Read and comment on this story from the San Antonio Express-News on President Bush's planned trip to Peru in March. President Bush will be meeting with Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo shown in the photo above who has close ties with the Peace Corps having been helped in his youth by PCV's to come study in the United States and having worked in Peace Corps training programs. The Peace Corps plans to begin a program in Peru again after an absence of 25 years. Read the story at:
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Bush adds Peru, Salvador to trip
By Gary Martin Express-News Washington Bureau
Web Posted : 02/08/2002 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON — President Bush will meet with Peruvian and Salvadoran leaders about expanding free trade agreements, the war on drugs and humanitarian efforts following a trip to Mexico in March, a White House spokesman said Thursday.
Bush is to travel to Lima, Peru, on March 23 and San Salvador on March 24 after he attends the International Conference on Financing for Development, a conference sponsored by the United Nations in Monterrey, Mexico.
"Peruvians over the last year have reaffirmed strongly their commitment to democratic principles and have shown leadership in promoting these principles throughout the Inter-American region," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
In Peru, Bush is to meet with President Alejandro Toledo to discuss free trade and efforts to blunt narcotics trafficking.
The president has proposed $731 million for anti-narcotics programs in the Andes in his budget blueprint for fiscal 2003, which begins Oct. 1.
Of that, Peru would receive $135 million to help stop the cultivation and production of narcotics.
In El Salvador, Bush is to meet with President Francisco Flores about Salvadoran efforts to strengthen its democratic institutions and modernize its economy.
"They'll also review U.S. assistance programs for earthquake reconstruction," Fleischer said.
The U.S. Army will begin a $2.4 million program this month to build seven schools and three health clinics and rebuild roads that were destroyed in El Salvador by two earthquakes in January and February 2001.
The temblors killed more than 1,200 people, injured nearly 9,000 and left a sixth of the El Salvador population homeless. The country estimates damages of more than $2 billion.
Bush is to travel to South and Central America after meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox.
U.S.-Mexico discussions on issues such as immigration, narcotics trafficking and trade were placed on hold after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
The two presidents are seeking to jump-start negotiations with the upcoming visit to Mexico, and with a meeting between Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge and Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda in Mexico City.
Bush and Fox in September proposed a "Partnership for Prosperity," which calls for private investment in Mexico to create jobs and decrease the flow of immigrants seeking U.S. employment.
Fox also has called for the legalization of 3 million undocumented Mexican immigrants living in the United States, while the U.S. government is seeking additional Mexican efforts to beef up border enforcement.
Fox is planning a trip to Texas in June, with stops in San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and possibly Austin.
The Mexican president's schedule remains tentative until approved by the Mexican Congress.
gmartin@express-news.net
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