From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

In Iraq, more evidence of growing disorder, and what about Latin America?

Hello again, I'm a manalny, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International,

a daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

In Baghdad today, what may be the largest mass kidnapping since the U.S. invasion, 150 people abducted from a government agency.

Meantime, the U.N. reports that 100,000 refugees are fleeing the country every month.

Who are they? Where are they going?

Also today, Latin America, a low priority

for the U.S. since the Reagan administration. Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega has been re-elected,

president of Nicaragua. Does he represent the growth of leftist anti-Americanism? Is the school

for the Americas the right way for the U.S. to re-engage with its neighbors south of the border.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation.

Hello again, Warmin Ali, back with To the Point.

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is more critical of the U.S. than Osama bin Laden.

Now Ronald Reagan's old nemesis, Daniel Ortega, has regained power in Nicaragua.

Today we'll talk about the left south of the border,

and we'll hear the difference between carnivorous and vegetarian leftists. Also onto the point,

100,000 Iraqis are fleeing the country every month. What does that mean for local stability?

First, this news update in Baghdad today, between 100 and 150 men were kidnapped from four floors of the

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

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