While the most violent of the protesting occurred miles from where Bush was speaking or staying, there is no way he could have remained sheltered from reality this time. As he advocated the Free Trade of the Americas plan, popular opinion in the region was behind Hugo Chavez, who called the location of the protests the economic plan's tomb.
In addition to about 30,000 peaceful demonstrators, some kicked in store windows and set small fires on the street, doing minor property damage for the most part, causing no injuries.
The seething contempt for Bush is in no small part a result of the decision to go to war in Iraq, but in Argentina, much of this was also a rejection of greater American influence in the economic sphere. As South American leaders have been meeting to develop a regional trade bloc of their own, President Kirchner of Argentina has been demanding that the IMF undergo deep structural reform, and "change that direction which took it from being a lender for development to a creditor demanding privileges."
Little was achieved at the summit, and meanwhile, Bush was asked four times at the press conference about Turd Blossom (Rove). Bush refused comment.
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