No date was set to restart the talks, according to Benjamin Bogran, executive director of Honduras' Private Business Council.

The negotiations were suspended because changes covering textiles and sugar were left off the negotiating table, he said.

"Canada's position is inflexible," Bogran told a news conference. "That's why Central America cannot do much about this."

Canadian trade officials could not immediately be reached on Sunday.

The 10th round of trade negotiation between Central America and Canada was held in February in Ottawa, Canada. In July 2003 negotiations were suspended so that Central America could concentrate on crafting a free trade agreement with the United States.

The United States has signed a free trade agreement with the Central American nations of Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala — and the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic plans to participate. But the U.S. Congress has yet to approve the agreement, which faces opposition.
 

Peru declares aviation emergency before soccer competition
Peru declared a 90-day state of emergency on Sunday in its air transport sector to keep airplanes flying during Copa America soccer competition and allows smaller airline companies to lease foreign planes when two leading carriers are in trouble.

The emergency decision was made to normalize an extraordinary and unexpected situation in the air transport sector which could threaten the national economy.

Earlier in the week, a provincial judge ordered Lan Peru airlines, the Peruvian unit of Chilean flag carrier Lan Airlines, to stop flying, saying it had violated civil aviation norms. It said Lan Peru had operated with irregularly obtained permits and used Chilean aircraft and crew.

The carrier, accounting for 25 percent of Peru's domestic market, has denied the accusations and continued to fly.

The three-week-long Copa America will start on Tuesday and 10 teams from South America, Mexico and Costa Rica will participate in the tournament. Up to 35,000 tourists are expected to visit the country during the soccer match.

4 die in possible new Rio drug war
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- Four people were killed Sunday in a northern Rio slum in what police believe could be a new war between rival drug gangs.

Authorities believe the slayings were triggered by gangs fighting for territory that opened up after a slum's alleged drug lord was killed in a police shooting Friday.

Police killed the alleged drug lord of the Morro do Adeus slum and another suspected drug trafficker in a shootout late Friday, said Marcela Lobo of the Public Safety Secretariat.

On Sunday, police found the bodies of two women and a man in a car trunk close to Morro do Adeus, said a local police officer, who did not want to be named.

The victims were shot and appeared to have been tortured, the officer said. Police later found the body of another woman in Morro do Adeus.

Police believe the four were executed by a rival drug gang from a nearby slum that invaded Morro do Adeus during the night to take over lucrative drug selling spots there.

On Sunday, about 60 heavily armed police officers occupied Morro do Adeus, Lobo said.

Rio has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. More than 50 of every 100,000 people are murdered each year, many in drug gang-related crimes.

Over Easter weekend, another battle between rival drug gangs in the southern Rio slum of Rocinha left 12 people dead, including several innocent bystanders.

Last month, police in the central Rio slum area of Sao Carlos killed five alleged drug traffickers in a shootout.

Some critics say that some of the victims shot by police are bystanders rather than drug traffickers, and slum dwellers complain that police violence doesn't help end gang wars.

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International regularly accuse the police of killing innocent people and then labeling the victims as drug traffickers.

Residents say police often place guns in victims' hands after they have been shot.

In 2003, the police in the greater Rio de Janeiro area killed 1,164 civilians. Nearly all the cases were justified as police acting in self-defense.

On April 7, the police shot dead 14 people, including four minors, in several separate incidents in Rio slums.

Rio state security chief Anthony Garotinho -- the husband of Rio state governor Rosinha Matheus -- said at the time that the victims were all "bandits."