This article pisses me off on so many levels, I can't begin to talk about it: BUSH SHIFTS FOCUS TO LATIN AMERICA

Bush shifts focus to Latin America With democracy slipping throughout the hemisphere, he will tout freedom and free trade as nations meet in Fla.

By Ron Hutcheson
Inquirer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - President Bush shifts his attention to Latin America today amid growing concerns about democracy's future in the region.

After high hopes were generated by the fall of military dictatorships in Central and South America in the 1980s, some countries appear to be slipping backwards. Others are struggling to build democratic institutions in societies plagued by political instability, chronic poverty and rampant corruption.

The issue will be hanging over Bush's trip today to a meeting of the Organization of American States in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The President's critics say Bush has overlooked problems in his own backyard while focusing on Iraq and the war against terrorism.

"Democracy, in the final analysis, has to deliver well-being and jobs and social progress for the population," said Carl Cira, director of the Summit of the Americas Center at Florida International University in Miami-Dade County. "To the extent that persistent misery is their lot, democracy is hollow."

"I think the outlook is pretty grim in most of the region," Cira said. "You have population growth. You have significant, persistent levels of poverty. And you have economies that are not producing jobs. All of those things together befuddle governments."

Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House, an organization that tracks civil liberties and press freedoms around the world, said Latin America was suffering "a steady erosion" of freedom after impressive gains following the demise of military dictatorships.

White House officials said Bush would use the visit with Latin American leaders to promote both democracy and free trade. His speech to the OAS comes as the Senate prepares to debate a proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement, a major step toward Bush's goal of a free-trade zone for the entire hemisphere.

But some analysts question whether that's enough.

"We really need to do some harder thinking with our Latin American democratic allies about how we can reduce poverty in the region," said Larry Diamond, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank at Stanford University. "It's not enough to say free trade is the answer."

In some South American countries, frustration with the slow pace of reform has encouraged a type of mob rule that seeks change through street protests rather than the ballot box.

In Bolivia last week, violent demonstrations shut down Congress and fed speculation that President Carlos Mesa would be forced to step down. Mesa himself moved up to the presidency in 2003 after protests forced Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada to resign.

In Ecuador, street protests in April prompted President Lucio Gutierrez to flee the country, following two other recent Ecuadoran leaders who were forced out.

In Central America, Guatemala and Honduras continue to suffer human-rights abuses and political violence nearly 20 years after they shifted power from military to civilian leaders.

In Venezuela, leftist President Hugo Chavez has consolidated power while exploiting political divisions and anti-American sentiment in his oil-producing nation. After leading an unsuccessful military coup in 1992, Chavez was elected president in 1998 and survived a coup attempt four years later.

Since then he has stacked the judicial system with his allies and taken steps to muzzle opposition journalists and human-rights advocates. Even so, Chavez seems to be hugely popular with impoverished Venezuelans who believe they finally have a defender in high office.

Venezuela is of particular concern at the White House because of Chavez's attempts to spread his socialistic ideas throughout the region. Venezuela's oil reserves give the mercurial leader added leverage.

"He is a meddler. The difference between him and [Cuba's Fidel] Castro is that he's got a load of cash behind him," said Cira of Florida International University. "He is an abuser of democracy, using his popularity and his ostensibly legitimate reelection to take over, in illegitimate ways, most of the organs of the state."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Friday that Bush would urge Latin American leaders to strengthen democratic institutions.

"We cannot take democracy in our hemisphere for granted," McClellan said. "Elections and democratic rule is only the beginning. Successful democracies are built on free institutions that guarantee transparency and rule of law and accountability."

Bush would like for the OAS to rein in Chavez and other Latin leaders who stray from democracy, but that idea has little appeal in a region that traditionally is deeply suspicious of U.S. motives. Freedom House's Windsor said the love-hate relationship between the United States and its southern neighbors had taken a turn for the worse.

"Clearly there's a lot of hostility toward the Bush administration and President Bush himself," she said. "I think he's become the flash point for latent anti-Americanism."