Sun, Mar 11, 2007 page1

• Bush trying to ignore Chavez's taunts on tour

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  US President George W. Bush is attempting to ignore Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on his Latin American tour, but his effort is being put to the test as the fiery Chavez toughens his anti-US line.

  On a dueling counter-tour that brought Chavez to Argentina, the Venezuelan socialist heaped one invective after another on Bush in a biting, two-hour speech late on Friday before 20,000 supporters at a soccer stadium, talking even as Bush's plane landed in nearby Uruguay.

  "The US president today is a true political cadaver and now he does not even smell of sulfur anymore," Chavez said, alluding to Bush's waning years in office. "What the little gentleman from the North now exudes is the smell of political death and in a very short time he will be converted into cosmic dust and disappear from the stage."

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gives a speech during an ``anti-imperialist'' rally at the 40,000-seat Buenos Aires stadium on Friday.

  PHOTO: AFP

  The Venezuelan president added that he did not come to "sabotage" Bush's visit, saying the timing was a coincidence.

  "This act was organized to say`No!' to the presence of the imperial boss in these heroic lands of our America, in the heroic lands of South America," the Venezuelan president said to raucous cheers. "Gringo go home!"

  Bush himself will talk trade issues with Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez, who came to office in 2005 as the nation's first left-wing leader and has carved out a moderate path.

  They will meet and hold a joint news conference at Anchorena Park, a ranch and national park that serves as the presidential retreat for the country of 3.3 million.

  At a news conference in Sao Paulo on Friday with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Bush declined to respond to Chavez's attacks and declined to mention his name, focusing instead on what he calls a US commitment to fight poverty in the region.

  "This trip is to remind people of the ties that bind us, and the importance of this region for the future of the United States," said Bush, who is trying to overcome a sense of US neglect in Latin America. "And I'm real glad to be here."

  White House spokesman Tony Snow accused reporters of trying to turn Bush's trip into a story about Chavez.

  "He didn't come down here to deal with nations other than the ones he's meeting with," Snow said.

  Asked on the Air Force One flight to Uruguay if Bush intended to ignore Chavez's rally, Snow said: "I don't know if you can ignore it, but it is what it is."

  "Look, the president is going to be concentrating on his meetings with heads of state. He's not going to be talking ..." Snow said, stopping himself before finishing the sentence.

  The Bush administration is looking to bolster its push for bilateral free-trade agreements with Latin American countries and has offered a deal to Uruguay.

  Vazquez has hinted he is interested in it, a position that has angered some countries in the South American trading bloc Mercosur, dominated by Brazil, Argentina and new member Venezuela, and also includes Paraguay.

  Mercosur prohibits bilateral trade pacts, instead calling for the bloc to negotiate as a whole.

  Dan Fisk, South American expert on the White House National Security Council, told reporters Washington realizes Uruguay has obligations under Mercosur.

  "As far as we know and as far as they've signaled, there's no reason we can't talk at any number of levels about how we promote trade and investment," Fisk said.
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