Today's Stories: American Child Exploiter Still on the Run from Honduran Justice G-8 Summit Ends with Symbolic Success, Substantial Disputes Venezuelan president optimistic about referendum

According the Honduran authorities, Kasper was the owner of a brothel called “Tony Montana Night Club”. He and three other American citizens were arrested in 1996 after a spectacular raid and accused and convicted of pimping.

Kasper, a Tampa Bay businessman, escaped when he was visiting a hardware store! The convicted prisoner offered to pay for building material to rebuild part of the National Penitenciary on the condition that he could go shopping with the guards. The Director of the jail agreed and, not surprisingly, Kasper paid off his two guards and escaped. He did not even buy the building material!

In 1999, Casa Alianza informed the Honduran authorities that Kasper was offering $1 million to anyone who could help him to escape from jail. On the March 6th 2001, the judge of the First Criminal Judge of Letters in Tegucigalpa ordered the detention of the three prison guards who allowed Kasper to escape. They were accused of the crime of "being responsible for a prisoner’s escape”.

The police raided the brothel “Tony Montana” in April 1999. Casa Alianza had used hidden cameras to document the exploitation of underage girls as "exotic dancers" who were also subjected to sexual abuse after the show. In private rooms, the girls danced naked for less than US$ 5 per song. Above the night club was a hotel where the girls were taken to be raped.

Four Americans were arrested that night: Kasper, his business partner Anthony Bucellato, Russel Scott Williams, and another man who was absolved.

“Kasper has being hiding for three years. As many like him, he must be at home, resting by the pool and drinking beer while his victims are still suffering the traumas of the sexual exploitation”, said Bruce Harris, Regional Director of Casa Alianza for Latin America.

Casa Alianza, a sister agency of the Ft. Lauderdale based Covenant House, believes Kasper is in Florida.

Kasper, as many other American citizen prosecuted in Central America, escaped and hid in the United States. Now, Casa Alianza knows that they can be sent back for trial. Last May 20th, Arthur Kanev, a dentist from Boston, became the first U.S. citizen extradited to Costa Rica to face trial. He was arrested thanks to a report of Fox’s “America´s Most Wanted”.

Kanev was released on bail, and then fled the country. As with Kanev, Casa Alianza hopes that the help of the U.S. authorities will take the fugitives back to Central America to be prosecuted or to complete their sentences.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Charles Edward Kasper, please contact Casa Alianza in Costa Rica at 011-506-253-5439.


G-8 Summit Ends with Symbolic Success, Substantial Disputes
US President George W. Bush called it "a spectacular success," partly as a fact and partly as a desire.

Leaders from the eight most industrialized countries in the world on Thursday concluded their three-day meeting on the exclusive retreat of Sea Island, Georgia, leaving a lot of non-substantial agreements for Bush, the host, to boast about and a few core disagreements for his aides to keep working on.

For the last three days, images of Bush surrounded by leaders from leading industrial nations and walking side by side with foes over his war in Iraq were broadcast live in the United States as well as the whole world.

For a president seeing his approval ratings dropping to a dangerous zone of below 50 percent just five months before a general election, Bush could not have expected more.

Bush has been criticized, both at home and abroad, for alienating friends and allies by carrying out unilateral polices and launching war against Iraq in ignorance of widespread opposition.

It might help explain the eagerness Bush demonstrated to share his story with French President Jacques Chirac, who is one of Bush's leading opponents over the Iraqi war.

The Group of Eight summit also reached agreement without quick discussion on issues like training new peacekeepers to patrol war-torn countries, coordinating efforts to find a vaccine against the AIDS virus, and facilitating the development of private business sector in poor countries.

Also, the leaders vowed to resolve differences blocking a free-trade deal by the end of July and agreed to coordinate their non-proliferation effort.

More importantly, the summit approved a watered-down version of Bush's plan to promote political, economic and social reform in the Middle East and North Africa. The "Partnership for Progress and a Common Future" program, or Broader Middle East Plan as initially known, is one of the key issues the United States has pushed for approval at this summit.

