BUSH OFFERS BORDER SECURITY PLAN FOR U.S.-MEXICO

EL PASO, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites), embarking on
a four-day swing through Latin America, stopped at the U.S.-Mexican border
on Thursday to announce a security plan to speed traffic and goods across
the world's busiest border and "weed out" terrorists.

In this dusty, sun-parched town, Bush went to a U.S. Customs cargo
inspection facility at the "Bridge of the Americas" crossing to watch a
truck being inspected by an X-ray machine to determine its contents -- an
example of how cross-border traffic can be inspected quickly.

"We want the legal commerce, the people who travel back and forth on a
daily basis, the brothers and sisters on both sides of the border, the
relatives that have been coming back and forth for years to be able to do
so in an efficient and easy way," Bush told a rally at the El Paso airport.

On the other hand, he said, "We want to use our technology to make sure
that we weed out those who we don't want in our country, the terrorists,
the coyotes, the smugglers, those who prey on innocent life."

"Coyotes" is the slang word for those who smuggle undocumented aliens
across the border.

U.S. officials see the 2,000-mile (3,200-km) border with Mexico, the
world's busiest, as a weak link in homeland defenses because of the heavy
flow of illegal drugs and immigrants.

Bush got an up-close look at the turbulent nature of the border. Wearing a
Customs hat, he went inside a tour bus seized by Customs agents because it
had secret compartments containing 1,500 pounds of cocaine and a large
cache of marijuana.

PERU TRIP STILL ON

He also watched a sniffer dog go over a tanker truck and was shown by
agents a hand sensor and small hammer used to measure the density of a
vehicle in the search for secret compartments.

The border crossing itself was jammed with cars, as a large Mexican flag
waved in the breeze.

Bush, who is on his way to Mexico, Peru and El Salvador, said he would go
ahead with his 17-hour visit to the Peruvian capital Lima despite a car
bomb outside the U.S. embassy on Wednesday night that killed nine people.
He is to arrive there on Saturday.

"You bet, I'm going," Bush told reporters before he left the White House.
"I'm sure (Peruvian) President (Alejandro) Toledo will do everything he can
to make Lima safe for our trip."

U.S. intelligence agencies suspect the leftist Shining Path guerrilla group
was responsible.

Bush was flying to Monterrey, Mexico, later to attend a U.N. development
conference. He is due to hold a joint meeting with Mexican President
Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien shortly after
arriving and is expected to thank them for their support in the war on
terrorism.

With hundreds of military personnel from nearby Fort Bliss among the crowd
at El Paso airport, Bush used tough rhetoric to repeat his vow to stop
terrorists, citing a suicide bombing in Israel and the car bomb in Peru as
examples.

"Now, this is a dangerous world. Too many people are losing their lives to
murderers. History has called us into action. We cannot let the terrorists
take over freedom-loving societies, and we will not," he said to cheers.

'SMART CARDS' AT BORDERS?

Bush said $5 billion out of a $27 billion emergency funding request he
proposed to Congress would be spent on airport and border security to keep
out those who might try to launch attacks like those on Sept. 11.

The White House said plans to speed legal traffic among NAFTA partners
include introducing "smart cards" for trusted cross-border commuters and
inspecting and sealing cargo at the point of origin so it does not need to
be inspected.

The United States and Canada have already agreed to tighten security by
developing permanent resident cards and a joint immigration database.

U.S. officials fear the 5,500-mile (8,900-km) border with Canada could also
be exploited by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, accused of
masterminding the attacks on America.

The task is monumental: screening would-be attackers without slowing down
the roughly 500 million people, 11.2 million trucks and 2.2 million rail
cars that cross into the country each year.

In Monterrey, Bush planned to promote his three-year, $10 billion promise
to boost aid to poor countries in the face of criticism that Washington's
foreign aid spending was too little. Grants would be restricted to
countries that root out corruption

Bush was expected to tell leaders increased aid could help ease the despair
that fuels Islamic militancy.

On Sunday, Bush will discuss trade and migration with leaders of Central
American countries -- Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua and Panama -- in San Salvador before returning to Washington.