Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s office at the Planalto Palace was opened to the public for the first time ever last Sunday. Following the grand opening and trading on the chance of taking a look at the presidential desk, some 400 people swung by Lula’s office in the first four hours alone.

During former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s administration, visitors were only allowed to see the unrestricted areas of the government’s headquarters –designed by famed architect Oscar Niemeyer- but the presidential desk had never been part of the tour.

Within the framework of the FITUR 2003 International Fair in Madrid, Peruvian vice president Raul Diaz Canseco urged Spanish airline Iberia to notch up its weekly flights to Lima from seven to ten and in return one of Peru’s air carriers could fly all the way to Spain.

“We’re losing over 2,000 tourists every week due to the lack flight seats,” Mr. Canseco pointed out.

The Peruvian Vice President believes he’ll have a formal reply to his proposal of increasing the number of weekly flights between Peru and Spain in a span of time no longer than 70 days.

The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) appointed John JohnRose as the entity’s new press director. Mass media people can now log onto CTO’s intranet homepage and register on the MEDIA GROUPS section to download press releases and other relevant information.

Only 10 out of the 35 Latin American and Caribbean nations have laid out action plans of their own to cope with the ever-growing trade of child sex, a report issued by an international organization asserts.

The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has appointed Johnson JohnRose as Communications Officer. A press release containing all of the details can be found below and an image of Mr. JohnRose is attached (as a JPEG). Members of the Media are encouraged to log-on to CTO´s intranet at www.onecaribbean.org and register in the MEDIA GROUPS section of the site to have access to newsletters, press releases, etc.

LanChile Airlines informed its decision not to defray any regular commissions nor rewards to travel agencies for every plane ticket or document arranged for inside the United States. The retaliatory action comes on the heels of similar measures taken by other air carriers.