Central Americans unhappy with Dubya

Mayans to wash sacred site after Bush visitBush's meeting on Wednesday with his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderon, was overshadowed by anger at a new border fence that the host, who as a pro-market conservative ought to be an ideological soulmate, likened to the Berlin wall.

In an interview with a Mexican newspaper he said he did not have high hopes for the Bush meeting and said he wanted closer ties to Cuba, suggesting that it was too late for Bush to patch up nearly two terms' worth of disappointments beyond the vague hope of pushing a migration accord through Congress.

During an otherwise warm encounter, Guatemala's President, Oscar Berger, complained to his visitor about the arrest and deportation of hundreds of Guatemalan workers in raids in Massachusetts last week. Resentment at the hardships immigrants face as well as the war in Iraq prompted a Mayan tribe in Guatemala to perform a ritual cleansing at a site visited by Bush. Meanwhile in the capital, riot police used tear gas to quell protesters who threw eggs and stones and set fire to US flags.