21.   But Colombians in the United States illegally may be afraid to report the missing, an embassy official said.

22.   But embassy officials said they did not have time in their one-day schedule to meet bomb victims.

23.   But he said embassy officials have visited Williams monthly and raised the issue of his detention with Ecuadoran officials.

24.   But embassy officials felt that delivery of the list had shifted all responsibility onto Mexican authorities, where it belonged.

25.   But FBI investigators and embassy officials now say they doubt that story.

26.   But privately, embassy officials were dismissive about the accusations of uncouth behavior.

27.   But the city supervisor, who has worked in the tunnels for years, said the embassy officials were mistaken on that point.

28.   But the embassy official said that classified cables never left the embassy.

29.   But when the police asked embassy officials to return Saturday, four children asked to leave with the diplomats, police officials said.

30.   Chile will sign a free trade pact with Canada within days, and expects to negotiate another one with Peru immediately thereafter, a Chilean embassy official said.