BUSH LATIN TOUR ENDS WITH SOME RELATIONS MORE STRAINED THAN BEFORE

by Diego Cevallos

(IPS) MEXICO CITY -- On his tour through Latin America, President Bush made many high-sounding promises on energy and migration issues, a few limited offers of assistance in health care and education -- and left 420 protesters under arrest.

His seven-day tour, which took him to Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico, ended Wednesday in Merida, on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, where Bush reiterated his appreciation and respect for Latin America, a region to which he had never before dedicated so much time.

On his last stop, in Mexico, the country of origin or descent of 28 million people living in the United States, the U.S. leader pledged to "work as hard as I possibly can to pass comprehensive immigration reform."

In October he signed a law ordering the construction of 1,226 kilometres of a new wall along the border between the two countries.

In Brazil, a world leader in biofuels, he promised to move forward on a joint plan to expand the use of ethanol to reduce consumption of fossil fuels.

But Mexican political scientist Eugenio Lugo told IPS that although these two issues, ethanol and migration, received the greatest attention during Bush's tour, it is too soon to predict whether or not the U.S. leader's promises will bear fruit.

The visit to Uruguay basically boiled down to an exchange of mutual praise and promises between Bush and his host, socialist President Tabare Vazquez, on questions of trade and migration.

In Colombia something similar occurred, but the U.S. anti-drug and counterinsurgency program may be hurt by the ongoing scandal in which governing legislators have been arrested for collusion with right-wing paramilitary groups responsible for atrocities committed in Colombia's decades-long civil war.

In Guatemala, commitments were made towards planning joint efforts to crack down on youth gangs and drug trafficking.

Observers have written volumes on Bush's Latin America tour, which has come half-way through his second term, at a point when opinion polls show that his popularity both at home and in Latin America is at an all-time low.

Most analysts saw Bush's tour as an attempt to counteract the influence in the region of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who seemed to see the visit in a similar light.

On Tuesday, Chavez said he dealt Bush a "knockout" blow with his own simultaneous tour in the region, which took him to Argentina, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Haiti.

According to Venezuela's leftist leader, Bush's presence in Latin America was an "insult" to the region.

"Above and beyond the flood of statements and declarations read and heard over the last few days, Bush's tour left very few results, great diplomatic fanfare, analyses of all kinds, and the inevitable protests. But as with everything, time will tell as to the lasting impact," said Lugo.

Several sources reported that the U.S president's tour was hastily planned early this year, which left little time to draw up a more in-depth agenda.

"What triggered the decision for the trip was Chavez. Not because of his growing political and economic influence in the region, which is nothing new, but because of his role as a gateway for the entry of extra-regional actors in Latin America," Rosendo Fraga, director of the New Majority Studies Center, a think tank in Argentina, told IPS.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's January visit to Venezuela, Ecuador and Nicaragua and the trip that members of his delegation made to Bolivia "showed that Iran's influence through Venezuela is becoming a strategic factor," said Fraga.

The analyst noted that Chavez has announced the purchase of air defense missiles from Russia, the same kind that Iran bought in December. In addition, Venezuela plans to purchase new submarines, probably from Russia as well.

The Venezuelan leader "has begun to be a strategic problem on the global, and not just the regional, level, which is why Bush came to Latin America," said the analyst.

Another effect of the U.S. leader's tour was the 420 people arrested and 35 injured in anti-Bush protests. The largest number of demonstrators arrested, around 350, was in Colombia, where the most violent clashes took place between police and protesters.

Prior to Bush's visit, his administration designed a package of offers for Latin America, which are the only ones that have actually been budgeted.

Through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), Washington will disburse $385 million to finance housing in Central America, Brazil, Chile and Mexico.

A $75 million fund will also be created to promote English-language instruction for young people in Latin America, and to provide study opportunities in the United States.

In addition, a Navy medical ship, the USNS Comfort, will be touring the region to carry out 1,500 surgical operations, attend 85,000 patients, and offer dental care.