Bush sets out to woo neighbours

President Bush was in Brazil on a five-nation tour of Latin America seeking to counter the region's growing anti-Americanism and the populist influence of Venezuela's leader, Hugo Ch vez.

Mr Bush will offer promises of medical care and mortgage help for working families, a shift away from his usual emphasis on free trade.

He will seek to convince many sceptics that the US is committed to its southern neighbours, despite claims that he had ignored the region since the September 11 attacks. "We care," he said this week.

Mr Ch vez has exploited a recent leftward trend in the region, building on accusations that Latin Americans have seen little benefit from free markets and helping to fuel the rise of other leftists, including Bolivia's Evo Morales.

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Mr Bush, referring to the quarter of Latin Americans living on $2 (Å“1) a day or less, told the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington: "In an age of growing prosperity and abundance, this is a scandal - and it's a challenge. The fact is that tens of millions of our brothers and sisters to the south have seen little improvement in their daily lives. And this has led some to question the value of democracy."

Mr Bush arrives with polls showing him deeply unpopular in the region. But the battle for the hearts and minds of Latin Americans - and the fight between the economic populism of Mr Ch vez and free marketeers - has by no means gone entirely the way of the Venezuelan President, who models himself as the postCastro regional strongman.

Brazil and Mexico, two of Mr Bush's stops, are regarded by Washington as crucial counter-weights to the rhetoric of Latin America's populists.

At his first stop, in Sao Paulo, the industrial capital of Brazil, Mr Bush and President Luiz In cio Lula da Silva will launch an initiative aimed at helping Brazil to export its sugar-based ethanol technology to the US.

Although a leftist, Mr da Silva has been willing to embrace market reforms and is no ally of Mr Ch vez. He will visit Mr Bush at Camp David later this month. Mr Bush's meeting with Felipe Calder¢n will be their first since the Mexican President won a narrow victory in December. Mr Calder¢n is a staunch free-marketeer, although tensions over immigration will top their agenda.

In Bogota, the first visit to the Colombian city by a US president since 1982, Mr Bush will reaffirm his support for another US ally, the conservative President Alvaro Uribe, and reiterate his partnership in the war on drugs against the country's cocaine cartels.

Mr Bush will also visit Guatemala and Uruguay, whose president, Tabar‚ V zquez, another moderate leftist, has largely abandoned the fiery populism of Mr Ch vez.

Stephen Hadley, Mr Bush's National Security Adviser, denied that the trip was an antiChavez tour. But Mr Ch vez, who called Mr Bush "the devil" during a UN speech last year, plans to make it look that way. He will lead an antiBush rally in Argentina when the US President arrives in neighbouring Uruguay.

Mr Bush's initiatives are modest compared to the lavish dollar diplomacy employed by Mr Ch vez, who has used Venezuela's oil wealth to win influence.

He has purchased more than $1.5 billion (Å“800 million) in Argentine bonds, brokered arms deals with Iran and helped China to become a leading trading partner in the region. In an interview yesterday, Mr Bush said: "There's a strong protectionist sentiment in America. I strongly resist those temptations."

The Times