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The Bush administration is looking to expand the U.S. role in Colombia's internal conflict, from the fight against drug trafficking, to helping the Colombian government combat a guerrilla insurgency. Opponents of the plan say this will only lead to an escalation of U.S. involvement in a civil war there without solving the country's grave human rights crises. Critics took this message to Capitol Hill recently in a lobbying campaign against U.S. involvement in Colombia.

Amidst the protests against U.S. military aid to Colombia the voice of the U'wa tribe could be heard. A community of around 5,000 has lived for thousands of years in the Andean cloud forests of Northeastern Colombia, but their land has been threatened by the massive oil pipeline built by Occidental Petroleum that carries oil north of their territory. The U'wa Campaign, a support group here in the U.S., says nearly 2 million barrels of crude oil have spilled in nearby lakes and rivers since 1986. Now the Bush administration plans to send $98 millions in a supplemental military aid proposal to train Colombian soldiers to protect the pipeline. Speaking to a rally out side the capitol Roberto Perez, president of the U'wa Traditional Authority, denounced the plan.

Former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson is one of a number of Clinton cabinet level officials who are currently running for elective office. Richardson faces no opposition for the democratic nomination for governor in his native New Mexico, a state that has elected several Latino governors and U.S. senators in its history. Born to a Mexican mother and an American father, the bilingual Bill Richardson at one was considered to be on the short list of potential vice-presidential nominees. Bill Richardson now joins us from station KUNM from Albuquerque.

Recently Cuba's Fidel Castro dropped a diplomatic bomb on Mexico's President Vicente Fox. He broadcast what Fox thought was a private telephone conversation between the two leaders. Castro proved that contrary to Fox's public statements, the Mexican president did in fact pressure Castro to cut short his presence at a United Nations' convention in Monterrey, Mexico in April. At first it appeared that relations between the two long standing allies would be the biggest casualty, but as Latino USA's franc Contreras reports from Mexico City Fox's relations with his own congress may have taken the biggest hit.

In the world of jazz recording, it's rare for an acknowledged master of one instrument to record an entire album of another instrument, but for musician Arturo Sandoval it's his passion for the music that's his gift, whether expressed with his trumpet or on the piano. Trumpeter prodigy Arturo Sandoval was born in Cuba in 1949. Classically trained, Sandoval began playing jazz early in his career and was voted Cuba's best instrumentalist from 1982 to 1984. In1990, Sandoval defected to the United States with the help of his friend and mentor Dizzy Gillespie. This year Sandoval has released 'My Passion for the Piano' a collection of twelve remarkable performances recorded in his home studio, all in one afternoon. Arturo Sandoval joins us today from NPR's New York studio.