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Death stalked Betancourt's captivity in Colombia 

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Ingrid Betancourt began each day in captivity at 4 a.m. -- cold and depressed but awake in the dark waiting to hear her mother's words of encouragement over the radio.

She was haunted by thoughts of suicide and fears that she would be killed. . . .

Betancourt took up smoking while captive. She would use her cigarettes to trade for scarce essentials such as a slither of soap or medicine for her stomach ailments.

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• Stricter smoking ban takes effect in Colombia 

A ban on smoking in all public places went into effect on Sunday in Colombia, announced the Colombian government.

The ban applies to all public places, such as public transport vehicles, hospitals, kindergartens and schools, said the Ministry of Social Security and Health, which issued the ban on May 31, the21st World No Tobacco Day.

The ban also extends non-smoking area to bars, clubs, restaurants, business centers and airports, said the ministry.

Under the ban, "smoking areas" will no longer be seen in enclosed public places and all cigarettes sold within the country should carry the warning "smoking is harmful to your health" on their packages.

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In Colombia, a War Zone Reclaims Its Past  

The jumping-off point for Tayrona is the coastal city of Santa Marta, Colombia’s oldest town, founded by the Spanish in 1525 and best known as the place where Simón Bolívar, the Latin American liberator, died. . . .

Santa Marta is worth a night’s stopover, if only for a visit to a piece of hallowed ground: Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino, the butterscotch yellow hacienda where Bolívar, desperately ill with tuberculosis, died on Dec. 17, 1830. The hacienda — a modest adobe villa set around an ocher-tiled courtyard — still has the canopied wooden bed where Bolívar drew his last breaths. Across the courtyard is the smoking chamber where Bolívar’s host and others retired for cigars so as not to torment Bolívar’s deteriorating lungs.

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• Smoke Signals in Cali 

Synopsis in English: Here's a snapshot of just how bad tobacco dependence is in some parts of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Late last week the Municipal Secretary of Health for Colombia's second largest city, Cali (pop. 2.2 million), released the results of a recent study on risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases . . . The study found that (1) the average age overall for starting smoking is seven, although there are some males that begin even earlier; (2) 53.7% of Cali men have smoked at some point in their life, while only 24.5% of Cali women have; (3) the prevalence of smoking differs by gender, 7.5% for women, 24.9% for men; (4) tobacco consumption prevalence increases with age up until you hit the 30-44 age bracket — from 13.3% for those under 24 years old to 24.2% for the 24-30 bracket — then falls to under 15% for those 45 and older.

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UPDATE: Philip Morris Offers $4.8 Mln For Coltabaco Stake ($$) 

Philip Morris International's Dutch unit, GWP CV, offered to pay 11.3 billion Colombian pesos ($4.8 million) to buy the remaining shares it doesn't already own in Colombia's largest tobacco firm, Compania de Tabaco SA (COLTABACO.BO), the stock regulator said Thursday in a filing.

Coltabaco will become fully owned by GWP CV upon completion of the planned purchase.

GWP CV seeks to purchase 1.604% of Coltabaco or 1,019,014 outstanding shares through a public tender offer, the company said Wednesday in a filing to the country's financial regulator.

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• Philip Morris Unit Offers $4.8M For 1.6% Coltabaco Stake ($$) 

Philip Morris International's Dutch unit, GWP CV, offered to pay 11.3 billion Colombian pesos ($4.8 million) to buy the shares it doesn't already own in Colombia's largest tobacco firm, Compania de Tabaco SA (COLTABACO.BO), the stock regulator said Thursday in a filing.

GWP CV seeks to purchase 1.604% of Coltabaco or 1,019,014 outstanding shares through a public tender offer, the company had said Wednesday in a filing to the country's financial regulator.

GWP CV offered to pay COP11,100 a share, the price the stock closed the last time it traded on April 24.

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Cuba in the Keys 

Cuba's first major revolt against Spanish rule sparked the Ten Years' War in 1868. Thousands of refugees fled across the Straits of Florida to Key West.

