Dozens of Venezuelan plantations of cacao (Theobroma cacao) and guanábana, or soursop (Annona muricata), and greenhouse-grown cayenne (Capsicum frutescens) have been hit in recent weeks by a plague of pink hibiscus mealybug (Maconellicoccus hirsutus). This three-millimeter insect, brought to the Americas from Egypt in the early 1990s, ''sucks out the plant sap and injects a toxic saliva that completely dries it out,'' Greys Centeno, expert from the government's agricultural plant health service, explained to Tierramérica.

''To a great extent people are responsible for the propagation of the pest, when they transport plants from one place to another, and if it isn't brought under control we could see our (agricultural) exports affected,'' she said.

In the island nation of Granada, crop losses of more than three million dollars were reported in 1996 and 1997 as a result of the pink hibiscus mealybug, said Centeno.