Bush arrives in Peru; police arrest 18

LIMA, Peru, March 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush arrived on Saturday for the first visit to Peru by a sitting American president, shortly after police, on "red alert" following a car bomb in Lima, broke up crowds of demonstrators with tear gas and arrested 18 people. 

Bush and Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, accompanied by their wives who were both dressed in red suits, embraced warmly after the American leader arrived from Monterrey, Mexico, where he attended a U.N. development summit. 

Lima's colonial center, where Bush will spend most of his 17-hour trip, was a no-go area. Sharpshooters stalked rooftops, police in riot gear, on horses and supported by armored vehicles were on the streets, helicopters flew overhead and frigates were off the coast after a car bomb near the U.S. Embassy killed nine people on Wednesday night. The blast revived the specter of leftist rebel violence that plagued Peru in the 1980s and 1990s. 

Peru's government, hailing Bush's visit, had urged demonstrators to stay home, but several dozen still turned out with banners proclaiming "Bush Out of Peru" and "Uncle Sam -- Son of a Bitch." 

"They were throwing stones and shouting against the government, against Bush. It's all under control now," said Juan Sangamas, a member of Peru's riot police. 

In another part of Lima, far from the center, police said they made at least 10 arrests after unidentified people threw three or four homemade petrol bombs from cars. But along the route of his motorcade, supporters were out to greet him. 

"The message that he brings is that the people of Peru should not be subject to terrorism, just like the people of the United States should not be subject to terrorism," U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told reporters aboard Air Force One. 

Bush is leading a global war on terror after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. 

Rice said the president would "be prepared to listen ... to see if there are other things we can do to help ... no population of freedom-loving people should have to face the kind of terrorism that occurred in Peru just a few days ago." 

"Let's hope he's come to do something positive for the people. We're dying of hunger every day in our country," said Betsy Sangama, a 38-year newspaper vendor. Half of Peru's 26 million people scrape by on $1.25 a day or less. 

Peru rolled out the red carpet for its illustrious guest, unfurling a large Stars and Stripes and the red-and-white Peruvian flag at the gates of the presidential palace. 

FREE TRADE, FIGHTING DRUGS 

Bush, who will also hold talks with Colombian President Andres Pastrana, Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga and Ecuador's Vice President Pedro Pinto, said he hoped a free-trade pact to open U.S. markets to certain goods to help these nations fight the drugs trade, could be renewed "as quickly as possible." 

Persuading Congress to renew the Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA) is "the first place we need to help Peru," he said. 

The deal expired last year and renewal is stalled in the Senate. The Andean countries, which produce virtually all the world's cocaine, want new goods like textiles and apparel added. The United States is the world's top drugs consumer. 

The government hailed Bush's visit as a triumph for Peru's new respectability after the repressive 10-year regime of President Alberto Fujimori collapsed in late 2000. 

The illicit drugs trade and Pastrana's Plan Colombia, into which Washington has sunk $1 billion to try and halt drug trafficking in the world's No. 1 cocaine producer, will be high on the agenda. But Bush has said no decision had yet been made on restarting a U.S.-backed drug surveillance program. 

The flights were halted last April after the Peruvian military accidentally shot down an American plane mistaken for drug runners, killing a missionary and her baby on board. 

"We're analyzing not only what took place in the past, but the most effective way to help Peru fight narcotics," Bush said in Monterrey, where he promoted a three-year, $10 billion plan for assistance to developing nations that undertake reforms to root out corruption, open markets and respect human rights. 

"We're insisting on interdiction flights being resumed as soon as possible..." Peruvian Foreign Minister Diego Garcia Sayan told CPN radio, adding that had to happen within weeks. 

The United States is tripling aid to Peru, the world's No. 2 cocaine producer, in 2002 to fight illicit drugs. 

BERENSON ON AGENDA 

A senior U.S. official said Bush would raise the case of Lori Berenson, an American woman serving 20 years for aiding Marxist rebels. "It's on the agenda," the official said. 

We are interested in justice being done. ... And we are interested in U.S. citizens being treated fairly in the justice system of any country," the U.S. official added. 

Berenson, 32, was jailed for life in 1996 by a military judge as a leader of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, Marxists known for a 1996-97 Lima hostage siege. Her conviction was quashed and a civil retrial ordered in 2000. 

The 20-year term for collaboration handed down in that trial was upheld last month on appeal. Berenson, who suffered health problems in harsh Andean jails, says she is innocent. 

Analysts say Bush could also sound out Peru's support for an eventual censure motion on Cuba, under U.S. embargo for four decades, at a U.N. Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva. 

Ahead of Bush's arrival, officials were to sign a deal to let the Peace Corps, a U.S. volunteer organization, return to Peru. It was kicked out in 1975 under a military government. 

Bush leaves Lima early on Sunday and flies to El Salvador. 

 © 1999-2004, PERU TO YOU    This page last updated on April 05, 2009