At the same time, tariffs and labor strife plagued Cuba's cigar industry, spurring manufacturers and workers to immigrate to the key as well.

By 1890, they were making 100 million cigars a year in Key West.

Many of their homes still stand, from the gingerbread-trimmed "Gato Jr. House" on Duval Street (now the Southernmost Point Guest House) to the cigar rollers' humble cottages still dotting many streets as private homes or small businesses.

The Gato name, given to homes and a neighborhood called Gatoville, came from Eduardo Hidalgo-Gato, the first Cuban-born cigar maker in Key West. He and other manufacturers built workers' quarters close to their factories.

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• Reynolds, BAT Win Second Dismissal of Cigarette Smuggling Case 

An appeals court for a second time dismissed lawsuits that accused Reynolds American Inc. and British American Tobacco Plc of smuggling cigarettes to avoid paying taxes and customs duties.

The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in New York rejected separate lawsuits by the European Union and by 25 departments of the nation of Colombia, which are equivalent to U.S. states. The European Union sued R.J. Reynolds, a unit of Reynolds American. The Colombian suit names British American, the world's second-largest cigarette maker.

The court first dismissed the suits last year, only to have the U.S. Supreme Court ask it reconsider. Today, the appeals court again cited the so-called revenue rule, a U.S. legal principle that bars suits by foreign governments seeking to collect unpaid taxes.

``When a foreign nation appears as a plaintiff in our courts seeking enforcement of its revenue laws, the judiciary risks being drawn into issues and disputes of foreign relations policy that are assigned to -- and better handled by -- the political branches of government,'' the court wrote.

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When a foreign nation appears as a plaintiff in our courts seeking enforcement of its revenue laws, the judiciary risks being drawn into issues and disputes of foreign relations policy that are assigned to -- and better handled by -- the political branches of government.
2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in New York, in rejecting separate lawsuits by the European Union and by 25 departments of the nation of Colombia which accused B&W and RJR of smuggling cigarettes.

• Cigarette Smuggling Case Is Dismissed Again 

An appeals court for a second time dismissed lawsuits that accused Reynolds American Inc. and British American Tobacco of smuggling cigarettes to avoid taxes and customs duties.

The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in New York rejected separate lawsuits by the European Union and by 25 departments of Colombia . . . .

The court first dismissed the suits last year, only to have the U.S. Supreme Court ask it to reconsider. The appeals court again cited the revenue rule, a U.S. legal principle that bars suits by foreign governments seeking to collect unpaid taxes.

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Gobernadores descartan arreglo directo con Philip Morris y British American Tobacco [Governors discard direct adjustment with Philip Morris and British American Tobacco] 

The agent chief executives trust gaining demand who have against the tobacco multinationals in one cut of E.U. by contraband and washing of assets.

Thus it was established at the end of a meeting in which the minister of the Interior, Sabas Pretelt, and the presidential advisor participated to 22 agent chief executives yesterday and Juan Lozano in Bogota. In the meeting also a representative of the mayor of Bogota was present, Luis Eduardo Garzón.

In agreement with the president of the National Federation of Departments, Rodrigo Villalba, so far is discarded a direct adjustment to arrive at a conciliation with the companies.

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• EDITORIAL: The Dark Side of the Marlboro World 

[Translated from Spanish by Suzanne Lazarus]

A fundamental failure of the U.S. Supreme Court of Justice opened the doors last week for the Colombian departments and the National Government to try in American courts the damages caused by three multinational cigarette manufacturers: Philip Morris, RJR Nabisco and British American Tobacco, for promoting or tolerating for many years the smuggling of their cigarettes into Colombia and for evading taxes on these cigarettes.

The court's decision is the latest episode in a trial which was begun by departments of the American justice system in 2000, to which the National Government was later added to bring charges for the laundering of assets. The basis of this was the argument that smuggling is a mechanism used by some drug traffickers to launder illegal funds. Due to a set of partial reversals in lower courts--even though the battle has not been won--the court's decision raises the hopes that the Colombian claims will be effective. . . .

