Protesters backing and opposing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez jostled outside Venezuela's embassy in Chile last night as leaders from the Latin world arrived at a summit.
The leftist Chavez, a strident antagonist of Washington who has used his country's oil wealth to spread influence in Latin America, has supporters among some Chilean leftists, but others declared him an unwelcome guest ahead of his expected arrival.
Tight energy supplies threatening Latin America's economic boom will likely dominate the summit of leaders. Portugal, Spain and Andorra are also attending.
While countries including Venezuela and Bolivia have large oil and natural gas supplies, others like Argentina, Brazil and Chile need more power to fuel industrial growth and rising consumer demand.
The official theme of the Ibero-American Summit in the Chilean capital is social cohesion, and leaders from up to 22 countries will discuss more even distribution of wealth among their people and migration between Latin countries.
Mr Chavez and his closest regional allies - Bolivian President Evo Morales, Ecuador's Rafael Correa, Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage - are scheduled to attend a a parallel "people's" summit tomorrow.