Bush visits Guatemala; Mayas, trade unions protest

dpa German Press Agency Published: Monday March 12, 2007

Guatemala City- US President George W Bush met Guatemalan
President Oscar Berger on Monday, amid protests from trade unions and
representatives of the Central American country's indigenous Maya
communities.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Guatemala City to
protest the visit, and there was a tight security cordon around the
presidential residence in the historic centre of Guatemala City.

"President Bush is not welcome, and empoverished workers, informal
vendors and the people in general are marching together to the
presidential residence to express our repudiation to the policies
that make us poorer everyday," Jorge Pu, executive secretary of the
General Guatemalan Workers Union (CGTG), told Deutsche Presse-
Agentur dpa.

After visiting Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia as part of a five-
nation Latin American tour, Bush arrived in Guatemala late Sunday.

On Monday he travelled with Berger to the western Chimaltenango
province, where they were not met with protests.

In the town of Santa Cruz Balanya they visited a school, a library
and a church, and in Chirijuyu they toured an agricultural
cooperative.

Both presidents planned to visit the sacred site of Iximche. There
were no protests there, although many Mayas have criticized the US
president's plans and said they intended to "purify" the parts of the
site Bush visits to protect it from his "aggressive spirit."

An official bilateral meeting with Berger in the ancient seat of
government in Guatemala City is planned following those activities.
Bush is expected to discuss security issues and the fight against
drug trafficking and organized crime.

The agenda of Guatemalan authorities is driven by demands for more
humane treatment of Guatemalans living in the United States
illegally. Mass deportations in recent months have caused anger in
the Central American country.

On Sunday, Guatemalan Roman Catholic Cardinal Rodolfo Quezada
Toruno compared Bush to King Herod The Great, who according to the
New Testament ordered the killing of young boys in Bethlehem upon
hearing of the birth of a "King of the Jews" who might challenge his
authority.

The cardinal was referring to a recent operation by US authorities
in a factory in the state of Massachusetts. Some 300 Guatemalan
workers who did not have their papers in order were taken into
custody and face deportation, and as many as 240 children aged two to
eight are missing a parent as a result.

In a prayer for those children, Cardinal Quezada Toruno asked
Guatemalan authorities to intercede with Bush for citizens of the
Central American country who are working illegally in the United
States.

Several thousand people protested against Bush's visit in Colombia
Sunday, and violent clashes led to at least 325 arrests, the
authorities said. The police indicated that 198 of those taken into
custody have already been released.

Many businesses were devastated, although no estimation of the
extent of material damages has been made public so far.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez - an outspoken critic of the
United States, who is currently carrying out his own parallel Latin
American tour - was in Nicaragua Monday.

Chavez, the leader of the fifth-largest oil exporter in the world,
promised to build an oil refinery in the country led by the
Sandinista Daniel Ortega.

On Tuesday, when Bush travels to Mexico for the last leg of his
tour, Chavez is set to visit Haiti, the poorest country in the
region.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency

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