promising to review the matter.

Brazil's former President, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, told the BBC the government had not presented the proposal well.

"The way the situation has been presented was in the sense that all the crimes that had been exercised by those in power in the past would be judged, not the crimes that also the other side eventually could have responsibility for," he said.

"So this gave a sense of one-sidedness, and this produced unrest in the armed forces."

"I don't think it was necessary to produce this unrest. I don't understand why, since a text had been approved by both sides before, why at the last minute a change was introduced to turn the text so one-sided," he added in the BBC interview.

"I think they are creating an unnecessary political issue - and with this an obstacle to what is important, which is to know the truth about the past."

The issue is a delicate one for President Lula, who was himself briefly imprisoned as a union leader under military rule, while prominent members of his Workers Party were involved in the resistance.

Some military figures are suggesting the commission could look both at the actions of the country's then military rulers and those who used violence to oppose them, but the minister behind the proposal says he would resign if that approach was adopted.

With sections of the Catholic Church, the media and his own agriculture minister antagonised by other aspects of the human rights plan, the president will have a challenge to find a solution that is acceptable to all sides.

CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received a warm reception Wednesday from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, wrapping up a three-nation visit to Latin America to shore up support against the United States.

Ahmadinejad arrived Tuesday night on a flight from Bolivia, where he spent a few hours meeting with President Evo Morales. The Iranian leader met Monday with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

On Wednesday afternoon, Chavez gave Ahmadinejad a warm welcome with full military honors. Wearing a dark suit with a blue shirt and red tie, Chavez stood at attention in front of Palacio de Miraflores as a military band played the national anthems for both countries.

The two men then reviewed the presidential honor guard, clad in bright red uniforms with gold piping and tall black hats with a red plume on top.

"We are here to welcome you, brother Ahmadinejad. Leader. Brother. Comrade," Chavez said.

Ahmadinejad, in return, called Chavez "my valiant brother."

"A brother," he said, "who is resisting like a mountain the intentions of imperialism and colonialism."

Afterward, the two men shook hands and hugged.

Ahmadinejad was met with demonstrations in Brazil on Monday and again Wednesday in Venezuela.

He has already visited Gambia, on the African continent, on this trip and will stop in Senegal on his way back to Iran.

The Iranian president hopes to strengthen economic ties with the five countries. But more significantly, he aims to bolster political ties with sympathetic governments as he tries to counter U.S. and European efforts to curtail Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Ahmadinejad also wants to improve Iran's image after the brutal repression of demonstrators who objected to the outcome of the presidential election in June. Ahmadinejad was re-elected, but many Iranians believe the election was rigged.

In Venezuela, the two leaders were expected to discuss agreements in areas such as energy, investment, trade and science. Experts from the two countries were reported to be reviewing 70 new accords.

Chavez is among Ahmadinejad's top supporters in Latin America, both leaders finding common ground in their opposition to U.S. foreign policy. Both men referred to "imperialism" several times in their statements Wednesday.

With its burgeoning nuclear program, Iran is interested in largely untapped uranium deposits in Venezuela, Brazil and Bolivia, the three nations Ahmadinejad visited this week.

Iran's alliance with Venezuela presents a challenge for U.S. national interests.

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau, in a September column in the Wall Street Journal, said that "Mr. Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have created a cozy financial, political and military partnership rooted in a shared anti-American animus."

During a visit to Iran that month, Chavez highlighted a series of joint ventures, including the construction of ethanol plants in Venezuela and gas exploration in Iran by Venezuela's state-run oil company. He also said he aimed to build a "nuclear village" with Iranian help.

In October, Chavez said Iran was helping to find uranium in Venezuela.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace estimated in December that Venezuela could have 50,000 tons of unmined uranium. Brazil also has a nuclear program and is said to sit on one of the world's largest uranium reserves.

While some analysts believe Chavez could want to eventually export uranium to Iran, it might not be technically feasible.

"It's like everything Chavez does," said Robert Pastor, who was a national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s. "It's more symbolic than real."

Brazil also is not likely to export uranium to Iran, said Bernard Aronson, assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs from 1989 to 1993.

