Latin American

A handful of new food trucks are circling Baltimore's streets. We're catching up with them in advance of A Taste of Two Cities , the big June 23 Baltimore vs. D.C. food truck rally. Although Karlita's Latin and American Mobile Cuisine has been on the streets since last September, We're only just heard about it recently, when its operator, Karla Flores rang us up. A native of Honduras, Flores also sells things quesadillas, taquitos, burritos, fried plantains and tacos -- Latin food with an authentic Honduran flair, Flores calls it. A former city employee, Karla Flores left her job in the mayor's office last year to launch.

Surprise turned into joy as Baltimore Catholics celebrated the election of the first Latin American and first Jesuit pope, saying it offered an often-hidebound church a chance for rejuvenation. "One time, John Paul the Great called America, meaning North, Central and South America, the continent of hope," said Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori. "I can only imagine the hopes and the joy that is welling up in the hearts of Hispanic Catholics here in the archdiocese and all over the country.

COZUMEL, Mexico -- The presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela offered yesterday to help Fidel Castro overcome his differences with the United States.But the three oil-producing countries apparently stopped short of offering to open oil sales to Cuba that would break Washington's attempt to isolate the island.A communique issued by the three presidents after the meeting said that they had "offered their good offices" to begin a process of reconciliation between Cuba "and the countries with which it has differences."

The painterly colors are as bright as a tropical sun in some of the artwork in the "Contemporary Latin American Art Exhibition" at the Columbia Art Center. Although the subject matter of all four artists tends to be puzzling, it's easy to enjoy their otherwise baffling imagery. The two most colorful artists in this exhibit curated by Marcel Wah are Jose Acosta and Jacqueline Matute. Acosta's acrylic and mixed media paintings are densely conceived compositions in which humanoid figures, natural references and pure bursts of color hold your attention.

MEXICO CITY -- "The wall" does not yet exist, and it might never be built, but already its 700 miles of fencing and electric sensors loom like a new Berlin Wall in the Latin American imagination. The proposed barrier along the Mexican border was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in December and is scheduled to be debated by the Senate next month. In Spanish, they call it el muro. El muro has been a focus of news for weeks not only in countries such as Mexico and El Salvador that are increasingly dependent on the dollars migrants send home, but also in faraway Argentina and Chile.

The law firm of Shapiro and Olander has opened an office in Washington, D.C., to add to its headquarters in Baltimore and branch office in Annapolis.The office is likely to be a major center for the firm's international trade and commerce practice, and it will have a decidedly Latin American bent, the firm said.The firm recently announced it has hired Luis Guinot Jr., an international specialist and ambassador to Costa Rica under the Bush administration, who will be based in the new office.

Though Pat Gillick has enjoyed a reputation for fair treatment of Latin American players, comments by the Orioles' general manager about Armando Benitez this week rankled Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's liaison to the Latin community.Gillick, trying to explain Benitez's beaning of the New York Yankees' Tino Martinez on Tuesday, attributed it to his Dominican Republic heritage."You have to understand Armando comes from a different culture, a different background," Gillick told The Sun on Wednesday night, after Benitez was suspended for eight games by American League president Gene Budig.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent outreach to leftist Latin American leaders was a wise move at a time many of those political leaders are increasingly resisting Washington's regional policy goals. Ms. Rice's latest remarks indicating the Bush administration's willingness to work with newly elected, left-leaning presidents signals Washington's acceptance of Latin America's changing political dynamics. It also suggests awareness by the administration, after several early stumbles, that trying to isolate popular leaders with political views it opposes is more likely to further weaken U.S. credibility in the region.

MIAMI -- If United Airlines completes the purchase of Pan American World Airways' Latin American routes, it would bring stability to those routes for the first time in years, analysts said yesterday.United agreed late Monday to pay $160 million for the routes. It beat out American Airlines, which flies to many Latin American and Caribbean countries on routes it bought from Eastern Airlines in 1989.Robert Decker, an analyst with Duff & Phelps, said United can collect passengers from around the country to funnel them through Miami in a way Pan Am could not."

VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass - There is a moment in the first movement of Beethoven's great Third Symphony, the Eroica, when a French horn enters on a jarring off-key note. The public gasped when it premiered, but that "wrong horn entry" turned the page from the Classical music era to the Romantic era. The public heard another wrong horn entry last month when the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson's crude complaint about Sen. Barack Obama "talking down to black people" was caught by a live microphone. The dissonance represented not the innovative tones of the vanguard but the bitter notes of a depleted and increasingly irrelevant old guard.

