Bush Visits Guatemala

Last week President Bush visited various Latin American countries, including Columbia, Brazil and Guatemala.

Here is what MSM (mainstream media) and the blogosphere say about the trip. Tough crowd. Tough crowd.

• Spring break from the Economist
  Expectations are low as George Bush sets off to a region he has neglected throughout much of his presidency

  Here is a letter to the Editor from the Foreign minister of Guatemala in response to comments madethe above article

  Why Mr Bush paid a call

  SIR – You said that George Bush’s visit to Guatemala was “largely to thank the government for joining America’s ‘coalition of the willing’ in Iraq” (“Spring break”, March 3rd). In fact, Guatemala was the only country in Central America that did not join the “coalition of the willing” in the absence of a UN Security Council resolution sanctioning the use of force in Iraq.

  We would like to think that President Bush’s stop in our country was partly because Guatemala has had such a compelling story to tell since the signing of the 1996 peace accords. While still facing difficult challenges, we have made progress towards becoming a pluralist, democratic society. It is well known that the United States has not always been an objective bystander in domestic events, but I am happy to confirm the point you made that in more recent times our bilateral relationship has been very constructive and mutually respectful.

  Gert Rosenthal
  Foreign minister of Guatemala
  Guatemala City

• Guatemala: Photos from indigenous protest of Bush visit from Boing Boing

  Read the text of the post for some commentary from Allen Sullivan, the photojournalist who snapped the shots.

• Latin America Trip Not Entirely Business as Usual from NPR

Bonus Latin American Story:
Banana profits went to terrorists from Foreign Policy Blog
Banana companies, like Chiquita, have had to pay protection money to terrorist orgs to prevent their employees from being murdered or harassed.