BUSH'S TRIP INTENDED TO BOOST U.S. INFLUENCE IN LATIN AMERICA

WASHINGTON -- President Bush visits Latin America this week to focus on
controlling immigration, combating drugs and expanding trade, issues that
have been redefined since Sept. 11.

The brisk four-day, three-country tour, which begins today, aims to
reassert U.S. leadership in a hemisphere that is eager to get back on the
president's radar. The largely symbolic excursion will reunite Bush with
Mexican President Vicente Fox and showcase the fledgling democracies of
Peru and El Salvador.

It could serve Bush well politically at home, where he has made a point of
courting Hispanic voters.

But he will travel relatively empty-handed. The Senate has yet to act on an
Andean trade agreement and on legislation that would tighten border
security and provide extended stays to thousands of undocumented
immigrants, both key initiatives aimed at Latin America.

Still, administration officials and foreign diplomats say, Bush's meetings
could set the stage for significant breakthroughs on crucial regional
issues such as immigration, commerce and narco-terrorism.

But three days before Bush's arrival in Peru, a car bomb outside the U.S.
Embassy in Lima killed at least six people and injured 30 others.