"That would be a bridge too far," he said. "It would be too high a cost."

MEXICO CITY (CNN) A moderately strong earthquake rocked Mexico City on Friday afternoon, shaking the earth in the sprawling capital.

The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude 5.7, and placed the epicenter near the city of Puebla, about 85 miles southeast of Mexico City. It hit at 2:24 p.m. local time.

The Mexican seismological service measured the quake at 5.9.

People in the city reported the earth and buildings shaking. Thousands of panicked people streamed into the streets as stopped cars snarled traffic. Parts of the city were without electricity Friday afternoon but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Earthquakes are a frightening experience for the 20 million residents of Mexico City, where thousands of people perished in a massive quake in 1985. The city, built on volcanic ash and clay, is particularly vulnerable to temblors.

Aldo Pontecorvo of the humanitarian agency World Vision said the shaking lasted about 20 seconds. It came out of nowhere and "without any warning," said Pontecorvo, who said he was in his office when the quake struck.

Earlier this month, a moderate earthquake was measured off the coast of Mexico's western Baja California peninsula.

Brazil food companies Perdigao and Sadia announce they will merge to form Brasil Foods

(Dow Jones)- The merger of Perdigão S/A (PDA) and Sadia S/A (SDA)is likely to boost the exports and help tap new markets such as China, industryanalysts said Tuesday.

The long-awaited action makes the new merged company, Brasil Foods, one of thelargest food companies in the world, with combined revenues estimated at BRL22billion ($10.7 billion)).

Peru has announced that it will ban homosexuals from the police force for damaging the image of the institution.

The law is one of several new regulations put forward by the Interior Minister, Mercedes Cabanillas.

Ms Cabanillas is trying to shake up the institution, which has a dismal reputation among the general public.

But critics say some of the new laws, especially those regarding sexual orientation or activity, are unconstitutional.

The law states that any police officer who has sexual relations with someone of the same gender will be indefinitely suspended from the police force.

The same applies to officers who have extra-marital relations - their actions are also deemed to cause scandal and denigrate the institution's image.

They are among a raft of new regulations, which also include provision for sacking police officers who accept bribes, organise or take part in strikes and protest marches.

Ms Cabanillas' strong-arm tactics have earned her some public backing and the nickname "Thatcher" in the Peruvian media, after the former Conservative British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

Traditional machismo means openly homosexual police men are extremely scarce, but gay rights activists are growing in strength and this new law will provoke a debate.

The presidents of Brazil and Paraguay are meeting to try to resolve a dispute over the Itaipu hydro-electric plant, one of the biggest in the world.

The two countries run the project jointly. But Paraguay uses less power than Brazil.

It says it is obliged to sell its surplus to Brazil at an unfair price.

President Fernando Lugo of Paraguay wants to renegotiate the deal, a demand opposed by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Source of tension

Paraguay is one of the poorest countries in South America and its president comes to Brazil keen to resolve what has been a long-running source of tension between the two sides.

The Paraguayan government believes it is not getting a fair share of the profits from the massive power project.

As the smaller of the two countries it only takes a limited amount of the electricity produced at the plant.

Under the terms of the Itaipu treaty which was negotiated in the 1970s, Paraguay says it is obliged to sell its surplus energy to Brazil at prices well below what it could get on the open market.

The Brazilians say they covered most of the cost of constructing this vast project, and argue that their smaller neighbour has to pay its fair share.

However the debt is huge and Paraguay has threatened to pursue an international court case to dispute the amount involved.

In recent weeks Brazilian ministers have been working on proposals to resolve these contentious issues, but so far there is no sign that what is on offer is enough to bridge the gap between both sides.

President Lugo made it a key part of his election campaign that his country would renegotiate the treaty of Itaipu, arguing that control over the country's energy was a question of national sovereignty.

For the moment talks are continuing, but with little sign of agreement, it may be one for the lawyers after all.

Deadly floods strike northern Brazil

SAO PAULO, Brazil (CNN) At least 18 people have died in heavy flooding across 11 states in northern and northeastern Brazil, according to a statement Tuesday from Brazil's national civil defense service.

