On arrival in Havana on Wednesday night, Zamora said no Panamanian authority has evidence that the Cuban government had interfered in the country's internal affairs.

"Any statement in this sense is a clumsy manipulation of reality and an attempt to hide the true reasons for such an unethical act," he said.

Zamora left Panama at the request of the government of Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso, who had earlier recalled her representative from Cuba after the latter claimed it would sever diplomatic ties with Panama if Moscoso decides to pardon four Cuban exiles.

"These criminals are liable for multiple terrorist acts against Cuba, including the explosion of a hijacked plane in 1976, when 73people were killed," Zamora said.

He added that these "international criminals" had also been involved in the assassinations against a Cuban diplomat in the streets of New York and late Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier.

The Cuban government officially announced Thursday the breaking up of relations with Panama after Moscoso pardoned four Cuban exiles the Cuban government accuses of trying to kill President Fidel Castro.

The four Cuban exiles, Luis Posada Carriles, Gaspar Jimenez, Pedro Remon and Guillermo Novo Sampol, were arrested in November 2000 for allegedly having planned to assassinate Castro at a 2000 summit of Latin American and Iberian leaders in Panama.

A Panamanian tribunal sentenced Luis Posada and Gaspar Jimenez Escobedo to eight years in prison, and Guillermo Novo Sampol and Pedro Remon, seven years in prison, for endangering public safety and forging documents, but not for the presumed assassination attempt against Castro.

Outgoing Moscoso affirmed her pardon Thursday of the four Cuban-Americans involved in the assassination attempt against Castro, insisting it is for "humanitarian reasons."

"We know that if these men had remained here, there would have been a chance they were extradited, maybe not to Venezuela, but to Cuba, where I am certain they would have been executed," Moscoso said.

The president told a press conference that the four Cubans were not convicted last April for the crime of terrorism, but for the "owning of explosives."

The four pardoned by Moscoso will never be able to return to Panama, from where they left aboard a plane to a destination which the local authorities refrained from mentioning.

Moscoso said the pardon is in her power as a president and she also granted presidential pardon to other individuals.

She added she did not receive any sort of pressure from a third country to pardon the anti-Castro criminals. "No one exerts pressure on me whatsoever," she affirmed.

The diplomatic clash erupted just days before Moscoso was to hand over the presidency to Martin Torrijos on Sept. 1.

On Sunday, Cuba threatened to immediately cut relations with Panama if Moscoso pardoned the four Cuban exiles.

Expressing anger at the tone of Havana's complaints, Moscoso recalled her ambassador from Cuba this week and ordered the Cuban ambassador to leave.
 

Venezuelan opposition calls for clearing up referendum doubts
Venezuela's opposition insisted Thursday that the National Electoral Council (CNE) clear up the "reasonable doubts" about the results of the Aug. 15 recall referendum won by President Hugo Chavez.

Felipe Mujica, a spokesman of the opposition coalition Democratic Coordination (CD), reiterated the demand of "clearing up doubts," before discussing the upcoming regional elections. "This is an accusation we are going to support with documents and evidence" in the eyes of Venezuelans, he said.

"We have to know where the vote each Venezuelan casts in the voting machine is going," Mujica said and insisted on the accountability of the CNE in guaranteeing the transparency in the regional elections. The CNE plans to conduct the regional elections in October, although the ruling-party requested to conduct them before Sept. 26.

With respect to the meeting held by the opposition with the CNE, Mujica said "no advances" were made in the opposition's informal complaint of the presumed "electronic fraud" nor in the petition to make a manual counting of the ballots.

The CD said it would accept the results of the referendum if they were validated by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the US group Carter Center (CC). The results of the referendum presented by the CNE and a posterior partial audit of the voting have been accepted by the international observing mission on Aug. 21.

Moreover, the opposition spokesman proposed replacing the present board of the CNE directors appointed in 2003 by the Supreme Court because of the "omission" of the National Assembly, saying they were appointed for the referendum, which was only a transitory mission.

"It is clearly a partial organization," said Mujica referring to the CNE, which includes three governmental allies of the five making the board of directors.

Meanwhile, Cesar Gaviria, Secretary General of the OAS, said Wednesday in Washington that the decisions of the Venezuelan electoral authorities were made within the framework of the line followed by the majority.
 

Bomb explosion in Colombia kills 2 policemen, injures 7
A bomb exploded Thursday night near a Colombian police station in northern Bogota, killing two policemen, injuring seven people including three officers and four civilians, police said.

Police said they had no suspects in the explosion, which triggered panic among the residents in northwest Bogota, capital of Colombia.

There were no claims of responsibility for the blast, police said.

Colombia has been plagued by a four-decade civil war, in which leftist rebels, far-right paramilitary and governmental troops fight one another, with an average of 3,500 people killed every year.

About 2,000 people, including 22 foreigners, were kidnapped in Colombia last year.
 

Mexico denies presence of anti-US terrorism on its land
There was no evidence that anti-US terrorist activities were carried out in Mexico, local media said Thursday, citing official sources.

The denial came amid US media reports suggesting Al-Qaeda terror operatives could sneak into the United States across its 3,200-km border with Mexico.

Mexican media quoted an unidentified source with the Presidency as saying that the country's intelligence establishment had detected no evidence of possible anti-US terrorism in the country.

Earlier this week, Mexican police arrested a trafficker of illegal immigrants most wanted by the FBI. He was accused of helping Iranian and Iraqi illegals enter into the United States.