Colombia foils bomb attack on
president
Colombian security forces on
Thursday foiled a car-bomb
attack attempt at President
Alvaro Uribe and arrested three
people of the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Police said in a statement that
police found seven kg of
explosives hidden in a car in a
parking lot of a bar near the
Bogota International Airport.
The three arrested confessed to
be planning to assassinate Uribe
with the explosive-loaded car.
Security agents have tightened
security measures and are
pursuing other assassins.
On Feb. 28, police discovered
explosive-loaded cylinders near
the runway of an airport in the
northern city of Valledupar
hours ahead of Uribe's visit.
He went to the city as planned
despite the apparent
assassination plot by FARC.
Uribe has insisted on tough
measures against anti-government
militants, and has therefore
become a target of assignation
for over 10 times.
FARC, with 17,000 members, is
the country's largest and oldest
guerrilla group.
Colombia has been plagued by a
four-decade civil war, in which
leftist rebels, far-right
paramilitaries and government
troops fight each other, killing
about 3,500 people every year.
Cuba: military drill Bastion
2004 enters second phase
The military drill named Bastion
2004 staged by the Cuban army
entered its second phase
Thursday to examine the speed
and cohesion of soldiers and the
responsibility of the command
and direct posts in face of a
possible air strike by foreign
forces.
The military authorities here
said this stage is designed to
check the reaction of military
personnel to a possible
intensified air attacks,
including rocket strikes, by the
United States forces.
The exercises is also designed
to check the supply of water,
food, medicine and fuel, the
solutions to a possible shortage
of electricity, and the
protection of industries and
other vital targets.
General Raul Castro, First Vice
President and Minister of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces, on
Wednesday visited places around
the capital and the neighboring
province of Havana. He started
Bastion2004 on Monday with a
speech saying that Cuba will
turn into a "wasp-nest" should
it be attacked.
As a continuation of the general
mobilization staged from Monday
by the military headquarters,
the Defense Councils at all
levels showed a great
efficiency, local reports said.
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Former Argentine president Menem
to return home
Former
President of Argentina Carlos
Menem will return to his country
next Wednesday after
being granted immunity from
imprisonment, his nephew and
national congressman Adrian
Menem said here Thursday.
Federal judge Norberto Oyarbide
has imposed a one-million-dollar
fine on Menem to make national
and international arrest
warrants for him ineffective,
according to judicial sources.
Oyarbide's decision has
surprised observers since Menem
was charged with "hiding income
information" in a sworn
statement.
Menem had tried to hide the
existence of a bank account in
Switzerland. Those assets were
found after he completed his
tenure on Dec. 10, 1999.
Prosecutor of the case Carlo
Stonelli said that Oyarbide's
decision will be appealed
against, as cited by an
individual close to him. On the
other hand, Menem's lawyer will
probably appeal against the
amount of the fine.
Menem, who ruled Argentina from
1989 to 1999, has been living in
Chile's capital Santiago since
late 2003, and Chile has twice
rejected requests from Argentina
to extradite him. The
73-year-oldformer Argentine
president has repeatedly said
that his trials arepart of a
political persecution from the
current government of President
Nestor Kirchner.
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