Severe rains and mudslides prompted Brazil's Ministry of National Integration to distribute more than 1,100 tons of food across six states -- Amazonas, Piaui, Maranhao, Para, Paraiba and Acre.

In Maranhao, 22,000 people have been left homeless and 25,000 had to flee their homes, authorities said. Forty-two municipalities in the state have declared a state of emergency. Seven people in the state have died in flooding, according to a statement from the Maranhao civil defense authority.

In Ceara the death toll was at seven, authorities said. More than 11,000 people are in public shelters and another 15,000 fled to friends' or relatives' homes. Six municipalities have declared a state of emergency, according to a statement from Ceara civil defense authority.

In Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia, four people died Tuesday in flooding, authorities said. They were killed when three buildings collapsed after a landslide in the Piraja area.

In Para, at least 1,000 people had to flee their homes. A statement from the Para civil defense authority said 28 municipalities have declared a state of emergency.

Argentina priests in drug protest

Hundreds of priests in Argentina have highlighted their concern after two of their number received death threats.

Some 353 Catholic priests in Buenos Aires signed a document in support of the men, who work with addicts in some of the city's poorest neighbourhoods.

The Church last month published a report highlighting a huge increase in drug addiction and dealing in the city.

The report said hard drugs, like Paco - a kind of crack cocaine - are sold openly and often near schools.

The report added that there was is a lack of political will to deal with the results.

"The drug trade has been like a tsunami breaking over us," said Padre Pepe de Paola, one of the priests who has received death threats.

"Heavy drug trafficking started in 2001 when the Argentine economy crashed and we haven't been able to cope."

One dose of Paco costs around $1.50 (£1) and children as young as 12 are becoming addicts, taking up to 40 doses a day.

The Church says there is a lack of spending on education and decent schooling where children can develop their own way in life.

It adds that Argentina as a whole has a disregard for the problems of the young and poor.

Most of those who are making money from drug trafficking, the document says, do not live in poor neighbourhoods but in rich ones.

Two years ago, government figures said there were 27,000 addicts in greater Buenos Aires, but recent research estimates this figure has doubled.

"It's going to take a long time, and it's not just one government who will need to work on this, it's got to be a long-term approach," said Padre Pepe de Paola.

Mexico City has banned restaurants and cafes from serving all food except takeaways in a bid to help prevent the spread of the deadly swine flu virus.

Schools across Mexico have closed and public gatherings are restricted, after more than 150 people are believed to have died from swine flu.

The number of cases globally is rising, though no-one outside Mexico has died.

The UN has called on countries to check their contingency plans for a possible global epidemic, or pandemic.

The UN's World Health Organization (WHO) chief Dr Keiji Fukuda said a pandemic was "a very serious possibility, but it is still too early to say that this is inevitable".

As officials in Mexico City announced the latest measures to stop the virus spreading, the city's chamber of trade estimated restrictions in the city were costing businesses there at least 777 million pesos ($57m or £39m) a day.

US cases confirmed

After Mexico - where the outbreak started - the US has the highest number of confirmed swine flu cases with 64.

President Barack Obama has asked Congress for an additional $1.5bn (£1bn) to bolster the US response.

In California, where there have been 11 cases, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency as a precautionary measure but stressed there was "no need for alarm".

In another development, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation is sending a team to investigate claims that industrial pig farms in Mexico were the source of the outbreak in humans.

The agency's chief veterinary officer, Joseph Domenech, told the BBC that the FAO had to act following rumours that people had been falling ill last month near some intensive pig farms .

Other countries around the world to have confirmed swine flu cases are Canada, New Zealand, Spain, Israel and the UK.

Several other countries are investigating suspected cases including Australia, Brazil, France, Chile and Denmark.

The WHO says it is "critical" that travellers from Mexico who might be infected be identified, but it has advised against countries imposing border restrictions or travel bans, saying such measures do no work.

Some countries in Asia, Latin America and Europe are screening airport passengers for symptoms, while tour operators in France and Germany have suspended trips to Mexico.

