President pushing U.S. compassion Monday in Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala — Smiling Guatemalan children warmly greeted President Bush with cries of "Hola!" and gave first lady Laura Bush lilies Monday as the president worked to burnish the U.S. image in Latin America.

Guatemala's President Oscar Berger and his wife took the Bushes to nearby Santa Cruz Balanya, a town of about 10,000 mostly indigenous Guatemalans to stress the need for social justice and equality.

Bush visited the site of a U.S. military medical readiness and training exercise team, which bring military doctors from both nations to provide medical, dental, surgical and optometrical services for underserved rural areas. Afterward, the Bushes went to the town square, where they listened to a marimba band in front of a yellow church.

There, they walked along the edge of a cheering crowd of about 500 people, shaking hands to greetings of "Hola!" The crowd also cheered Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Frame-by-frame, the images of Bush's visit to Guatemala are depicting sharp contrasts, with the leader of the richest nation reaching out to the impoverished.

Undeterred by protests that have dogged Bush at every stop on his five-nation Latin American trip, Bush is working to convince Guatemalans that the United States is a compassionate nation. It's the same message he delivered earlier at stops in Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia.

"It's very important for the people of South America and Central America to know that the United States cares deeply about the human condition, and that much of our aid is aimed at helping people realize their God-given potential," Bush said Sunday in Bogota, Colombia.

His goodwill tour also serves as a counterweight to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who has been doing his own tour of Latin America. On Sunday in Bolivia, Chavez called for a socialist counterattack against the American "empire." Chavez has been pumping his nation's oil profits into social programs across the region to further the leftward political shift he's leading in the United States' backyard.

Using his own Marine One helicopter, Bush will fly around this mountainous country, about the size of Tennessee, for a series of events meant to show that strong democratic reforms can improve the lives of Guatemalans.

He'll tour Labradores Mayas, a thriving vegetable packing station in Chirijuyu that has received $350,000 in U.S. assistance since 2003 and is taking advantage of eased trade restrictions under the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement.