According to White House spokesman Tony Snow US President George Bush will visit Guatemala in March as part of a 'charm offensive' in Latin America. President and Mrs. Bush will travel to Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico from March 8 - 14, 2007. Perhaps it's no surprise that Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, will not be graced with the US President's presence on this rare trip to Latin America.

"The President will also visit Guatemala to experience the rich cultural diversity of this Central American nation, meet with President Oscar Berger, and emphasize the close relationship between our two countries."

This from Prensa Libre as rumours of a likely trip by Bush surfaced yesterday in Uruguay:

"Gert Rosenthal, ministro de Relaciones Exteriores, afirmó anoche que la Embajada de EE.UU. le ha informado sobre las intenciones de la Casa Blanca de incluir a Guatemala en la gira; sin embargo, no está confirmado.

No obstante, el funcionario dijo que existen varios temas importantes por tratar con Bush, uno de los cuales es el estatus legal de los migrantes."

We'll be keeping an eye on the build up to this trip as Washington watchers (both critics and cheerleaders) turn their attention to Guatemala-US relations.

Update (09-02-2007)

There's an interesting lead in article on BBC Mundo on possible themes for Bush's trip and speculation on why certain countries are not on the list (thanks for the link Gillian).

Today Prensa Libre quotes a source from the Ministry of Foreign Relations on why Bush is coming to Guatemala:

“Nadie en la embajada (de EEUU) nos ha dicho para qué viene. Es muy probable que sea una visita diplomática, para decirnos que Centroamérica sí le importa”

Update (13-02-2007)

Bush is now scheduled to be in Guatemala 10th-11th March. It appears he'll be doing walkabouts in Chimaltenango. This may be for practical reasons: Chimal is close to the capital. But it seems it ticks other boxes: finqueros who want US investment via DR-CAFTA; and activity by US troops in the Nuevos Horizontes programme.