A story just in from the Houston Chronicle's South America Bureau by John Otis ...

Although the southern jungles of Colombia are ground zero for the war against Marxist guerrillas and cocaine traffickers, a U.S.-backed program to persuade some of the region's drug farmers to switch to legal crops has been suspended.

In southern Caqueta state, a longtime rebel stronghold, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, has pulled out of the campaign because the region lacked economic potential and was considered too dangerous for the agency's workers, according to a Colombian government memo.

I don't get as much news as you would expect out of Central and South America about the issues we cover here at Audeamus. Not as much as say Africa, South Asia or other spots in Asia. I'm not exactly sure why that is, but the lack of English language media presence down there is probably one good guess. It often seems like a blank spot on the map for me. If anyone has any good resources to suggest that cover the issues we look at here in Central and South America I'd be grateful for the tips.