Mexico's effort to facilitate the negotiations through its former ambassador to Colombia Andres Valencia is the first step of a peace process, Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Miguel Hakim said before the Commission of Latin American Affairs of the Senate.

Nevertheless, it will become necessary for the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS) to intervene in the dialogue, he added.

Hakim told the senators that the mediation of Mexico is "a step in the right direction to achieve peace between the Colombian government and the ELN."

The four-decade-long armed conflict in Colombia, that claims about 3,500 lives each year, will continue despite reaching a happy ending in the negotiations with the ELN, he predicted.

The 5,000-strong ELN is Colombia's second largest rebel force after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The left-wing guerrillas have been fighting with Colombian troops and the right-wing paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

The task of Valencia is not such an easy one as he has already participated in four failed negotiations, Hakim reminded.

"We are making a fifth effort, and Mexico reaffirms its confidence in the Colombian government of President Alvaro Uribe and the ELN reaching an agreement to cease hostilities," said the official.
 

Mercosur president proposes creating United States of S America
Former Argentine president and President of the Commission of Permanent Representatives of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), Eduardo Duhalde, proposed the creation of the "United States of South America" to concretize the idea of regional integration.

In a conversation published Tuesday by Observa on its Website, Duhalde said a decisive step was taken in that direction at last Mercosur summit, which was held in Argentina.

"We have started to move along the path of the future integration of our republics," said the former president of Argentina.

According to Duhalde, the decision of creating what has already been dubbed as "the United States of South America" was developed by the presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay during the three-party talks held last week between Mercosur, the Andean Community (ANCOM) and Chile to advance the negotiations in the direction.

The association of Mexico and Venezuela to Mercosur, decided at the group's 26th summit closed last Thursday, constitutes an important step for a process that should not only stick to South America, but should cover all of Latin America and then the rest of the continent, Duhalde said.

Remembering the difficult advance in the road towards the South American integration from the moment of independence and evaluating the possibilities and advantages that would be presented to the countries of the region, Duhalde affirmed that the South American countries will be determined to change a long history of lack of coincidence.

The South American union will empower more and more countries to change an unfair international order, characterized by exclusion and violence and put forth a humanist view in the construction of a world community that is more just and equal, he added.

The union will also give South American countries a greater say economically.

"Definitely, we are the third largest economic bloc of the planet, behind the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement," Duhalde said.
 

Bolivian energy referendum set for Sunday
Bolivians will decide on the future of their country's natural gas resources in a referendum scheduled for Sunday and its results will come out two weeks after the referendum, the National Electoral Court was quoted by the Bolivian Information Agency as saying.

The courts said on Tuesday that partial results (80 percent) of the referendum, called by President Carlos Mesa, will be available on the night of the popular consultation, but the complete results will be announced on Aug. 4.

The Organization of American States (OAS) will send 24 observers for the referendum, the court said.

The referendum, with five questions, will decide whether the natural gas resources will be exported or utilized for the internal development of Bolivia.

The referendum has been opposed by a number of syndicates and the agricultural workers union, which threatened to boycott the referendum and even block roads. They also demand the expropriation of the petroleum and natural-gas reserves currently exploited by foreign firms.

Bolivia was thrown into a political and social crisis in October 2003, when former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada planned to export natural gas through neighboring Chile, a bitter rival which annexed Bolivia's Pacific coastline in a war 125 years ago.

He was forced to resign amid a popular uprising in and around La Paz, capital of Bolivia, in which more than 80 people were killed in street clashes with security forces.
 

Cuba, San Marino sign agreements on bilateral ties
The governments of Cuba and San Marino signed two agreements Tuesday on consultations between foreign ministries and on the enforcement of criminal sentences in order to strengthen bilateral relations.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez and Fabio Berardi, Secretary of State for Foreign and Political Affairs, Economic Programs and Justice of the European nation, signed the agreement on establishing a permanent dialogue mechanism for bilateral relations and international issues.

Berardi also signed with Cuban Justice Minister Roberto Diaz the agreement on the enforcement of criminal sentences, which will allow an individual sentenced in one of the two countries serves his or her sentence in the nation of origin.

Berardi arrived in Havana last Monday for an official visit.