BUSH'S VISIT MAY BOOST PERU'S LEADER

President Is To Arrive Today; A Scarcity Of Jobs Has Eroded Toledo's Ratings.

LIMA, Peru -- President George W. Bush's visit to Peru couldn't come at a
better time for embattled President Alejandro Toledo.

After just eight months in office, Toledo's approval ratings have tumbled
to below 30 percent as unions and grass-roots groups stage near-daily
street protests against his government and the lack of jobs.

The panorama darkened considerably Wednesday night when a car bomb killed
nine people in an outdoor shopping mall across from the U.S. Embassy - the
worst terrorist attack here in five years. The tragedy heightened already
brewing fears that the brutal Shining Path rebel movement was plotting a
comeback.

Toledo on Thursday outlined eight measures to fight terrorism, including
plans to rebuild the state intelligence apparatus, double the Interior
Ministry's anti-terrorism budget and offer $1 million for information
leading to the masterminds of Wednesday's attack.

"We will not allow a return to violence," Toledo told Congress in a
nationally televised speech.

Earlier, Bush said the bombing would not alter his travel plans, and in
interviews with the Peruvian media this week called Peru an important
"friend and ally" of the United States.

With Bush slated to arrive in Lima this afternoon, authorities here moved
to buttress security throughout the capital. During his overnight visit,
the U.S. president will have a one-on-one meeting with Toledo and a
discussion with leaders from Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador.

The whirlwind trip will be Bush's first as president to South America, a
distinction that has many pessimistic Peruvians asking: Why Peru?

"Because Peru has gone through a historic transition. It has peacefully
recovered its democracy," U.S. Ambassador John Hamilton answered recently.

"Peru stands out in South America today for that achievement," he said. "It
merits a visit - an endorsement - from my country."

Just two years ago, a U.S. president wouldn't have come near Lima.

Alberto Fujimori was running for a constitutionally dubious third term as
president. He won in rigged elections, but his 10-year iron grip on power
would soon unravel.

A corruption scandal involving his powerful spy chief felled Fujimori's
government in November 2000, sending the disgraced leader into self-exile
in his parents' native Japan. An eight-month transition government took
over and Toledo won in clean elections last June.

For years, U.S. policy makers balanced a delicate agenda with Fujimori's
government.

Peru was a key ally in the war on drugs during the 1990s. The government's
coca eradication program turned Peru from the world's leading producer of
the raw material of cocaine into a much smaller player.

But the drug victory - and the quashing of the Shining Path guerrillas -
came with a price. Peru garnered one of the worst human rights records in
Latin America. Corruption and Fujimori's growing authoritarianism deeply
eroded the country's institutions, from the courts to the military.

Bush's visit is expected to shine a welcome spotlight on reform efforts by
Toledo's government as it works to keep Peru's newly reborn democracy afloat.

Strikes have become commonplace, with people pressing for Toledo to deliver
on his main campaign promise - jobs. But the economy has not helped, edging
out of a four-year slump far too slowly for the half of Peru's 26 million
people who live in poverty.

"We want our friends to succeed," Bush told Radioprogramas radio station
this week. "A strong Peru, a healthy Peru, is good for the United States."

Amid the excitement over the visit of "Presidente Bush," Foreign Minister
Diego Garcia-Sayan has tried to deflate any "out-of- proportion"
expectations Peruvians may hold.

"The arrival of President Bush is not the arrival of the Three Wise Men or
Santa Claus," he said.

Still, Bush comes bearing some gifts and important intentions.

The United States announced recently that it will triple its anti-drug
funding to Peru. The aid will back Peru's efforts to stem a possible
resurgence in its coca production and the recent appearance of heroin poppy
crops in remote highland areas.

Bush also has pledged to push a trade bill through Congress that would
grant preferential tariff treatment to imports from Peru, Colombia, Bolivia
and Ecuador - which together produce most of the world's cocaine.

Trade and democracy have dominated the sound bites ahead of Bush's visit,
although some in Peru see the trip also fitting into the U.S.
administration's post-Sept. 11 agenda.

"Why is he coming? It's simple," former Foreign Minister Luis Gonzalez
said. "Because the United States has pushed for the globalization of the
war against terrorism."