Protesters greet Bush in South America

About 150 protesters attacked riot police with rocks and metal barriers and ripped down lampposts in Colombia’s capital Bogota as US President George Bush paid a six-hour visit to the close US ally.

The highest-security stop on Bush’s five-nation tour, last night’s visit to Colombia was also the shortest stopover on the trip.

The protesters object to the £350m (€517m) annually received by Colombia in mostly military US aid, blaming the assistance for fuelling the country’s decades-old civil conflict and encouraging human rights abuses by this country’s armed forces. The demonstrators also protested against the war in Iraq.

As Bush arrived in Guatemala last night, more than 100 Mayan Indians protested in the city of Tecpan, holding signs that read: “No more blood for oil.”

The group is angry that Bush will be visiting the sacred Iximche archaeological site. After the US leader leaves, Mayan priests plan a spiritual cleansing to get rid of the “evil spirits” they believe Bush will bring.

“He’s someone who has financed the genocide of many parts of the works, like in the Middle East,” protester Jorge Morales said.

Iximche, 30 miles west of the capital of Guatemala City, was founded as the capital of the Kaqchiqueles kingdom before the Spanish conquest in 1524.

For Bush’s visit to Colombia, some 200 helmeted police in full body armour responded to protests with water cannon and tear gas and reclaimed the street - about a mile from the presidential palace where the US president got a red-carpet welcome-- banging batons against riot shields as they marched forward.

Some of the rioters, mainly students, later rampaged down Bogota’s main avenue, breaking shop windows and ripping computers from bank offices. The rioters had broken away from a larger group of 2,000 protesters.

Four police officers were injured and 100 people were arrested, said Bogota police chief Gen. Daniel Castiblanco.

A small bomb exploded Sunday morning in the lawless Pacific port of Buenaventura, injuring two civilians. The police blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has been fighting the government for 42 years but which President Alvaro Uribe has put on the defensive.

Security in Bogota was extensive, with some 7,000 police and troops blocked off large parts of the Colombian capital, while 14,000 reinforcements set up roadblocks, checking IDs and searching vehicles.

In contrast with visits to Bogota by US presidents Ronald Reagan in 1982 and John F Kennedy in 1961, there was no popular reception for Bush, with streets adjacent the presidential palace closed to traffic and pedestrians alike.

Bogota residents also had to do without their beloved “ciclovia,” in which major avenues are shut down to traffic on Sundays so people can bike, skate and jog.