Peru and Mexico's Michoacán in Forbes magazine top 10 culture capitals

1. If it's culture you're after, Peru and Mexico's state of Michoacán are listed in Forbes magazine as two of the top 10 destinations.

"Known both for its textiles and folk art as well as ancient structures and biodiversity, the OECD says Peru classifies 93% of its tourists as cultural tourists," says Lauren Sherman.

On the subject of the state of Michoacán in southern Mexico, Sherman writes:

"Architecture and natural wonders may attract a tourist, but they won't keep him in one place for very long. That's why the southern Mexican state of Michoacán has moved past its rich cultural and natural heritage -- including archaeological sites, Hispanic architecture, volcanoes and beaches -- diversifying with local celebrations, festivals and museums in hopes of keeping visitors busy (and spending)."

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Internet use grows in Latin America

More affordable computers and an expanding broadband network are two of the factors helping to push Internet use in Latin America, according to a survey conducted by Pyramid Research for Google.

The Miami Herald reports that the recent expansion of Internet users in Latin America has been dramatic.

In 2007, for example, Colombia added 5.4 million Internet users, or about 12% of its population of 45 million -- an 80% increase in the number of Colombia's Internet users that year.

Brazil added 7.4 million Internet users in 2007 (17% growth), Mexico more than 2.2 million (an 11% increase) and Venezuela 1.58 million (38% growth).

Read the full report through the link above.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Bush, Asia-Pacific leaders vow action on economy

Patrick J. McDonnell reports:

President Bush and other world leaders vowed Sunday to act "quickly and decisively" to battle the global economic crisis as the 21-member APEC summit predicted worldwide recovery in 18 months.

But the final declaration from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum was short on specifics, beyond a vow by participating members to avoid pressures to implement "protectionist" measures, such as import restrictions.

"We are convinced that we can overcome this crisis in a period of 18 months," the leaders said in a forecast added to a statement originally issued Saturday.

The 18-month timeline reportedly was inserted at the insistence of Peruvian President Alan Garcia, who hosted the three-day session of Pacific Rim countries that account for about half of the world's economic output. "We are going to defeat this crisis," he vowed.

Asked about the 18-month prediction, Daniel Price, a White House economic advisor who was at the summit, told reporters that Bush "believes that the actions we are taking now will begin to produce results in the much nearer term, in the coming months," adding: "The president shares the confidence that we will be able to get through this crisis."

But several participants, including Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, described the 18-month timeline as more of a goal than a prediction.

Read more of "Bush, Asia-Pacific leaders vow action on economy" here.

Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photo: President Bush, on his final scheduled foreign trip, greets Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso as Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders gather in Peruvian ponchos for a photo op at the Lima summit. Credit: Martin Bernetti / AFP/Getty Images

Peru: Man with 36 grenades held

In the L.A. Times' World Briefing:

Peruvian police arrested a man with 36 grenades in his backpack, days before 21 heads of state and government are to meet in Lima for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

The arrest of Edwin Valladolid, 31, comes as suspected holdouts of the Maoist Shining Path rebel group, which led a bloody rebellion until its leaders were captured in the 1990s, have launched a series of attacks in recent weeks.

On Sunday, the group shot dead three police officers and wounded a fourth in the Ayacucho region, about 350 miles southeast of Lima.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Iran's Latin America push

John Kiriakou, now in the private sector, served as a CIA counter-terrorism official from 1998 to 2004. Today, he writes in Los Angeles Times Opinion about how he thinks Iran is making major diplomatic inroads into Latin America, right under Washington's nose.

It's amazing, really. Iran, after all, is regarded by most of the world as an outlaw country. Sanctions are in place on much of its military-industrial complex, and international loan guarantees are virtually impossible to come by. The Iranian economy is in tatters. Even while $100-plus oil was enriching most producers in the region, Iran's low-tech, outdated industry was barely profiting. In fact, 6% of the country's gasoline is imported.

Nevertheless, over the last year, Iran has worked diligently to expand relations with a host of Latin American countries, most of which have populist leaders who harbor a strong distrust of the United States and are looking for a powerful friend to help them rebuff Washington's influence.

Read the rest of "Iran's Latin America push" here.

— Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Peruvian presidential cabinet resigns en masse

When Alan Garcia was elected president of Peru in 2006, it was regarded as one of the biggest comebacks ever in South American politics. Garcia's previous presidential tenure, from 1985 to 1990, had been scarred by economic chaos (inflation hit an incredible 7,600 percent) and the government's inability to keep its violent conflict with the Maoist Shining Path guerrilla movement from deteriorating into a virtual civil war.

Garcia took office two years ago vowing to be a steadier leader than in the past. But, as the L.A. Times' Patrick McDonnell reports, Garcia was forced to accept the resignation of his entire Cabinet on Friday "amid a sweeping bribery scandal that has rocked the government of a major U.S. ally."

