Bush Tries to Bolster Close Ally Colombia
US President George W. Bush yesterday became the first US president since Ronald Reagan to set foot in Bogota as he tries to bolster his staunchest Latin American ally fighting a decades-old insurgency and drug war.
Bush met conservative President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, one of the biggest recipients of US aid, at the midpoint of a weeklong, five-nation tour shadowed by his leftist nemesis, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Worried about Chavez’s growing anti-US influence, Bush was seeking to shore up relations with leaders of the right and moderate left in Latin America, where the Iraq War and US trade and immigration policy have made him deeply unpopular.
Although Bush has been to Colombia before, he will be the first US chief executive to visit the country’s capital since 1982, a decision meant to highlight security improvements under Uribe, the most US-friendly leader in the region.
But the White House is not so confident that it will let Bush stay there overnight. The national police chief has warned of leftist rebel attacks during his trip, and a massive security effort has been mounted to keep him safe.
He will spend most of his stopover cloistered in Bogota’s Narino Palace, one of Colombia’s most heavily guarded sites.
In Colombia, Bush was expected to focus largely on Uribe’s fight to win Latin America’s oldest guerrilla war and confront the cocaine trade. Bogota has received more than $4 billion in mostly military and anti-narcotics aid from the United States since 2000.
Chavez, the nemesis
The Bogota visit puts Bush next door to Venezuela but Chavez will not be at home. Mounting a rival tour of the region, the fiery populist has hurled insults at Bush at every turn, calling him a hypocrite and an imperialist.
Bush steadfastly refused even to mention Chavez by name during stops in Brazil and Uruguay, where he courted free market-oriented leftist leaders he hopes will counterbalance Chavez and his quest for a regionwide socialist revolution.
Bush has been pushing a softer message of alleviating poverty in a region where the advance of democracy has done little to close the gaping divide between rich and poor.
Reflecting Latin American skepticism over Bush’s transformation, his trip has sparked street protests. His motorcade passed demonstrators wielding banners that read “Bush murderer” and “Bush genocide” on Saturday night in Montevideo.
Agencies
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