MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Rev. Moon-allied group hosts Bush brother in Paraguay

Neil Bush, talks to journalists in Asuncion

Neil Bush, younger brother of U.S. President George W. Bush, called on Paraguay's president as the guest of a business federation founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.

A presidential press office source, who spoke on condition of not being named, confirmed the younger Bush met President Nicanor Duarte on Thursday along with a delegation from the Universal Peace Federation, a group associated with Moon. Duarte himself had no statement on the meeting. Antonio Betancourt, a spokesman for the federation, said that Bush visited Duarte and later met with an opposition congressional leader, Sen. Miguel Abdon Saguier, and that both expressed interest in the Bush family and discussed local matters. Betancourt said Bush later attended a leadership seminar sponsored by the federation. The federation's Web site says it is trying to promote peace in the Middle East, South Asia and other regions, as well as proposing an 50-mile, $200 billion tunnel linking Siberia and Alaska. A leading Paraguayan newspaper, ABC Color, reported Friday that Bush spoke at the leadership seminar about instilling a "culture of service" and better uniting individuals and organizations behind objectives that serve peace and the common good. It said the seminar, held at an Asuncion hotel, was entitled "Toward a New Paradigm of Leadership and Government in Times of World Crisis." The newspaper said other participants included Jose Maria Sanguinetti, the former Uruguayan president. Groups allied with Moon publish a newspaper, operate businesses and have large land holdings in Paraguay, South America's second-poorest country.(AP)