[Marxism] Bush to meet with Bachelet during her US visit -- a way to press hard line, or a move by Rice to lessen tensions? Got me.

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

June 08, 2006



Bush to Meet With Chile's New Leader

By GEORGE GEDDA
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) -

Meetings at the White House and Capitol Hill highlight a visit by
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, a leftist who is nonetheless widely
admired here as a pro-democracy stalwart.

After a luncheon meeting with President Bush on Thursday, Bachelet
planned to make the rounds of Capitol Hill for discussions with
Republican and Democratic leaders and other lawmakers. A speech at the
Organization of American States also was scheduled.

In contrast to some of its South American neighbors in the Andes, Chile
is a model of democratic stability and prosperity.

Bachelet, while espousing socialistic policies, believes in free markets
and free trade. U.S.-Chile trade has boomed since a bilateral free trade
agreement took effect in January 2004.

As a measure of the high regard in which she is held here, Bush extended
the invitation for the Chilean leader to visit almost immediately after
her inauguration in March.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said repeatedly that the United
States can work with Latin American governments with leftist
orientations so long as they remain faithful to democratic standards.

As examples, she cites Chile and Brazil. Less serene are U.S. relations
with Venezuela, which is seen here as increasingly authoritarian.

Bachelet's rise to the top was not easy. She endured torture during
Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship a generation ago. En route to
the presidency, she also had to overcome the biases of Chile's
conservative, male-dominated culture. She is a separated mother of
three.

Bachelet planned to pay respects on Thursday to the memory of Orlando
Letelier, an exiled former Chilean foreign minister who was assassinated
on a Washington street in 1976 by agents of Chile's military government.
He was an outspoken opponent of the army general then in power in
Santiago.

On regional politics, Bachelet has staked out a softer line toward
Venezuela's pro-Cuban government than has the Bush administration.

She invited Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to her inauguration in
March. She has not taken a stand on Venezuela's candidacy for a U.N.
Security Council seat assigned to the Latin America-Caribbean region and
which is being vacated at the end of the year.

The Bush administration has been strongly urging Chile and other
governments of the region to support Guatemala's bid for the seat.

Another point of disagreement is Chile's support of the International
Criminal Court. It rejects U.S. appeals that Chile agree to grant U.S.
soldiers and other citizens immunity from ICC prosecution for any crimes
committed on Chilean soil.



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