Flights stopped

Cuba also suspended flights to and from Mexico for 48 hours from Tuesday and a Canadian tour operator, Air Transat, said it was also halting flights to Mexico until 1 June.

The WHO raised its pandemic alert status to level four on Monday - two levels from a full pandemic - after concluding there had been sustained transmission between humans.

Levels five and six are reserved for when there is widespread human infection.

In almost all cases outside Mexico, people have been only mildly ill and have made a full recovery.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday it may abandon the term swine flu because some people wrongly think they can catch it from pork.

Pork producers in the US and Brazil are pushing for the name 'swine' to be changed , saying it is damaging their business.

China, Russia and Ukraine have all banned pork imports from Mexico and parts of the US since the outbreak began.

By BBC/Ap

Mexico flu 'a potential pandemic'

A new flu virus suspected of killing up to 60 people in Mexico has the potential to become a pandemic, the World Health Organization's chief says.

Margaret Chan said the outbreak was a "serious situation" which needed to be followed closely.

Ms Chan cut short a visit to the US and returned to Geneva for urgent talks.

Health experts say tests so far seem to link the illnesses in Mexico with a new swine flu virus that sickened eight people in the southern US.

The WHO's new emergency committee is now meeting - though health officials say it may be premature to advise against travel to Mexico.

The committee will be discussing whether to declare a public health emergency, and whether to raise the global pandemic alert level.

The WHO says it does not know the full risk yet.

It is advising all member states to be vigilant for seasonally unusual flu or pneumonia-like symptoms among their populations - particularly among young healthy adults, who seem to be the most affected in Mexico.

Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo says he will not resign over claims by three women that he fathered children with them while he was a Catholic priest.

Mr Lugo said in a televised address that he would see his mandate through to 2013 regardless of "rumours of instability and conspiracy".

He asked for forgiveness from anyone who was offended by the revelations.

Opposition politicians have seized on the controversy to undermine Mr Lugo, who ran on a campaign of honesty.

Released from vows

"It was not my intention to offend anyone," Mr Lugo said in his televised news conference, after cancelling what was regarded as an important trip to Washington due to start on Friday.

"I don't hesitate to ask for forgiveness in recognising that I failed the church, the country, the citizens, those who put their trust in me," he said.

Mr Lugo came to power last August, ousting the right-wing Colorado party that had governed Paraguay for six decades.

The Pope only released him from his vows of chastity last July, two years after Mr Lugo renounced the priesthood.

This month, three women have come forward claiming that the former Roman Catholic bishop is the father of their children.

Mr Lugo, 57, acknowledges a two-year-old boy born to a former parishioner as his own, but has not commented on the paternity of the others, a 14-month-old boy and a 6-year-old boy.

'Lost credibility'

Calling the cases "private" during the news conference, he told journalists he could not keep answering questions without neglecting his duties as president.

He said he would leave the matter in the hands of the justice system.

A Paraguayan bishop, Rogelio Livieres, had called for Mr Lugo to resign.

On Friday, a senator from a party currently aligned with Mr Lugo's also urged him to step down.

"Your current personal situation has made you lose all credibility," Alfredo Jaeggli said in a letter to the presidency and congress. "I beg you to resign."

Sitting alongside the president were a number of ministers who celebrated achievements from the government's first year in office, but critics claim the scandal continues to paralyse his administration, the BBC's Gary Duffy reports from Asuncion.

Obama sees chance for Cuba, Venezuela dialogue

President Barack Obama says he sees the chance for frank dialogue with both Venezuela and Cuba.

Obama already has lifted travel restrictions on Cuban-Americans to visit families on the communist island. And he had several opportunities to greet Hugo Chavez, the leftist leader of Venezuela, at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago this weekend.

But Obama reminded reporters at a summit-concluding news conference, "the test for all of us is not simply words but deeds."

AP NEWS

Obama, Chavez shake hands at Americas Summit

Presidents Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez have met for the first time, shaking hands as the Summit of the Americas gets under way in Trinidad and Tobago.

Photos released by the Venezuelan government show the two smiling and Obama touching Chavez on the shoulder.

The Venezuelan presidency says Obama initiated the handshake. It quotes Chavez as telling Obama he hopes for better relations between their nations.

Chavez also reportedly said Friday: "With this same hand I greeted Bush eight years ago. I want to be your friend."

As recently as last week, Chavez expressed a desire to "reset" relations with Washington.

Brazil court orders jail, retrial in US nun death

A court on Tuesday ordered the arrest and retrial of an Amazon rancher acquitted of orchestrating the murder of American nun and rain forest activist Dorothy Stang.

Para state's top court reversed last year's not-guilty verdict for Vitalmiro Moura on a technicality, ruling that a video used by the defense was not admissible as evidence, the state prosecutor said.

"We're elated and we are convinced we will get a guilty verdict in the new trial," prosecutor Edson Souza told The Associated Press.

Souza said Moura is charged with ordering Stang's murder and that he had yet to be arrested. Calls to Moura's last-known defense attorney were not immediately answered.

Moura is accused of masterminding the 2005 death of the 73-year-old Stang, who was shot six times at close range with a revolver in the small jungle city of Anapu. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Stang spent three decades on the Amazon's wild frontier, working to preserve the rain forest and defend the rights of poor settlers whose lands were seized by powerful ranchers.

Her death prompted Amazon activists _ more than 1,000 of whom have been murdered in the past 20 years _ to demand Brazil's government crack down on the illegal seizing and clearing of rain forest to graze cattle, raise soy crops and harvest timber.

"I am excited that perhaps Dorothy will find justice," David Stang, the nun's brother, wrote in an e-mail to the AP.

David Stang, of Palmer Lake, Colorado, has traveled to Brazil several times to witness the trials. "All of us who love Brazil today are so proud of this great country, as would Dorothy be proud today," he wrote.

Prosecutors contend Moura and rancher Regivaldo Galvao hired gunmen to kill Stang over a disputed plot of land.

Moura has already been tried twice in the case _ Brazil has no double jeopardy law. He was found guilty by a state court in 2007 and sentenced to 30 years in prison. But that ruling was overturned last year after the man who confessed to shooting Stang recanted earlier testimony, insisting that he'd acted alone. Gunman Rayfran das Neves Sales was sentenced to 28 years in prison.

The court ruled on Tuesday that Moura and Sales must be retried because a video that Moura's defense showed the jury was inadmissible.

That video _ depicting Amair Feijoli da Cunha, who was sentenced to 17 years for acting as the middleman between the gunman and the ranchers _ was made while he was in prison and without a judge's approval.

The video, made by the defense team, showed Cunha saying that Moura had nothing to do with the case. He had testified earlier that Moura paid the hired gunmen.

In Moura's first trial, Cunha was expected to act as a witness for the prosecution, but was so badly beaten by a fellow inmate in jail that he wasn't able to attend the trial.

"We got him," federal prosecutor Felicio Pontes said of Moura. "All the lies and fabrications around this case have now died."

Pontes is not involved in the prosecution of Moura's case, but is prosecuting Galvao separately. Pontes fought to have all the cases judged by federal courts, which are widely perceived to be less swayed by local politics than the state courts, which tend to favor the ranchers.

The second rancher, Galvao, was arrested in 2005 but was freed on bail in 2006. Federal prosecutors last month charged him with trying to use falsified documents to obtain the same plot of Amazon rain forest that Stang died trying to defend.

That new charge could undermine one of Galvao's key alibis in the murder case. He has testified he had no interest in the piece of land Stang was defending.

Para court officials said no date has been set for the trials of Moura or Sales.

Pontes warned that the two ranchers might flee before their retrial.

More than 1,100 activists, small farmers, judges, priests and other rural workers have been killed in land disputes in the past two decades, according to the Catholic Land Pastoral, a Brazil-based watchdog group.

Of those killings, fewer than 100 cases have gone to court. About 80 convicted suspects were hired guns for powerful ranchers and loggers seeking to expand their lands, according to federal prosecutors and the Catholic group.

About 15 of the men who hired them were found guilty, but none is serving a sentence today.

Stang's case was the subject of a documentary film, "They Killed Sister Dorothy," which debuted on HBO last month.

35 arrested in alleged Puerto Rico drug ring

FBI agents and police arrested at least 35 suspects Thursday in an alleged Puerto Rican drug trafficking ring blamed for seven murders, authorities said.

The network operated out of a housing project in the southern coastal city of Guayama and sold heroin, cocaine and marijuana in cities across the U.S. Caribbean territory, according to Luis Fraticelli, the special FBI agent in charge of Puerto Rico.

Fraticelli said authorities have a total of 47 federal arrest warrants in the case, including two for suspects in the United States _ one in Ohio and another in New York. The suspects in Puerto Rico were arrested in seven cities, including the capital, San Juan.

Puerto Rican police said they plan to send personnel to watch over the housing project in Guayama and help residents.

"Once we break up a gang, it creates a vacuum and if that vacuum isn't filled immediately, what happens is another organization wants to take over that complex. We aren't going to let that happen," said island police superintendent Jose Figueroa Sancha.

Brazil doctors remove spear from man's head

Surgeons successfully removed a 15-centimeter (6-inch) fishing spear from the brain of a man who was struck while diving off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, doctors said Sunday.

Emerson de Oliveira Abreu apparently fired the spear, which ricocheted off rocks and penetrated his own head so deeply that only the tip was showing, family members and authorities said. Local media initially reported that Abreu was accidentally shot by a friend.

Doctor Manoel Moreira told Globo TV that the it took five hours of high-risk surgery to remove the projectile from Abreu, who is doing well and is not likely to suffer major, lasting damage.

The spear entered just above Abreu's left eye and missed the most critical areas of his brain, Moreira said.

"It's a miracle," said Abreu's father, Edilson, according to Globo's G1 Web site.

Cuba: US embargo 'still standing' despite new law

Cuba's state-controlled media on Monday downplayed eased U.S. rules on family ties with Cuba, calling the measure a defeat for the communist government's foes that still left Washington's 47-year-old trade embargo intact.

The article in the Communist Party newspaper Granma was the first official mention of the Cuba clauses in a package signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 11 _ nearly two weeks prior.

The law rolled back limits on family travel and remittances imposed by the Bush Administration, effectively allowing Americans with relatives in Cuba to visit once a year, stay as long as they wish and spend up to $179 a day. The changes only remain in effect until the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

Granma said the changes "represent the first setback for the anti-Cuban mafia and its representatives in Congress," but added that "in practice, they don't affect the siege that successive administrations have maintained against our people."

U.S. law still bars most trade with and travel to Cuba.

"These steps don't restore the rights of Cuban residents of the United States to travel freely to Cuba or approve the rights of citizens of that country to visit a neighboring island," it said.

President Barack Obama has said he is open to talks with Cuban leaders, though he said he does not yet favor lifting the U.S. embargo. Cuban officials have sometimes criticized Obama, but have been far less hostile than they were toward ex-President George W. Bush.

Tensions rise between Chavez, foes in Venezuela

A move to arrest a prominent opposition leader sent thousands of anti-government protesters into the streets of the country's second-largest city Friday, accusing President Hugo Chavez of launching a new attack against his critics.

The protest came after a prosecutor called for the arrest of Mayor Manuel Rosales, a prominent Chavez opponent who has been accused of corruption.

"There is no justice in Venezuela," Rosales told the crowd. "But we will continue fighting."

Critics say Chavez and his allies are leading a two-pronged offensive by persecuting opponents and increasing presidential power by putting all airports, highways and seaports under federal control. Several key ports were previously administered by Chavez opponents.

Chavez won a key vote last month that eliminated term limits.

He has warned governors that they could be arrested if they try to resist the new law bringing transportation hubs under national control.

"The persecution of the opposition is beginning, and I'm sure that Rosales won't be the last to go to jail," said Oscar Perez, an opposition leader.

