400 farmers displaced in
Colombia
At least 400 farmers on Friday
escaped from the northwest where
government troops launched an
offensive against the rebel
Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), the authorities
said.
The farmers fled Ituango in
Antioquia state for fear of
being trapped in the warfare.
The death toll in the operation
was still unknown.
FARC, with 20,000 combatants, is
the country's largest and oldest
rebel organization and allegedly
finances itself through drug
trafficking and kidnappings.
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.
Brazilian landless activists
surround central bank
Over 8,000 Brazilian landless
activists on Thursday surrounded
the central bank, threatening to
grab more land next year unless
they get more public money to
speed up land reform.
Members of the Landless Workers
Movement burned a US flag with "IMF"
written on it and chanted for
the ouster of Finance Minister
Antonio Palocci.
Joao Pedro Stedile, a leader of
the peasant group, said peasants
could launch more land
occupations if Brazilian
President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva does not allocate more
funds to expropriate and
redistribute unused farmland.
Lula has pledged to settle
400,000 families, or around 1.6
million people, during his
four-year term.
In April, the peasant group
launched its biggest wave of
land grabs in five years and
Stedile said next year's could
be even bigger.
Organizers said it was the
capital's biggest land reform
protest involving dozens of
peasant groups.
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Japan asks Peru for
understanding on Fujimori
extradition
Japanese ambassador to Peru,
Yubun Narita, Friday asked for
the Peruvian understanding over
the fact that to the moment his
country has not decided on the
two extradition petitions filed
against disgraced president
Alberto Fujimori.
"Peru must understand this is a
very complex issue, demanding
time for its analysis," said the
diplomatic representative in an
interview granted to a radio
station of this capital.
He said Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi and Peruvian
President Alejandro Toledo had
discussed the Fujimori case
during the recent meeting of the
Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation in Chile.
Japan has refused to extradite
Fujimori, 66, the son of
Japanese immigrants, because
there is no extradition treaty
between Peru and Japan and
because Japan has granted him
Japanese citizenship, meaning
that he cannot be extradited
under Japanese law.
Fujimori, who ruled Peru from
1990 to 2000, fled to Japan in
November 2000 on the heels of a
corruption scandal involving his
former spy chief Vladimiro
Montesinos.
Peru, which has charged Fujimori
with dereliction of duty,
embezzlement, murder, illegal
arms purchases and human rights
violations, is seeking his
extradition from Japan.
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