Clashes mar start to Bush's Latin America tour

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Police fired tear gas and clubbed demonstrators in Brazil's largest city on Thursday as thousands protested against a visit by President Bush aimed at winning friends in Latin America.

The incidents marred an otherwise peaceful march in which protesters called Bush, who arrived late on Thursday on the first leg of a five-nation regional tour, a warmonger and planet polluter.

Bush holds talks on Friday with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whom he sees as a potential counterweight to the influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his plans for a socialist revolution in Latin America.

The trip aims to repair Bush's standing in the region, where polls show widespread opposition to the Iraq war and U.S. trade and immigration policies. After Brazil, he will travel to Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico.

"It's nothing more than to say we want to be your friends," Bush told Colombian television before he set out.

However, more than 6,000 anti-Bush protesters of all ages marched down Sao Paulo's famed Avenida Paulista, the business heart of South America, police said.

To the beat of Afro-Brazilian drums, they demanded an end to the Iraq war and what they called state-sponsored torture, U.S. imperialism and growing economic inequality.

"No. 1 Enemy of Humanity" and "Get out Bush!" read signs carried by workers, students, peasants and other activists.

"We're fighting against imperialism and Bush, who's interested in dominating countries in this region," said student Artour Barbosa de Queiroz, 29.

Trouble broke out when a small group, most of them punks, threw rocks at the police. They responded by spraying tear gas, firing rubber bullets and clubbing them, witnesses said.

A Reuters photographer, Caetano Barreira, was hit in the face by a chunk of wood thrown by protesters. At least two police officers were also hurt, the witnesses said.

At an anti-Bush protest in Colombia, hundreds of students tossed rocks and small explosives at riot police, who responded with a barrage of tear gas and water cannons.

Colombia's police chief said leftist guerrillas planned attacks and sabotage during Bush's visit there on Sunday.

GLOBAL WARMING

Environmental group Greenpeace protested in Sao Paulo against what it said was a lack of action by Bush and Lula to halt global warming.

Activists draped a banner over a national monument saying: "Ethanol is not enough. Stop global warming."

The reference was to an initiative on biofuels that is the official centerpiece of the Brazilian leg of the tour.

The two countries, which produce 70 percent of the world's ethanol, will sign a deal on Friday to share ethanol technology and expand production in Central America and the Caribbean, a White House National Security Council spokesman said.

"This will be good for their economies, protect the environment and reduce dependence on foreign oil," he said.

U.S. officials hope the initiative, dubbed "ethanol diplomacy," will limit the appeal of Chavez, who has used Venezuela's oil wealth to win followers in countries such as Bolivia and Ecuador while railing against Bush.

But it has been overshadowed by industry complaints about U.S. tariffs on Brazilian ethanol. Lula has said he wants to discuss cutting the tariffs but U.S. officials say that is a matter for Congress to decide.

Both sides also hope the visit might bring fresh impetus to talks on a new world trade deal, which have stalled over market access and subsidies.

Lula, a moderate leftist who has a good rapport with both Bush and Chavez, is seen as a central figure in Bush's diplomatic push despite the two countries' differences.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick)