Mayan leaders will spiritually "cleanse" ancient ruins in Guatemala after a visit by US president George W. Bush, unpopular because of foreign policies going back to Central America's civil wars.
The leaders said they would hold a spiritual ceremony to restore "peace and harmony" at the Mayan ruins of Iximche after Mr Bush tours the site on Monday.
"No, Mr Bush, you cannot trample and degrade the memory of our ancestors," said indigenous leader Rodolfo Pocop during a press conference. "This is not your ranch in Texas."
Mr Bush will arrive on Sunday night in Guatemala, his second-to-last stop on a five-country tour of Latin America where his approval ratings are low. His visit sparked violent protests in Brazil and Colombia. Social groups are organizing marches against his visit to Guatemala.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, the United States' principal antagonist in the region, has called Mr Bush "the devil" and at a United Nations debate last year said the U.S. leader left a smell of sulphur lingering in the room behind him.
Youth leader Jorge Morales Toj said Mr Bush's presence in Guatemala was offensive to the nation's ethnic Mayan people because of US support to military governments during the country's 1960-96 civil war.
US-backed army troops destroyed entire Mayan villages in a scorched earth counter-insurgency campaign at the peak of the war, which left nearly a quarter million people dead or missing.