Troop deployment not swapped for
US benefit: Salvadoran FM
The
presence of El Salvador's troops
in Iraq is not the result of a
swap with the United States for
a postponement of the return of
thousands of Salvadorans to
their home country, Foreign
Minister Francisco Lainez said
Tuesday.
According to news from San
Salvador, capital of the Central
American country, Lainez said,
"El Salvador does not negotiate
troops over any type of
migratory benefit."
Farabundo Marty Front of the
National Liberation (FMLN), a
left-wing party, said the
deployment of Salvadoran troops
in Iraq is under pressure from
the United States, after it
agreed to postponethe Temporary
Protection Status (TPS) on Jan.
6.
El Salvador was the first
Central American country in
ratifyingthe free trade
agreement signed with the United
States and, in exchange,
Washington backs the candidacy
of former Salvadoran President
Francisco Flores to the post of
secretary general of
theOrganization of American
States (OAS).
El Salvador's ambassador to
Washington Rene Leon said on
Tuesday that the extension of
the TPS for another 18 months
will benefit some 248,000
Salvadorans.
Lainez said, "We are sending the
fourth contingent (to Iraq)
because we consider we share the
principles of the combat against
terrorism, and the first
contingent has completed its
task."
Argentina to be first to sign
Protocol of Kyoto implementation
pact
Argentina will be the first to
sign an agreement to put the
Protocol of Kyoto into effect in
a ceremony scheduled for
Wednesday in Japan, said the
Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.
Argentina's Health and the
Environment Minister Gines
Gonzalez, who presided over the
10th United Nations Conference
on Climate Change held in
December in Buenos Aires, will
be the first official to sign
the document, it said.
In the ceremony, Japan, Canada,
Russia, Germany, Britain, Italy
and France will sign the
agreement to reduce their gas
emissions between 2008 and 2012
by 5 percent below the level of
1990.
The pact, negotiated in Japan's
capital of Kyoto in 1997 and
ratified by 140 nations, pushes
35 industrialized countries to
reduce the emission of carbon
dioxide and five other gases
which lead to global warming.
Experts say greenhouse-effect
gases increased the global
temperature, leading to the
melting of glaciers,
intensifying rains and raising
the sea-level.
The implementation of the
Protocol of Kyoto comes 90 days
after Russia ratified the
document, which requires
countries accounting for 55
percent of the world's emissions
to ratify it.
The Kyoto pact's impact,
however, will be limited by the
absence of the United States,
the largest producer of gas
emissions. Washington signed the
protocol in 1997, but the US
Senate refused to ratify it,
saying the emission-control
poses potential damage to the US
economy.
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Death toll rises to 43 in
Colombian flooding
The death
toll has risen to at least
43 as more bodies were found
following the week-long
devastating floods in
Colombia, authorities said
Tuesday.
In the worst-hit
north-central department of
Santander, four more bodies
were found, bringing the
death toll in the region to
37, government officials
said.
Floods have hit several
places in Santander,
specially Bucaramanga,
capital of the department,
and neighboring Giron,
leaving another 40 missing.
Homeless people are
overcrowding shelters and
have started to suffer from
respiratory and skin
problems, such as flu, fever
and diarrhea, officials
said.
Mayor of Giron, Rafael
Nunez, traveled Tuesday to
Bogota to seek help from the
national government.
Food and used clothing have
begun arriving for people in
flooded areas, said state
government spokesman Jorge
Tarazona. He said aid
workers are focused on
bringing bottled water to
some 1,500 families without
water services.
In 2004, Colombia suffered
from two strong rainy
seasons, the first in
April-May, leaving 10 dead,
13 injured and 106,000
homeless. The second one
occurred in November,
affecting some 95,000 people
in 21 departments.
Colombian President Alvaro
Uribe described the current
flooding as "dramatic" and
promised the interior,
communications and other
related ministries "the
necessary resources to take
care of the people."
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