Agencias Bogotá- The Colombian Minister of Defense, Gabriel Silva, assured Saturday that the number of FARC guerillas has been reduced to 8,000 members from the 20,000 it had in the year 2002.
Venezuela - On Saturday President Hugo Chavez read a letter from a highly credible source within his government which warns that "events were about to unfold" within the country. The missive, which contained some encrypted details, speaks of initial plans of execution together with a military operation that has accelerated. "Mauricio is the objective, and the other is the defeat of the government." They will pursue this from the north in a combined operation with two objectives but they have been unable to enter Caracas, hence they are hunting outside of Caracas. They are trying to neutralize the Armed Forces and are incorporating retired military people within their ranks. Tell Mauricio to take this information seriously, read Chavez.
Most of the Latin American and Caribbean countries are seeing growth this year, with an unexpected expansion of 5.2 percent on average, but in 2011 the forecast is just 3.9 percent, according to figures released by ECLAC, a United Nations regional agency, Wednesday in the Chilean capital. This year's growth will help unemployment in the region shrink from 2009's 8.2 percent of the economically active population to 7.8 percent.
