BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – Dan Rather and Oprah Winfrey wanted interviews. An outspoken congresswoman wanted a security escort in the flooded city. Cuba’s dictator offered medical help; Venezuela’s president wanted to chat with the governor.

As looters and Hurricane Katrina floodwaters ravaged New Orleans, Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s top aides were inundated with requests from around the world, from celebrities, dignitaries and people whose relatives were trapped in the city, according to documents released Friday.

Blanco staffers also sought to boost her image and debunk rumors about rampant violence, the correspondence shows.

“FYI, the shooting of looters in Jefferson Parish is still unconfirmed,” said an e-mail message from a state police lieutenant to Bob Mann, Blanco’s communications director, four days after the storm struck.

The contents of Mann’s e-mail inbox from Aug. 23 through Sept. 6 – hundreds of messages each day – make up part of the estimated 100,000 pages of documents Blanco’s office sent this week to two congressional committees investigating government failures in preparing for and responding to Katrina.

-Associated Press