Students hold up their hands painted red during a demonstration against the visit by U.S. President George W. Bush, in Sao Paulo yesterday. Bush is on the first leg of a week-long tour of Latin America. - ReutersSAO PAULO (Reuters):
United States President George W. Bush and his left-wing nemesis Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez embarked on duelling tours of Latin America yesterday as they stepped up competition for the region's hearts and minds.
Their ideological rivalry heated up as Bush visited Brazil to reach out to Latin America's moderate left and Chavez responded with a trip to Argentina where he said the U.S. leader deserved the "gold medal for hypocrisy."
Bush is seeking to overcome a sense of U.S. neglect in Latin America where opposition to the Iraq war has also damaged his administration's standing and given Chavez a chance to rail against what he calls American "imperialism."
Effigy burned
About 200 Brazilian demonstrators, mostly students, burned an effigy of Bush and chanted "Bush, chief of terrorism, we don't want you in Latin America" near the hotel where he was staying. Troops and police stopped them from getting closer.
On the first leg of a five-nation tour, Bush met Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a leftist ally Washington sees as a potential counterweight to Chavez, and the two announced an ethanol fuel development plan for the Americas.
Bush's "ethanol diplomacy" plus new aid pledges are seen as an attempt to offset Chavez's use of Venezuela's oil wealth to court a new generation of Latin American leftist leaders in his quest for a regionwide socialist revolution.