Equally worrisome are signs of resurgent violence. "As the corruption case was unfolding, authorities also said Friday that an attack by leftist rebels on a rural military convoy killed at least 14 soldiers and civilians, the deadliest such strike in years."

-- Reed Johnson in Los Angeles

Photo: Alberto Quimper, a former executive with the state oil company, is escorted by police in Lima, Peru. Credit: Associated Press

Brazil's Lula takes center stage in Latin America

Chris Kraul and Patrick J. Mcdonnell report from São Paulo on the growing popularity of Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

"Buoyed by a robust economy and his ability to work with leaders across the ideological spectrum, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has emerged as the chief power broker and mediator in South America.

"Lula's rise has paralleled the decline of U.S. influence in its 'backyard,' analysts say, a result in part of Washington's plummeting global prestige and the Bush administration's unremitting focus on the Middle East.

"A moderate with an unassailable leftist background, Lula has become the point man for healing regional crises such as the current turmoil in Bolivia and the recent escalation of tensions among Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador."

Click here for more about Brazil.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photo: Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, second from the right, with Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, Bolivia's Evo Morales and Ecuador's Rafael Correa at the meeting in which they talked about regional integration in Manaus, Brazil. Credit: Antonio Lacerda / European Pressphoto Agency

Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva criticizes U.S. over financial crisis

As his popularity has surged and his nation's booming economy has lifted thousands from poverty, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has largely refrained from the angry criticism of the United States that can be heard nearly any day from other South American leaders.

Not this time, reports Joshua Partlow for the Washington Post.

Last week, Lula told the U.N. General Assembly that the "boundless greed" of a few should not be shouldered by all, and on Monday, he said emerging economies had done their best to have "good fiscal policy" and "can't be turned into victims of the casino erected by the American economy."

"This crisis belongs to the American bankers, to the European bankers. It doesn't belong to the Brazilian bankers," Lula said Monday. "It's not fair for Latin American, African and Asian countries to pay for the irresponsibility of sectors of the American financial system."

Earlier this week, Chris Kraul reported from Ecuador on why Latin America should worry about the economic crisis in the United States.

Read the rest of the report from the Washington Post here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Latin America has reasons to worry about U.S. financial crisis

After being lectured for 20 years about the superiority of the free market, officials in Latin America see no small irony in the effort to bail out the U.S. banking system, writes Chris Kraul from Ecuador.

Latin America has several reasons to worry about the U.S. economic meltdown. Ecuador, for instance, fears the possible loss of duty-free export markets for its coffee, fish and flowers.

People here are also worried the crisis will cut into the $2 billion in annual remittances sent home by Ecuadoreans living in the U.S., and wonder whether the nation's use of the dollar as the national currency, a move made in 2000 to curb inflation, still makes sense.

But there is an undercurrent of schadenfreude when it comes to America's pain. Commentator Boaventura de Sousa Santos scolded the United States for its "ironhanded evangelizing" that free markets, privatization and deregulation were innately more virtuous than "corrupt and efficient" state-run economies.

"Millions were thrown into unemployment, lost their land and labor rights and had to emigrate," the Portuguese-born Santos wrote in an article widely distributed over the Internet.

Read more about how the United States woes are also Latin America's problems.

Click here for more on business.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photo: Stock traders negotiate at the Mercantile & Futures Exchange in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last week. Credit: Mauricio Lima / AFP / Getty Images

Southern California's dual citizens see little conflict

Salvador Gomez Gochez was 25 when he first came to Los Angeles with $3 in his pocket and painful memories of his Salvadoran homeland torn apart by repression and war, reports Teresa Watanabe.

Working his way up from a parking lot attendant to a manager, he learned English, bought a home, volunteered for a Salvadoran community organization and became a U.S. citizen, grateful to the country he says saved his life.

But Gomez Gochez, now 54, also retained his Salvadoran citizenship. Now, as a dual citizen, he has made the dramatic decision to return to his impoverished hometown in El Salvador and run for mayor after nearly three decades away. His hope: to revive his town's agricultural base with his U.S. contacts and empower the villagers with U.S. practices of participatory democracy.

As international business, travel and communications explode, a growing number of nations are allowing dual citizenship, and more immigrants are claiming it. Some, like Gomez Gochez, aim to use their bilingual and bicultural experiences to infuse their homelands with U.S. values and strengthen bonds between both countries.

But the trend is also stirring some unease.

Read more about Americans with dual citizenship here.

Image: Mario Fuentes poses at outside of Trinity Episcopal Church that hosts his L.A.-based community organization. Fuentes, an immigrant from El Salvador, is a middle-class homeowner, fluent English speaker and labor and community organizer. Credit: Los Angeles Times