Supposedly, an estimated 10 percent of Americans can trace their ancestry back to the Mayflower. Not surprisingly, former President George W. Bush - son of a president, grandson of a U.S. senator, first offspring produced by the marriage of the blueblooded Bush and Walker families - is a Mayflower descendant. President Barack Obama's roots go almost that deep: He is a descendant of Thomas Blossom, who arrived in Plymouth Colony less than a decade after the Mayflower landed. America's two most recent presidents are distant cousins.

A handful of new food trucks are circling Baltimore's streets. We're catching up with them in advance of A Taste of Two Cities , the big June 23 Baltimore vs. D.C. food truck rally. Although Karlita's Latin and American Mobile Cuisine has been on the streets since last September, We're only just heard about it recently, when its operator, Karla Flores rang us up. A native of Honduras, Flores also sells things quesadillas, taquitos, burritos, fried plantains and tacos -- Latin food with an authentic Honduran flair, Flores calls it. A former city employee, Karla Flores left her job in the mayor's office last year to launch.

For years, Upper Fells Point has been home to a flourishing Latin American scene, with plenty of shops, restaurants and bars. Aside from a few tourist haunts such as Arcos, many of the neighborhood's bars have remained under the radar. That's why, a few weeks ago, several friends and I decided to hit a handful of Latin bars, all within walking distance of each other on or near Broadway. We were going where few outsiders had gone before. Our Latin bar tour showed us a crazy corner of Baltimore's nightlife scene, from servers who barely spoke English to patrons who loved pouring salt into bottled beers.

VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass - There is a moment in the first movement of Beethoven's great Third Symphony, the Eroica, when a French horn enters on a jarring off-key note. The public gasped when it premiered, but that "wrong horn entry" turned the page from the Classical music era to the Romantic era. The public heard another wrong horn entry last month when the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson's crude complaint about Sen. Barack Obama "talking down to black people" was caught by a live microphone. The dissonance represented not the innovative tones of the vanguard but the bitter notes of a depleted and increasingly irrelevant old guard.

As days lengthen and leaves unfurl on the trees, songs of spring are in the air everywhere. Tomorrow, the invigorating music of the new season will be sung in Spanish, as Columbia Pro Cantare presents an unusual and ambitious program Latin American Spring at 8 p.m. in Jim Rouse Theatre. Tomorrow's concert will feature the choral ensemble assisted by soprano April-Joy Gutierrez, mezzo soprano Cyndie Eberhardt, pianist Alison Matuskey, and an ensemble of players of indigenous and classical instruments.

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. -- On a recent afternoon at Fort Lauderdale Stadium, Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada approached his new infield and third base coach, Juan Samuel, and told him about their chance meeting more than 20 years ago. Tejada spoke about how when he was a young boy - "around 7 or 8 years old" - Samuel came to his hometown of Bani, Dominican Republic, with a group of Latin American major league stars to play an exhibition game for...

GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- Nineteen Latin American countries opened their first summit yesterday hoping to persuade Fidel Castro to end his 32-year-old Marxist rule.But in individual meetings with four of his colleagues, the Cuban president gave no hint that he was about to change.In his first public statement here, Mr. Castro said that he welcomed the chance to join Latin American forces but that Cuba "could not submit to political pressures" to change.Mr. Castro warned the assembled leaders against an overreliance on getting help from Western nations.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - President Bush, concentrating yesterday on the fragility of democracies close to home, warned the Organization of American States of menaces lurking over Latin American and Caribbean nations and emphasized the economic and political dividends of free trade. But a U.S. campaign to strengthen the OAS and help it fortify Latin American democracies - and prevent some from collapsing - appeared headed for a setback during the group's conference here. The U.S. wants to create an early-warning mechanism that would help the OAS intervene during a crisis.

Latin American political leaders of late have had short shelf lives as they have been carried into and then unceremoniously chased from office by an impatient, at times undemocratic, electorate no longer willing to tolerate poor living conditions. The list of former presidents given a second chance is short. But more than a decade after leaving office, Oscar Arias Sanchez, former president of Costa Rica, is again the president. The democratic statesman was inaugurated this month, 20 years after first being elected president.

Edgar Prado is being interviewed in the Gulfstream Park jockeys' lounge in Hallandale Park, Fla. In a room filled with jockeys, his conversation is the only one in English. And even Prado occasionally interrupts himself to speak to someone else in Spanish. The flow of language would have people reminding themselves that they were in the United States and not South America. It will be the same in the jockeys' room during Saturday's Preakness Day card. More Preakness Baffert's Point Determined, Bob and John won't run. Pg 5d