The world at a glance . . . Americas

Ottawa

Voters unite on Facebook: Canadian liberals have launched an unusual “vote swap” on the social networking website Facebook, in a bid to oust the Conservative Party from power in next month’s parliamentary elections. Here’s how the scheme is meant to work: A supporter of the leftist New Democratic Party whose candidate has little chance of winning in his district, say, could pledge to vote for the centrist Liberal candidate instead, in exchange for a Liberal supporter agreeing to vote NDP in a district where the NDP has the best chance. The point is to maximize the chances for beating the Conservative candidate in the district and oust Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The Canadian election board has determined that the tactic is not illegal, as long as nobody offers money or goods in exchange for votes. The Facebook group, called Anti-Harper Vote Swap Canada, amassed more than 7,000 members in just two weeks.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

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Turning toward Chavez: Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said this week that he was forced to orient his country toward Venezuela after the U.S. ignored his pleas for aid. Zelaya said rising food prices have been hurting impoverished Hondurans for months. “Allies, friends, did not help me when I asked for help,” Zelaya said, so “I sought out Hugo Chavez.” Chavez, the Venezuelan leader, has offered Honduras $300 million a year in agricultural investment and other aid. In August, Honduras joined the Bolivarian Alternative, a trade bloc led by Venezuela that includes Bolivia and Cuba. Earlier this month Zelaya delayed the accreditation of the new U.S. ambassador for a week, to show “solidarity with Bolivia,” he said, “because the U.S. meddles in that country’s affairs.”

Caracas, Venezuela

Monitors kicked out: President Hugo Chavez kicked a top Human Rights Watch official out of Venezuela last week after the group issued a critical report. “We were forcibly expelled from the country as if we were criminals,” said José Miguel Vivanco, the group’s Americas director. Just hours after presenting a report charging that the leftist Chavez persecuted his political enemies, Vivanco and his team were arrested and bundled onto the first flight out. Chavez called Vivanco, a Chilean citizen, “one of those characters who go around the world doing the dirty work the U.S. empire orders.” Vivanco said Chavez’s reaction to his group’s findings was “a confirmation of exactly the points that we raised in the report.”

Medellín, Colombia

General linked to death squads: Colombia’s top general is under investigation for allegedly collaborating with paramilitary death squads, The Washington Post reported this week. In an inquiry launched by state prosecutors, four former paramilitary commanders have testified that Gen. Mario Montoya helped arm death squads to fight FARC rebels. The allegations, if proved, could be highly damaging to the government of President Álvaro Uribe, a strong ally of the Bush administration. “These allegations should be thoroughly investigated,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees funds for the Colombian army, “to assure that the chief of the Colombian army—an institution that receives hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid each year—is of unimpeachable integrity.”