Bush tries to bolster close US ally Colombia

Montevideo, Mar 11: George W Bush today will become 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.

President Bush will meet 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, Mr Bush is 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 the US president 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 Mr 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.

''The president looks forward to meeting President Uribe to demonstrate US support for Colombia,'' said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.

Next Door To Chavez's Venezuela:

The Bogota visit puts Mr 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 president Bush at every turn, calling him a hypocrite and an imperialist.

Mr Bush steadfastly refused even to mention Mr 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.

''I've come to South America and Central America to advance a positive, constructive diplomacy ... on behalf of the American people,'' Mr Bush said in Uruguay yesterday.

President 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 Mr Bush's transformation, his trip has sparked street protests.

Mr Chavez, spending a second day in Bolivia and heading for Nicaragua today night when Bush goes to neighboring Guatemala, blames US policies for the deepening poverty.

In Colombia, Mr Bush is 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 dollars in mostly military and anti-narcotics aid from the United States since 2000.

Since taking office in 2002, Uribe has sent troops to repel the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the largest rebel group, and disarm illegal rightist paramilitaries.

Violence has dropped sharply, but the rebels are still a potent force, mainly in rural areas. Colombia also remains the world's largest cocaine producer, with the United States its biggest market for consumption.

The US president is also expected to try to reassure Uribe about a free-trade agreement signed last year. Democrats who now control the US Congress have demanded changes.

After Colombia, Mr Bush travels to Guatemala and Mexico. Like Colombia, they are governed by the right, in contrast to a recent leftward trend in Latin America.

Reuters

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