Bush begins five-day visit to Latin America

Bush will join 33 other leaders at a summit.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- President Bush travels today to Latin America in hope of reviving a stalled hemispheric free-trade plan, improving a U.S. image scarred by the Iraq war and setting aside -- at least temporarily -- the problems that have eroded his popularity.
Bush will begin his five-day, three-country tour in Mar del Plata, Argentina, where he'll attend the Summit of the Americas with leaders from 33 other Western Hemisphere countries. Free trade and finding ways to eradicate poverty top the agenda of the two-day meeting.
"The message is one of jobs and democracy and honesty and open government," Bush told a group of foreign journalists this week. "Good foreign policy starts in your neighborhood."
After the summit, Bush heads to Brazil on Saturday to meet with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. On Sunday, he flies to Panama for talks with President Martin Torrijos Espino before returning to Washington on Monday evening.
U.S. presidents normally view overseas travel as a chance to escape domestic political problems, look like a leader to the folks back home and bask in the cozy camaraderie of fellow heads of state. Bush's Latin America tour begins a busy November of foreign travel that will keep him out of Washington for nearly half the month. From Nov. 14 to Nov. 21, Bush will go to Asia, with stops in South Korea, Japan, China and Mongolia.
But if the president is looking for a break from controversies such as the indictment of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and other woes at home, he's going to find a different crop of problems on this trip.