Indeed, in the nearly five months since political prisoners were released under the sweeping amnesty, there have been no new arrests of political critics.

Despite the lack of details, the president's guidelines clearly do not constitute a sweeping amnesty, as some anti-immigrant groups are labeling it.

Guatemala's sweeping amnesty, or "law of National Reconciliation," is the capstone of the arduous three-year negotiation to put an end to a brutal 36-year civil war.

The government dropped a condition that the opposition first had to go along with a sweeping amnesty for the security forces, one that would have covered Mr. Montesinos.

The government of Argentina, which has imposed a sweeping amnesty protecting the junta's soldiers from prosecution, argued against the extradition of Mr. Cavallo.

Cuba will release 2,900 prisoners for humanitarian reasons in a sweeping amnesty, ahead of a visit next spring by Pope Benedict XVI.

El Salvador is debating a sweeping unilateral amnesty for its armed forces.

El Salvador is debating a sweeping amnesty that would pardon 82 imprisoned soldiers, among them five Guardsmen convicted in the 1980 killing of four American church workers.

As a condition for clearing the way for the elections, the government had been insisting on a sweeping amnesty for members of the security forces.

Many Latin American governments have granted their cold warriors sweeping amnesties, seeking to induce a kind of national amnesia.