Does anybody like Bush?

Anger toward US boosts Latin America's leftist leaders

By Susan Milligan, Boston Globe Staff | May 11, 2006

CARACAS -- The graffiti splashed all over the Venezuelan capital leaves no room for misinterpretation of people's view of the US president: ''Bush: Killer."

That slogan, spray-painted on numerous buildings in Caracas, reflects a sentiment that is spreading throughout Latin America. The anger is a boon for the growing ranks of leftist leaders in the region. Some are challenging US government policies on immigration and Iraq, while others, openly hostile to the Bush administration, are exploiting long-simmering resentment of American dominance to solidify their own power.

Democrats and Latin America specialists now are pushing the Bush administration to engage Latin Americans of all political stripes much more actively. In one such initiative, Representative William D. Delahunt, Democrat of Quincy, is planning to bring Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's supporters and opposition leaders to Nantucket again this summer to get the two sides talking.

(The rest is here.)