In the spotlight

Before Lee Kyung Hae set out to meet his death in Cancún, he visited his wife's grave and mowed his lawn. On September 9th, along with his Korean companions, he carried a symbolic coffin of the World Trade Organization (WTO) along the streets of the "viper's nest" [what the name "Cancún" means in the Mayan language], while delivering his political will and testament. The following day -- Chusok day (the date that commemorates the dead in Korea) -- he climbed the police barricade which separated the multitude from the palatial meeting place of the WTO, addressed the crowd, and plunged a small Swiss Army knife into his chest. He was wearing a sign that said: "The WTO Kills Farmers."

Antes de partir rumbo a su cita con la muerte en Cancún, Lee Kyung Hae visitó la tumba de su esposa y cortó el césped. El 9 de septiembre cargó, junto con sus compañeros coreanos, el ataúd de la OMC por las calles de la ciudad del "nido de las serpientes", mientras repartía su testamento político. Un día después, en Chusok -fecha para celebrar a los difuntos-, trepó la valla que separaba a la multitud de la reunión palaciega, arengó a los presentes y se clavó su pequeña navaja suiza en el pecho. Portaba un letrero que decía: "La OMC mata campesinos".

Sir, Robert Zoellick's commentary, "America will not wait for the won't-do countries" (September 22), is the continuation of the heavy-handed US attitude, which backfired in Cancun and is bound only to aggravate the developing countries' resistance.

Un día después, en Chusok -fecha para celebrar a los difuntos-, trepó la valla que separaba a la multitud de la reunión palaciega, arengó a los presentes y se clavó su pequeña navaja suiza en el pecho. Portaba un letrero que decía: "La OMC mata campesinos".

In February, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez granted Padrón's family, and 300 others, the right to farm more than 7,500 acres of land in the heart of this verdant state southwest of Caracas. There are strings attached, though, including the fact that Padrón can't ever sell the property.