Chavez denies persecuting opponents for political reasons and has called for Rosales to be jailed on corruption allegations stemming from the mayor's 2002-2004 term as governor of Zulia state.

The attorney general's office says the case against Rosales is based on a 2007 report by the country's comptroller general, the leading anti-corruption authority, that found Rosales received funds "he could not justify."

Analyst Luis Vicente Leon said some of Chavez's actions appear aimed at instilling fear in his foes.

"He's sending the message that he's capable of going against anybody _ no matter how strong you are," Leon, a Caracas-based economist and pollster, told The Associated Press.

Some critics are also alarmed by the socialist leader's efforts to clamp down with more state control over the economy as the effects of the world economic meltdown begin to set in _ compounded by low prices for Venezuelan oil, which provides 94 percent of export earnings.

Chavez has been playing hardball to try to get private companies to produce more price-controlled items as required under strict new regulations aimed at containing inflation. He ordered the expropriation of a rice plant owned by Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc. earlier this month and warned major food producer Empresas Polar that it could be taken over if it does not obey the new regulations.

Chavez plans to announce economic measures on Saturday to help cope with the global crisis.

The government also is facing mounting pressure from public workers' unions, several of which have threatened in recent weeks to demand better contracts.

Meanwhile, strikes at auto assembly plants owned by Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Toyota have been severely slowing production, cutting the output of vehicles in the country by 25 percent overall.

Toyota's Venezuelan-based subsidiary warned Friday that the plant's future is being jeopardized by a worker occupation since March 6.

The company, which has 2,700 employees here, said "for the first time in 51 years in Venezuela, we're seeing with great concern the possibility that the continuation of the Toyota plant's operations could be affected critically and permanently."

Associated Press writer Christopher Toothaker contributed to this report.

Where's Ecuador? Not on new Brazilian school map

Where's Ecuador? Better not ask that question in Brazil. A new Brazilian geography text book for sixth-grade students doesn't even include the South American country on the map.

In fact, the book distributed by the education ministry in Brazil's most populous state botches the location of most of Brazil's neighbors. Paraguay is switched with Uruguay, and a second "new" Paraguay is shown with a coastline at the southern tip of Brazil.

That is something that even Paraguay's military generals could not accomplish during their 1864-1870 war against Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay _ in which historians say landlocked Paraguay dreamed of capturing a slice of Brazil's coastline.

Bolivia is fortunate enough to appear on the map, but the book misses its border with Paraguay _ the Paraguay that sits where Uruguay should be, that is.

The geographical jumbling baffled sixth-grader Joao Gabriel Anchieta, who looked over the map while being interviewed by Globo, Brazil's largest television network.

Asked what would happen should he have to take a geography test based upon the map, Joao said he "would get a bad grade."

About 500,000 of the books containing errors were distributed and will be replaced with corrected maps, to be paid for by the Vanzolini Foundation, which published the books, Sao Paulo's education ministry said.

No one answered telephone calls by The Associated Press to the publisher's offices.

Associated Press Writer Marco Sibaja in Brasilia, Brazil, contributed to this report.

Bundchen, Brady in Brazil to visit model's family

Brazilian media are reporting that Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady are in the supermodel's hometown so that she can introduce the American football star to her family.

Zero Hora newspaper says the supermodel and Brady are in the southern Brazilian city of Horizontina for the 83rd birthday of Bundchen's grandfather and so that he can meet family members, including her sisters, aunts and uncles.

Foto: Tadeu Vilani/ Zero Hora/ Agência RBS

The couple were reportedly married last month in the United States.

The newspaper on Sunday published a photo showing Bundchen and Brady eating ice cream inside a car. It said the couple spent most of Saturday touring the town of 18,000 inhabitants and that Brady exercised at a local gym.

Repeated calls to the Bundchen family home went unanswered.

Brazil truth commission arouses military opposition

Chavez welcomes Ahmadinejad in Venezuela

Earthquake hits Mexico City

Brazil food companies Perdigao and Sadia announce they will merge to form Brasil Foods

Peru 'bar gay people from police'

Leaders meet over power plant row