BUSH PICKS ADVISER ON LATIN AMERICA

WASHINGTON - A former ambassador to Venezuela with foreign service
experience in Central America was named by President Bush on Monday to be
his top adviser on Latin America.

John Maisto, 62, a career diplomat, finished a posting as ambassador to
Venezuela last year. Since then Maisto has served as an adviser to the U.S.
military's Southern Command.

Maisto was deputy assistant secretary of state for Central America in
1992-1993. He has been a career foreign service officer since 1968.

The selection of Maisto underscored the need for the Bush administration to
pay special attention to relations with Venezuela, experts said.

"Venezuela is going to be one of the international focal points for the
U.S. over the next few years," said George Vickers, director of the
Washington Office on Latin America, a foreign policy think tank.

"He is a seasoned career diplomat with very good judgment, who has handled
a couple of difficult postings to countries going through crises," Vickers
said.

Bush announced Monday that his first foreign trip will be a visit with
Mexican President Vicente Fox on Feb. 16 at the Fox family ranch, San
Cristobal, north of Mexico City.

"This meeting will be an opportunity to begin the process of achieving
closer ties between the United States and Mexico and expanding areas of
cooperation," said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer. Bush will travel to Canada
in April for a hemispheric summit meeting and will make other trips to
South America in the near future, the White House said.

For the past year, Maisto has been working with Southern Command in Miami,
which is training Colombian army battalions for an offensive against
narco-traffickers who have been protected by leftist guerrillas in southern
Colombia.

Maisto is also experienced with dealing with Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez, the leftist leaning leader of the oil rich nation whose exports of
energy are crucial to the U.S. economy.

Chavez has strained relations with the United States during his two years
as president by increasing ties with Cuba and by visiting Iraq and Libya on
OPEC oil cartel business. He has been critical of U.S. support for
Colombia's battle with cocaine and heroin dealers who are protected by
Marxist guerrillas.

Maisto has a "nuanced understanding of what is going on in Venezuela and
Colombia," said Vickers. "(Maisto) is a good pick for a delicate job at a
critical time."