Benedito Mendonça
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - Approximately a thousand students, a group of Palestinian women, and representatives of mass movements, led by the Coordination of Social Movements (CMS) and the National Students' Union (UNE), staged demonstrations today (4) to protest the visit by US president George W. Bush to Brazil. The high point of the protests in Brasília in opposition to the Bush visit was the burning of his effigy and of a US flag in front of the US Embassy. Accompanied by rallying cries such as "Bush, Fascist. You're a terrorist" and "Assassin, assassin," the group torched the effigy.

According to UNE president, Gustavo Peta, there is a strong feeling of condemnation in Brazil, as there is in Argentina and other countries, for US foreign policy, the growing US military presence in Latin America, and the War in Iraq. According to Petta, demonstrations were also held in ten other Brazilian capitals and should continue throughout the weekend in Brasília.

Petta remarked that "this was also a show of solidarity with the Latin American peoples and social movements. With the peoples of Cuba and Venezuela. They are countries that are currently trying to discover alternative paths to the ones imposed by the United States of America," he said.

Bush will arrive in Brasília tomorrow (5). The press office of the US embassy made no comment on the protests. The US president is traveling to Brazil after a trip to Argentina, where he is participating in the 4th Summit of the Americas. The encounter is gathering heads of State from 34 countries on the American continent to discuss ways to deal with poverty and strengthen democratic governability.

Translation: David Silberstein