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)

The recent media coverage of para-politics in Colombia may be the final nail in the coffin for a proposed US-Colombia free trade agreement. Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe, Bush’s strongest ally in the region, not only has an administration filled with people conspiring with right-wing death squads, but allegations are surfacing that his family members housed paramilitary groups on their land in the 1990’s. Colombia's paramilitary state has made the South American nation the most dangerous place in the world for trade unionists. [Bloomberg, April 17]

Colombia's government announced April 18 an "experimental" cease-fire with the National Liberation Army (ELN) following talks in Havana. "The president has asked me to accept the ELN's experimental and temporary cease-fire proposal," Colombian peace negotiator Luis Carlos Restrepo told reporters. But Restrepo added that the government is still demanding that the ELN concentrate its fighters in a geographic area as part of any longterm peace accord. Chief ELN negotiator Pablo Beltran said earlier in the week the group was willing to temporarily halt attacks, but that to gather its fighters in one place would be "suicide." (Reuters, April 18)

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 court in Urumqi, the capital of China's restive Xinkiang autonomous region, has sentenced the son of exiled Uighur nationalist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Rebiya Kadeer to nine years in prison for secessionist activities. Ablikim Abdiriyim was found guilty of posting articles advocating secessionism on the Internet and related (nonviolent) offenses. (Radio Australia, April 18)

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)

Hundreds of Buddhist monks rallied outside the parliament building in Bangkok April 17 calling for Buddhism to be enshrined in the constitution as Thailand's national religion. The country's military-appointed government plans to unveil a new national constitution this month. In 1997, a campaign to make Buddhism the national religion was dropped amid concerns that it would divide the country. Since then, an Islamist insurgency has flared in Thailand's south, leaving more than 2,000 dead in the last three years. Previous Thai constitutions have never declared a state religion, although the current constitution states that the king must be a Buddhist and upholder of all religions. (MWC News, April 18)