Big Chief Bad Medicine

The Great White Chief has come to smoke the peace pipe with the native Indians; only it has left a bad taste in their mouths. George Bush's 'winning hearts and minds' tour of Latin America isn't turning out quite the way he had in mind.

It's bad enough that 'mad dog' Chavez has been instigating the local populace. Now, Mayan leaders in Guatemala have announced that priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate "bad spirits" after the Bush visit.

Bush's visit to the ruins at Iximche, a one-time capital of a Mayan group, is part of an effort to demonstrate that his administration is interested in all its neighbors in the hemisphere - impregnable border fences notwithstanding.

But many Mayans are angry that Bush is visiting Iximche, founded as the capital of the Kaqchiqueles kingdom before the Spanish conquest in 1524. They consider it an offence to the Mayan people and their culture that a person like Bush, whom they hold responsible for the persecution of their migrant brothers in the US - and one who has a penchant for provoking wars - is going to walk in their sacred lands.

Juan Tiney, director of a national association of indigenous people and peasant farmers, said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits" after Bush's visit, so that their ancestors could rest in peace. The ritual entails chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles - and maybe burning a Bush effigy or two.

Bush's trip has already has sparked protests elsewhere in Latin America, including protests and clashes with police in Brazil, hours before his arrival. In Bogotá, Colombia, which Bush visits on Sunday, 200 masked students battled 300 riot police with rocks and small homemade explosives. The tour is aimed at challenging a widespread perception that the US has neglected the region; and at combating the rising influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has called Bush "history's greatest killer" and "the devil". Good luck to him - he's going to need it.