2005 was a bumper year for Latin American oil production. According to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy, in 2005 oil production reached 10.7 million barrels per day, a new record. This number, however, betrays a troubling fact: Production of conventional oil peaked in 1998 and any future production increases will have to come from either the Venezuelan tarsands or the deepwaters off Brazil and Mexico. This according to the latest report of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO). Conventional oil excludes bitumen, extra-heavy oil, heavy oil, deepwater oil, polar oil, and liquids from gas plants.

It has been a tough Fall for the Gaithersburg day laborers.

Two factors are conspiring against their livelihood. The first, and more important, is economic in nature.

The “Fallout Shelter” signs at either end of the room told that long ago someone foresaw a different use for it. But one Saturday in March, the big basement of Our Lady of Pompey Catholic Church in the Highlandtown neighborhood of Baltimore turned into a workroom where about 80 people waited for a volunteer who was helping them get driver's licenses.

Last year Latin American and Caribbean migrant workers sent back about $53 billion to their countries in remittances coming mostly from the United States and Western Europe, according to a survey released by the Inter-American Development Bank.

Very early Thursday two weeks ago, two dozen men waited in the parking lot of Grace Methodist Church in Gaithersburg, Md. They were not supposed to be there and felt uneasy.

Three years ago, across the parking lot from the church, there was a health center that served people who only spoke Spanish. When it closed, several men who had gotten used to waiting there in the morning to find work kept coming.

A Gaithersburg congregation has taken the lead in efforts to help the city’s day laborers.

At 6:30 a.m. on a chilly morning last week, Esther, a member of Camino de Vida Methodist congregation, arrived at the kitchen of Grace Church with six loaves of Food Lion King sandwich bread and price club brand sliced, extra-lean ham.

At 5 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday, dozens of Spanish-speaking immigrants gather inside the cafeteria of St. Bernard’s Catholic Church in Riverdale, Md., to learn if someone who is in the United States illegally can get a driver’s license.

As Western Hemisphere energy resources become increasingly scarce, competition for access is bound to create geopolitical tension. The latest example of this trend is the overture made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez towards Mercosur, the free trade area made up of Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina.

Peru concluded a free trade agreement with the United States Wednesday while the chances of a wider agreement with other Andean countries dwindled as talks stalled.

Ecuador reentered world capital markets this week after a long absence following its 1999 default by issuing $650 million worth of sovereign bonds. The government of Venezuela had been expected to buy a substantial amount of the issue but ended up acquiring only a small portion.