In the meantime, this will send a critical message to the multinationals that they must compete honestly and, above all, take special care in avoiding criminal conduct. . . .

It is intolerable that cigarettes are distributed as gifts to youth in shopping centers, bars and restaurants to get them hooked on the vice. Moreover, it is inexplicable that the country has not signed and ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control or created legislation to prohibit and sanction the sale to and use by minors. . . .

Total annual consumption is 21 billion cigarettes, and the effect on public health is enormous: in just this last year, cigarettes killed 25,000 people. For this reason, the State should act without delay to stop this.

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Philip Morris Seeks 100% of Colombia's Coltabaco Shares 

ip Morris International's Dutch unit, GWP CV, said it's prepared to acquire the shares it doesn't already own in Colombia's largest tobacco firm, Compania Colombiana de Tabaco (COLTABACO.BO).

GWP CV acquired 96.7% of Coltabaco for $299.62 million on April 25 after a public tender offer. It purchased 61,414,222 shares of the 63,539,967 outstanding shares.

In a letter sent to the local securities superintendency late Monday, GWP CV said it will maintain its price of $4.8788 per share that shareholders received in the original tender offer. The company will purchase the remaining shares from Tuesday until May 27.

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• R.J. Reynolds Faces New U.S. Hearing in EU Case 

The U.S. Supreme Court breathed new life Monday into a European Union lawsuit that accuses R.J. Reynolds Co. of smuggling cigarettes to avoid paying potentially billions of dollars in taxes, fees and customs duties.

The justices, citing their decision last week in a case raising similar issues, on Monday told a federal appeals court to revisit its conclusion that U.S. judges lack jurisdiction to consider the EU claims.

The justices also told the lower court to reconsider a related bid by 25 Colombian departments, equivalent to U.S. states, to sue units of British American Tobacco and other cigarette makers.

R.J. Reynolds spokesman Seth Moskowitz said the appeals court "should uphold its prior conclusion because that conclusion is consistent with the reasoning the Supreme Court used in the case it cites." . . .

The Colombian complaint says tobacco companies, particularly BAT and its former Brown & Williamson unit, ran a similar system to sneak cigarettes into that country. BAT last year sold Brown & Williamson to Reynolds American Inc., the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based parent of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco.

In throwing out the EU and Colombian lawsuits, the New York-based U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals pointed to the so-called revenue rule

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Multinational tobacco company Philip Morris, the new owner of Coltabaco, will continue the brand Pielroja 

The American company payed 700 million pesos for one of the signature Antioquia companies which will now produce Marlboros. . . .

The Public Offer of the Acquisition of Shares (Oferta Pública de Adquisición de Acciones (OPA)), which was scheduled to last two hours, started exactly at eight in the morning, but by 8:30, 96 percent of the company had already been sold, the majority of whose shareholders were of the Antioqueño Business Group (Grupo Empresarial Antioqueño). . . .

Therefore, the first thing that the Colombian manager of Philip Morris, Luc Gerard, wanted to do after completing the purchase of 96.65% of Coltabaco on the part of this American multinational, wasn't exactly to light up a Marlboro, because he doesn't like smoking.

His most fervent wish was to take a plane to Medellín where just yesterday he assumed control over one of the signature companies of Antioquia, and to taste a local dish with his colleagues to celebrate the closing of the deal of the year in Colombia.

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• Philip Morris International Inc. Announces Successful Public Tender Offer for Coltabaco S.A. 

GWP C.V., an affiliate of Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI), acquired 96.65% of the outstanding shares of Compania Colombiana de Tabaco S.A. ("COLTABACO") in a Public Tender Offer completed today.

The price offered per share was COP 11,398.13 (US $4.878817). GWP has purchased 96.65% for a value of COP 700.007 billion (US $299.6 million). The offer valued 100% of Coltabaco shares at COP 724.237 billion (US $310 million).

"Our investment in COLTABACO is a great opportunity to significantly expand our business in Colombia and in Latin America," said Andre Calantzopoulos, President and Chief Executive Officer of PMI.

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