President Bush will today promote free trade in Central America and the need for greater security against political and drug violence during a visit to Guatemala.
Mr Bush will visit a rural farm co-operative and take an archaeological tour of ancient Mayan ruins. Mayan leaders have promised to spiritually "cleanse" the site afterward, however, because they consider the United States an aggressor.
Guatemala is the penultimate stop on Mr Bush's five-nation, week-long Latin American tour. During the trip he has been dogged by denunciations from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
"The battle between the US empire and the great Latin American people is taking place again," Mr Chavez said yesterday in a speech.
Worried about Mr Chavez's growing anti-US influence, Mr Bush has used the tour to try to improve ties with leaders of the right and moderate left in Latin America, where the Iraq war and US trade and immigration policy have made him deeply unpopular.