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Bush arrives to Brazilian protest
By Lucia Newman, in Buenos Aries, Argentina
Students, environmentalists and leftist Brazilians have taken to the
streets to protest Bush's visit [AFP]
Police have clashed with thousands of Brazilians protesting at a visit
by the US president and his push for an ethanol energy alliance with
the Latin American country.

Riot police used tear gas and batons to disperse more than 6,000
protesters holding a largely peaceful march through Sao Paulo's
financial heart just before George Bush arrived.

In Porto Alegre, more than 500 people chanted "Get out, imperialist!"
as they marched to a Citigroup bank and burned an effigy of the US
president.

Brazil has mounted its biggest ever security operation in Sao Paulo
with about 4,000 officers on hand during Bush's visit.

Ethanol accords

Bush has spoken approvingly of Brazil's ethanol programme, which
powers eight out of every 10 new Brazilian cars.

Discussions between the two countries will aim to build a programme
that will turn ethanol into an internationally traded commodity and to
promote sugarcane-based ethanol production in Central America and the
Caribbean.

Brazil is the world's biggest exporter and consumer of ethanol as an
alternative fuel.

It has been enthusiastic about proposals to join forces with the US
and create a world wide market for ethanol.

But not everyone is optimistic.

Mariana Schwarz, a 25-year-old publicist said: "We know that Bush and
the United States are known for exploiting weaker countries into deals
that will only benefit themselves without worrying about the
environment."

Bush's visit will take in Brazil, Uruguay,
Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico [AFP]
Suzanne Pereira dos Santos, an activist with Brazil's Landless Workers
Movement said: "Bush and the United States go to war to control oil
reserves, and now Bush and his pals are trying to control the
production of ethanol in Brazil. And that has to be stopped,"

Graffiti reading "Get Out, Bush! Assassin!" appeared on walls near the
locations that Bush will drive past as he begins a Latin American tour
that also includes stops in Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico.

Over the last six years, while some argue that Bush has ignored Latin
America, many of the nations in the region turned to Hugo Chavez,
Venezuela's president, for both leadership and money.

Romeo Perez Anton, a political analyst in Uruguay, told Al Jazeera:
"The rhetoric, the proposals of Chavez, have finally opened the eyes
of the United States, and I think this is the explanation for this
diplomatic offensive."

Thomas Shannon, a US assistant secretary of state, said: "The
president's trip to the region gives us a great opportunity to say yet
again how we are engaged in the region, to underscore our commitment
to the region."

'Worst US leader'

Washington has lost its once undisputed economic and political
influence in the region and the trip is intended to dispel feelings
that the US has been neglecting its regional neighbours.

The graffiti reads: "Bush fascist go to hell" [AFP]
Bush has been rated the worst US leader in recent memory in Latin
America.

After talks with Luiz Inacio Luiz da Silva, the Brazilian president,
Bush will head on Friday to Uruguay, where he will meet his
counterpart Tabare Vazquez.

Chavez will travel to Buenos Aires to lead protests against Bush on
Friday. Bush will not visit Argentina.

In Mexico City, which Bush is scheduled to visit on Tuesday, about two
dozen demonstrators gathered in front of the US embassy chanting
slogans against the US project to construct border fences and Bush's
visit.

Roman Diaz Vazquez, a lawyer and protest leader, said: "Why is he
coming here? It makes no sense, it's unreasonable, after all he's
done."

Regional clout

Jose Mujica, Uruguay's minister of agriculture and once a Tupamaro
guerrilla fighter, told Al Jazeera he hoped Bush's overtures towards
Uruguay would give the tiny and often ignored country more clout with
its neighbours.

Mujica hopes US overtures towards Uruguay will
give the country more clout with its neighbours
"We depend ferociously on Brazil and Argentina but they don't depend
on us. Sometimes they need to be reminded that we exist," he said.

Despite concerns over unity in Latin America, if Bush's plan is to
counter the Chavez charm offensive in the region, Washington may have
its work cut out.

Lula Da Silva, Brazil's president, has made it clear that his priority
is unity between Latin American states, which includes, rather than
isolates, Venezuela.

Venceremos · Guest

Priests to Purify Site After Bush Visit

By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, March 8, 2007

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(03-0 Cool

21:20 PST GUATEMALA CITY, (AP) --

Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate
"bad spirits" after President Bush visits next week, an official with
close ties to the group said Thursday.

"That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant
brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going
to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and
their culture," Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental
organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders,
said Thursday.

Bush's seven-day tour of Latin America includes a stopover beginning
late Sunday in Guatemala. On Monday morning he is scheduled to visit
the archaeological site Iximche on the high western plateau in a
region of the Central American country populated mostly by Mayans.

Tiney said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it would
be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits" after Bush's
visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace. He also said the
rites - which entail chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles -
would prepare the site for the third summit of Latin American Indians
March 26-30.

Bush's trip has already has sparked protests elsewhere in Latin
America, including protests and clashes with police in Brazil hours
before his arrival. In Bogota, Colombia, which Bush will visit on
Sunday, 200 masked students battled 300 riot police with rocks and
small homemade explosives.

The tour is aimed at challenging a widespread perception that the
United States has neglected the region and at combatting the rising
influence of Venezuelan leftist President Hugo Chavez, who has called
Bush "history's greatest killer" and "the devil."

Iximche, 30 miles west of the capital of Guatemala City, was founded
as the capital of the Kaqchiqueles kingdom before the Spanish conquest
in 1524.