From Cuba's Prensa Latina, April 19:

International terrorist Luis Posada Carriles was released by US authorities on Thursday, despite evidence of his involvement in criminal acts.

Nicaragua has arrested 17 people in two days in a crackdown on Mexico's Sinaloa cocaine cartel, which has established a foothold in the Central American country and reportedly issued death threats against the national police chief, Aminta Granera. The Nicaraguan national police said they uncovered a secret landing strip and seized shotguns, automatic weapons, vehicles and speed-boat engines. The arrests come a month after Nicaraguan authorities said they thwarted a Sinaloa cartel plot to assassinate Granera.

Petroleos de Nicaragua (Petronic) has announced construction of an oil refinery in the Central American nation, with aid from Venezuela as part of Hugo Chavez's proposed Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). Work is to begin on the "Sandino-Bolivar" refinery by June, when Chavez is slated to visit Nicaragua. Petronic director Francisco Lopez said that besides satisfying Nicaragua's annual demand of 10 million barrels, the refinery will supply fuel to other countries of the isthmus from Guatemala to Panama. Lopez said the project is unprecedented in Central America, comparable only to the Panama Canal in magnitude. (Prensa Latina, Cuba; El Universal, Caracas, April 16)

East Timor Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta met with a rebel representative April 19 to discuss an end to a military operations against a fugitive army defector. Leandro Isaac, who abandoned his seat in parliament to join former army major Alfredo Reinado in the mountains of Manufahi district, said he asked Ramos-Horta to end operations against Reinado and his supporters. "People's fundamental rights have disappeared since the operation began," Isaac said. "We asked the prime minister to establish calm and peace in Manufahi. Law and order should be implemented."

A Darfur rebel group April 17 warned foreign oil firms against exploring oil and minerals in the western Sudan province. "The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) wishes to make clear to foreign investors and the Sudanese government that so long as the people of Darfur are denied their basic rights, the exploitation of natural resources in Darfur for the benefit of the National Congress Party regime or any foreign firm will not be tolerated," said SLM leader Abdelwahid al-Nur in a statement e-mailed to Sudan Tribune.

President Bush, speaking at a Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum April 18, pledged to intensify pressure on Sudan, warning of stiff economic sanctions if President Omar Hassan al-Bashir does not bring a quick end to the violence in Darfur. "The time for promises is over—President Bashir must act," Bush said. "The world needs to act. If President Bashir does not meet his obligations to the United States of America, we'll act." (NYT, April 19; Reuters, April 18) Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, just back from a visit to Sudan, made similar noises two days earlier: "The government of Sudan must disarm the janjaweed, the Arab militias that we all know could not exist without the Sudanese government’s active support," Negroponte said. (AP, April 16)

Despite the early pretense of democracy in drawing up the post-9-11 Lower Manhattan development plans, most New Yorkers were not aware that a special "command center" had been created to oversee the multiple construction projects until a change of leadership there happened to make some small headlines. The militarist terminology is all too appropriate, given the fascistic nature of the redevelopment plans. From AP via Crain's New York Business, April 17 (link added):

The US is planning to use meetings with NATO and Russian ambassadors in Brussels April 19 to defend its plans to build an anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic, saying the West needs a defense shield against the threat of Iran developing nuclear warheads. (Bloomberg, April 18) Polish President Lech Kaczynski has been invited to the White House in July to discuss building European support for the missile plan. (NYT, April 18) Hundreds of Poles marched in Warsaw March 24 against the missile proposal, and against Polish military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Reuters, AP, March 24)