other nation; Marshall Islands
claims Wake Island

Illicit drugs: consumer of cocaine shipped from Colombia through
Mexico and the Caribbean; consumer of heroin, marijuana, and
increasingly methamphetamine from Mexico; consumer of high-quality
Southeast Asian heroin; illicit producer of cannabis, marijuana,
depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, and methamphetamine;
money-laundering center

======================================================================

@Uruguay

Uruguay Introduction

Background: A violent Marxist urban guerrilla movement, the
Tupamaros, launched in the late 1960s, led Uruguay's president to
agree to military control of his administration in 1973. By the end
of the year the rebels had been crushed, but the military continued
to expand its hold throughout the government. Civilian rule was not
restored until 1985. Uruguay's political and labor conditions are
among the freest on the continent.

Uruguay Geography

Location: Southern South America, bordering the South Atlantic
Ocean, between Argentina and Brazil

Geographic coordinates: 33 00 S, 56 00 W

Map references: South America

Area: total: 176,220 sq km

land: 173,620 sq km

water: 2,600 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than the state of Washington

Land boundaries: total: 1,564 km

border countries: Argentina 579 km, Brazil 985 km

Coastline: 660 km

Maritime claims: contiguous zone: 24 NM

continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation

exclusive economic zone: 200 NM

territorial sea: 12 NM

Climate: warm temperate; freezing temperatures almost unknown

Terrain: mostly rolling plains and low hills; fertile coastal lowland

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m

highest point: Cerro Catedral 514 m

Natural resources: arable land, hydropower, minor minerals, fisheries

Land use: arable land: 7%

permanent crops: 0%

permanent pastures: 77%

forests and woodland: 6%

other: 10% (1997 est.)

Irrigated land: 7,700 sq km (1997 est.)

Natural hazards: seasonally high winds (the pampero is a chilly and
occasional violent wind which blows north from the Argentine
pampas), droughts, floods; because of the absence of mountains,
which act as weather barriers, all locations are particularly
vulnerable to rapid changes in weather fronts

Environment - current issues: water pollution from meat
packing/tannery industry; inadequate sol