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BOGOTA - President George W. Bush's made a quick visit to Colombia today to show support for his closest South American ally as it fights a decades-old insurgency and drugs war with the help of billions of dollars in US aid.
Bush was the first US president to travel to Bogota in 25 years and his meeting with President Alvaro Uribe was the midpoint of a five-nation Latin America tour shadowed by his leftist nemesis, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Worried about Chavez's growing anti-US influence, Bush is seeking to improve relations with leaders of the right and moderate left in Latin America, where the Iraq war and US trade and immigration policy have made him deeply unpopular.
The seven-hour visit came as Uribe fends off a scandal after the arrest of eight lawmaker allies charged with ties to illegal paramilitaries who are accused of atrocities during the darker days of Latin America's oldest guerrilla war.
"This is a show of support President Uribe and Colombia deserve, a show of our interest and our confidence," US ambassador to Bogota William Wood told reporters.
But the White House was not confident enough to let Bush stay overnight. The national police chief has said guerrillas planned attacks during his trip, and more than 20,000 troops and police were deployed to keep him safe.
As Bush's armor-plated limousine sped through the city, hundreds of protesters burned US flags and smashed windows at stores, banks and restaurants during clashes with riot police who responded with tear gas and water cannons.
Bush's convoy was greeted by military honor troops on horseback and wearing gleaming gold helmets at Narino presidential palace, where he was to spend most of his stopover cloistered with Uribe.
More aid and trade
Bogota has received more than US$4 billion in mostly military and anti-narcotics funds from Washington since 2000 and is one of the biggest recipients of US aid outside the Middle East.
But worried about the scandal over militia ties and human rights, some US Democrats are now questioning a White House request for US$3.9 billion in new aid and want more guarantees before approving a US trade deal signed with Colombia.
The Bogota visit puts Bush next door to Venezuela but Chavez will not be home. Mounting a rival tour of the region, the fiery populist has hurled insults at Bush at every turn.
Bush steadfastly refused even to mention Chavez by name during stops in Brazil and Uruguay, where he courted free market-oriented leftist leaders he hopes will counterbalance Chavez and his quest for a regionwide socialist revolution.
"He doesn't dare to say my name. Several journalists have asked him this week 'what do you think of what President Chavez says?' and he doesn't answer ... His heart starts racing, he gets tongue-tied," Chavez said in Bolivia's poor El Alto city.
Since taking office in 2002, Uribe has sent troops to drive back the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's largest rebel group, and disarm more than 31,000 rightist paramilitaries in a peace deal.
Violence has dropped sharply, but the rebels are still a potent force, mainly in rural areas. Colombia also remains the world's largest cocaine producer, with the United States its biggest market for the 600 metric tons a year it produces.
The two leaders will also discuss three US contract workers kidnapped by the FARC in 2003 when their aircraft crashed in southern jungles while on a drug mission. The three men are among hundreds of hostages held by the guerrillas.
- REUTERS