Bush's effort to promote his Middle East reform initiative around the world has met wide skepticism and criticism. Most Arab countries say they don't want reforms imposed by the outside worldand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be resolved before anyreform initiative could be implemented.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia turned down Bush's invitation to the summit. Leaders from Afghanistan, Bahrain, Jordan, Turkey and someother countries participated in the summit and expressed support for the program.

After several revision in response to Arab opposition and European skepticism, the plan called for reform effort in the Middle East and North Africa to go "hand in hand" with the effort to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The harmonious atmosphere was at its highest point Tuesday whennews about the adoption by the UN Security Council of a resolutiongranting legitimacy to the new Iraqi interim government reached the island. All leaders followed Bush to hail the approval of the resolution, which would be a relief for Bush as he has been burdened by the worsening situation in Iraq.


TENSIONS REMAIN OVER IRAQ

"We just completed a very successful summit. The nations of theG-8 are united in our desire to help bring stability and democracyto Iraq," Bush said at a news conference concluding the summit.

But he omitted a key part -- disputes still remain over how to achieve the goal of bringing stability and democracy to Iraq.

Buoyed by the unanimous UN resolution authorizing the return ofIraqi sovereignty, Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, hisfirmest ally in the war against Iraq, said during the summit that they believed NATO ought to stay involved in Iraq.

But Chirac spelt out his concerns publicly over NATO involvement in Iraq Wednesday, saying he did not see any role at all for the military alliance in Iraq. "I see myself with strong reservations on this initiative," he said.

Bush had to admit Thursday that it would be "an unrealistic expectation" that NATO members would reach agreement soon on sending troops to Iraq. "I don't expect more troops from NATO to be offered up," he said.

Chirac, at a separate news conference after the conclusion of the summit, reiterated his objections to NATO involvement in Iraq.He said he believed any direct involvement by NATO troops in Iraq held "great risks, including something of a risk of a clash between the Christian West and the Muslim East."

This dispute means the United States and Britain will continue to provide the bulk of military troops in Iraq for now even thoughthey are looking for other countries to share the burden.

The summit also failed to bridge gaps among the leaders on the cancellation of most of Iraq's sovereign debt. Although France supports the US-led efforts to alleviate the debt burden on the new government in Iraq, it is worried that the US proposal to cancel the "vast majority" of debts would set a precedent that other countries might exploit.

"How would you explain to these people that in three months we are going to do more for Iraq than we have done in 10 years for the 37 poorest and most indebted countries in the world?" Chirac asked at his news conference.


HARD WORK WAITS FOR BUSH

The summit demonstrated that Bush has repaired the strained relations between the United States and France, Germany to some extent, but his failure to secure agreement over core issues mean the would have to continue mount-climbing to prevent the continued decline of his approval ratings.

A poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times just before the start of the summit showed that 58 percent of Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, confirming a trend in other recent opinion surveys showing an increase in public disapproval of Bush's handling of the Iraq war and the economy.

In a one-to-one match with John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, Bush lags by seven points in the poll.

The three-day summit provided Bush with free lavish advertisement. Since the show is over, Bush will have to go back to work over real issues including Iraq and economy if he wants to reverse the declining trend.



Venezuelan president optimistic about referendum
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expressed optimism Thursday about winning the slated recall referendum with "a great victory".

"These are times of battles and we are waiting for another great victory that is breathed in every minute and hour," Chavez said.

The president urged his cabinet ministers to help "net the victory" in the recall referendum to be held on August 15, as scheduled earlier this week by the National Electoral Council.

Chavez described the intention of the opposition as "anti-values." He said, "We are in the presence of anti-values that have been sown for a long time: lie, treason, scorn, inequality and materialism."

The opposition launched its electoral campaign Thursday by pledging to maintain and improve the social plans promoted by Chavez.

If Chavez loses the August 15 referendum, the Venezuelan constitution dictates that presidential elections must be held within 30 days. To win the referendum, the opposition must match or beat the 3.76 million votes Chavez got in the 2000 election.

Chavez survived a coup two years ago, but a later oil strike sent Venezuelan economy into recession.