Latin America news and views round-up -- April 10

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Our Washington bureau writes this morning that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (pictured) moved to undo a timetable yesterday that would have forced the House to vote on the controversial free-trade pact with Colombia that President Bush is seeking.

‘Between the new demands placed on Bush by the speaker, and the daggers tossed from each end of Pennsylvania Avenue, prospects for passage grew even less likely,’ writes James Gerstenzang.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has asked the federal government to review its immigration enforcement priorities, warning that work-site raids on ‘non-exploitative’ businesses could have ‘severe and lasting effects’ on the local economy, writes Anna Gorman in Los Angeles.

And finally, this Los Angeles Times op-ed by Pat Morrison takes a lighthearted look at ethnic political campaigning, remembering when President Bush made remarks in Spanish that the then Mexican President Vicente Fox rated as ‘grade school.’

Deborah Bonello in Mexico City