MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Dramatic change of Bush policy towards Latinamerica

United States President George Bush who next Thursday begins an eight days five countries trip to Latinamerica dramatically changed his administration's speech acknowledging that U.S.-backed economic policies and free-trade agreements have failed to lift millions of Latin Americans from poverty

"My message to the workers and peasants (of the region) is that you have a friend in the United States who cares about your difficult situation", said Bush who is scheduled to visit Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico. Addressing the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Bush said that one out of four in Latinamerica live with less than two dollars per day, many children never finish school and most women never get to see a doctor. "In times of growing prosperity and abundance this is a scandal and a challenge". "The fact is that tens of millions of our brothers and sisters to the south have seen little improvement in their daily lives, and this has led some to question the value of democracy" he told members of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "The working poor of Latin America need change, and the United States of America is committed to that change." President Bush has come under attack from opposition Democrats and even Republicans for having neglected Latinamerica during his six years in office which has helped populist leaders such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez to surge and expand his influence in the region. But Chavez who likes to call President Bush "Mr. Danger" will also be on the road this week. He is the main speaker in an anti-Bush rally in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Friday in advance of Bush's stop in neighbouring Uruguay. Actually Bush is scheduled to visit a presidential farm just 60 kilometres away from the Argentine capital. President Bush trip comes as Latin America is emerging from an unprecedented year of elections, with more than a dozen new leaders taking office. Most of the victors are left wing, although most also favour free enterprise and trade relations with the US. In Brazil and Uruguay, he'll meet the kind of moderate leftist leaders that prevail in the region. His second leg of the trip will feature encounters with the presidents of Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico, all of them conservatives and more in line with his thinking. As his former Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, --for the last two years at the head of the World Bank--, Bush talked about social justice, in a clear attempt to join the prevailing policy and feeling in the region. President Bush in his new anti poverty stance went as far as calling for the "completion of the revolution" started by George Washington and the Latinamerican hero Simon Bolivar, the permanent inspiration of President Chavez to justify his socialist "Bolivarian revolution". Bush promised funds for teaching English, to help Hispanics in the US purchase their homes and promised medical aid and support for Latinamerica through the Medic Corps of the US services. He also announced the convening of a conference in the White House on Latinamerica which will bring together "representatives from the private sector, non government organizations, religious groups and voluntary associations". In Brazil, Bush is expected to announce a joint effort to promote the production of ethanol made from sugar cane. An expanded market for the alternative fuel could help economies throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, though some corn-based ethanol producers in the United States worry that the initiative could hurt their business. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a moderate socialist, has emerged as one of Bush's allies in the region. As a sign of their developing relationship, Bush has invited Lula to join him later this month at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. However Bush is not considered a friend of the region. A poll last fall of 20,000 residents in 18 countries found that Bush and Chavez were equally unpopular, with approval ratings of just 39%. Only Fidel Castro fared worse, with 27%. "Unfortunately, in over 40 years of study of the region, I have rarely seen a moment where there is as much mistrust of the United States and as strong a rejection of the U.S. posture in the world," said Arturo Valenzuela, a former Clinton official who heads the Latin America program at Georgetown University. "There's a great deal of anti-American feeling in the region. There's a certain resonance in what Hugo Chavez says about the United States," said Peter Hakim, president of Inter-American Dialogue, an organization that promotes closer hemispheric ties. Although U.S. officials want to provide a counterweight to Chavez, they don't want the trip to become a direct contest between the two leaders. In fact, Bush generally avoids mentioning the Venezuelan leader because of concerns that it would enhance Chavez's stature.