Bush and Chavez on rival tours in bid to win Latin American hearts and minds

It is unlikely that either will have anything particularly pleasant to say about the other. Despite their symbiotic relationship based on fossil fuel - Venezuela is the fourth largest supplier of oil to the US - Mr Bush and Mr Chavez are engaged in a battle for influence in Latin America. For once it is the US that is running second, with a predominance of countries in the region headed by left-wing leaders.

For decades Washington wielded influence through bodies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and through direct or indirect military intervention when it saw fit. But in recent years the power of the IMF in the region has waned. In that vacuum, Mr Chavez, bolstered by soaring oil incomes, has stepped in and offered countries an alternative source of funding and credit.

Mr Bush's trip, which started in Brazil and which, in addition to Uruguay, will include stops in Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia, is part of an effort to wrest back some degree of initiative in a region the US has long considered its backyard, but where its actions have often had deadly consequences.

As The Washington Post noted, the trip also gives Mr Bush some welcome respite from the domestic political turmoil back home. In a direct challenge to his authority, Democrats in the House of Representatives unveiled legislation yesterday that will require the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq by late 2008. Congress has also been holding hearings into the mistreatment of wounded soldiers and the dismissals of several prosecutors.

A federal jury has also just convicted the former White House aide Lewis Libby of perjury and obstruction of justice in a case linked to US justification for the Iraq invasion.

"I think Bush is going partly to show that he has not forgotten Latin America," said Mark Weisbrot, director of the Washington-based Centre for Economic and Policy Research. "It's to show he still has allies in countries such as Mexico and Guatemala and that he has allies within governments and inside business."

Mr Weisbrot said that while Mr Chavez and Mr Bush may consider each other rivals, he did not believe their battle could be seen in Cold War terms. Unlike the loans of the IMF, he said, Venezuela's loans to countries in the region did not come with policy attachments. "He believes in developing economic integration and gaining more independence from Washington, but Chavez has not sought to influence other countries' policies," he said.

More
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2341359.ece