United States President George W Bush is visiting Latin America from today through Sunday with plenty of rhetoric and good intentions, but virtually empty hands.

Today and tomorrow will be attending the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, a city in northeastern Mexico.

On Saturday he meets in Lima with the leaders of four Andean countries, and on Sunday he will get together with the Central American presidents in El Salvador.

On his first tour of South and Central America ungovernability, or the incapacity to govern society and the national territory, in Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela.

Social unrest

Social unrest is another problem, with Argentina seen as the most outstanding case due to the daily protests that forced president Fernando de la Ra out of office on Dec 20 and led to the resignation of his successor less than two weeks later.

Massive demonstrations have also brought to bay the governments of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador.

The threat of military solutions to political crises is also haunting countries like Venezuela and Argentina, as it did in 1999 and 2000 in Paraguay, Ecuador and Peru.

The economic outlook for Latin America is also dim, and has become even more difficult since Sept 11: the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) reported regional economic growth of just 0.5 percent in 2001, down from 4.1 percent in 2000.

The UN regional agency projects growth of just one percent this year, in an unfavourable international context due to the slowdown of the US, European and Japanese economies.

Some countries in this region, especially Mexico and the nations of Central America, have seen a drop in trade.

Others, like exporters of oil, minerals and tropical flowers, have run into lower prices for their products. Countries like Argentina and Brazil, meanwhile, are suffering financial troubles.

One-third of the 500 million inhabitants of Latin America and the Caribbean are poor, according to the World Bank.

Poverty is growing even in countries characterised by a relatively large middle class, like Argentina, where 15 million of a total population of 36 million have fallen below the poverty line. (IPS)