Latin America

My daughter and I are interested in a volunteer vacation to Mexico or Central America for less than $2,000 a week. Any suggestions? Here are some projects that might fit your budget: Global Volunteers (globalvolunteers.org) has work and tutoring programs around the world. You might be asked to teach English to adult students in any of several cities in Mexico, for instance, starting at $1,795 a week. A cheaper U.S. option: You could help paint or repair homes or mentor preschool students in the Mississippi Delta.

Travel to Latin America has been on the upswing as countries there look to tourism for economic growth, and tour operators in the United States and Canada offer exotic vacations to the south. But until recently, getting around within Latin America -- even in popular countries such as Mexico -- was a hassle often involving multiple plane changes or long bus rides over rough roads. Now, thanks to an increase in low-cost airlines in Brazil and Mexico, which account for 60 percent of Latin America's air traffic, it's getting easier to jet around.

MEXICO CITY -- City legislators voted yesterday to legalize abortion in this capital during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, an action that supporters say will serve as a landmark for women's rights in Latin America. The move could result in thousands of Mexican women traveling to the nation's capital for safe and legal abortions. Catholic activists and the leaders of the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, have promised to challenge the law in court. "Women have self-determination over their bodies," Deputy Daniel Ordoqez said as he formally introduced the bill to the city's Legislative Assembly.

Miami -- A militant Cuban exile wanted in Venezuela in connection with the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner was released from a New Mexico jail yesterday and allowed to return to his home in Miami to await trial on charges of violating immigration law. The Bush administration's inability to keep former CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles locked up incited broad condemnation throughout Latin America and among critics of U.S.-Cuba policy. It also provoked accusations that the White House maintains a double standard on terrorism, punishing those who strike at the United States while giving shelter to a man who has admitted to deadly violence against his Communist-ruled homeland.

GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA -- President Fidel Castro wages a silent protest against the U.S. "tenants" of this bay in southern Cuba from a drawer in his desk. There lie 47 uncashed checks drawn on the U.S. Treasury, each for $4,085, the annual rent fixed in a 1903 lease agreement that has vexed Cuba's leader since a leftist revolution brought him to power nearly a half-century ago. The presence of U.S. troops on Cuban soil has long rankled Castro, who has often ranted about the "imperialist occupation."

An opportunity to buy emerging-market stocks is likely to surface within a few weeks as nervous investors continue to flee from risky stocks, experts say. But analysts are warning investors not to be too eager to overindulge now. With emerging markets down about 10 percent, analysts say it would not be surprising for the stocks to tumble another 10 percent or 15 percent. Long term, they are confident that emerging markets - developing areas of the world in Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia - will be among the world's most profitable investments.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- President Bush's recent journey to Latin America has been played in the media as an epic struggle of the unpopular American president vs. Hugo Chavez, a charismatic Venezuelan caudillo. The media sometimes forget that Latin America is hardly a homogeneous entity. Mr. Chavez's goal - to become a 21st-century pan-Latin American leader - has faced severe scrutiny from fellow Latin Americans who hold a healthy and historic distrust of leaders claiming to speak for all of them.

BOGOTA, Colombia -- The risky nature of President Bush's trip to this violent country was spelled out on a television monitor aboard Air Force One en route from Uruguay: "Colombia presents THE MOST SIGNIFICANT THREAT ENVIRONMENT of this five country trip!" Listing the terrorist and criminal threats as "High," the message - meant for Bush's security detail but seen by reporters on the plane - underscored the complications Bush is confronting during his weeklong visit to South and Central America.

Sao Paulo, Brazil -- As President Bush flew here on Air Force One yesterday, thousands of protesters shouting "Out Bush!" marched down this city's main drag, Avenida Paulista. "We don't want Bush here," shouted Marcelo Prado, 19, echoing a common sentiment. "Tell him to go home!" Bush was beginning the first leg of a five-country Latin American visit designed to bolster U.S. standing in the region and counter the growing influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The trip is the president's longest to date in Latin America, a region many Bush critics say has been largely ignored as the White House focused on Iraq and the Middle East.