Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Agencies:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, facing U.S. pressure over his nuclear ambitions, traveled to Latin America today to build his anti-U.S. front with two of President George W. Bush’s harshest critics in the region.

Ahmadinejad opened his wallet and signed accords valued at $1 billion over five years with Bolivian President Evo Morales to promote investments in energy, mining and rural development before departing for Venezuela, where he will discuss petrochemical projects with President Hugo Chavez, Bolivian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Consuelo Ponce said.

Ahmadinejad said the two host nations, as well as others in the area that are led by leftists, such as Cuba, Nicaragua and Ecuador, were united with Iran in a worldwide revolutionary movement.

Later Thursday in Venezuela, Ahmadinejad and Chavez greeted each other warmly on a red carpet in front of the presidential palace and then let loose with rhetoric challenging Washington, whose influence they are seeking to roll back in the region.

“Together we are surely growing stronger, and in truth no one can defeat us,” the Iranian leader said through an interpreter. Apparently referring to the U.S., he said, “Imperialism has no other option: Respect the peoples (of the world) or accept defeat.”

Chavez embraced the Iranian leader, calling him “one of the greatest anti-imperialist fighters.”

Chavez said he was proud of Ahmadinejad’s courage while under hostile questioning at New York’s Columbia University. “An imperial spokesman tried to disrespect you, calling you a cruel little tyrant. You responded with the greatness of a revolutionary.”

Bolivian President Evo Morales, who joins Chavez as one of Iran’s key allies, called Ahmadinejad’s visit historic as the two nations established diplomatic relations for the first time.

Ahmadinejad’s trip underscored his growing ties to Latin American nations, including Nicaragua and Ecuador, even as the United States tries to isolate him internationally.

Iran’s links with Ecuador and Nicaragua are growing at lightning speed. Last month Iran’s PressTV reported Tehran would for the first time open an embassy in Quito.

The president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, has accepted promised Iranian funding for agricultural equipment in exchange for shipping coffee, meat and bananas to Iran.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has aggressively pursued closer ties with Tehran and last month Nicaragua accepted Iranian pledges for 10,000 houses, 4,000 tractors, milk-processing plants, piers and a farm equipment assembly plant in exchange for goods from Managua.

Chavez’s government, for its part, has promised more than $8.8 billion in aid, financing and energy funding to the region this year.

Bolivia’s decision to strengthen ties with Iran is part of the country’s efforts to ally itself with any nation that “wants to help the Bolivian people get out of poverty,” the La Paz daily La Razon reported Sept. 12, citing comments by Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca.

The closer ties are viewed with alarm by the opposition in Venezuela and Bolivia, and by Washington. U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, a Florida Republican, said they remind him “of the relationship that Fidel Castro had with Russia.”

“Ahmadinejad recognises that if he can get a foothold in Latin America, he can continue to spread his hatred for the United States,” he said.

He urged Washington to reach out more to a region analysts say it has largely ignored since 9-11.

Toward that aim, a bipartisan bill is being introduced in the U.S. Congress on Friday that would establish a 10-year, $2.5 billion program aimed at reducing poverty and expanding the middle class in Latin America. It would require recipient countries to contribute and encourage matching funds from businesses and non-governmental organizations.

Ahmadinejad said he felt “at home and among my brothers” in Bolivia and that his visit was the start of broader relations between the two countries, Iran’s official news agency reported. Ahmadinejad told Morales he’d like to return to Bolivia, without specifying when that trip would likely take place, Ponce said by phone from La Paz.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet with the other permanent members of the Security Council — China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom, along with Germany — tomorrow to discuss further measures against Iran.

In his defiant speech to the U.N. General Assembly this week, Ahmadinejad rebuked “arrogant powers” seeking to curb Iran’s nuclear program. Chavez also strongly defends Iran’s nuclear research, insisting it is for peaceful energy uses despite U.S. charges it is aimed at making nuclear weapons.

Relations between Caracas and Tehran, meanwhile, have grown very close. Since 2001, Iran and Venezuela have signed trade agreements worth more than $20 billion in potential investment, according to Iran’s official news agency, IRNA.

They have teamed up to begin producing cars, tractors and plastic goods, and signed an agreement to help Venezuela build public housing. Iran Air began flights between Tehran and Caracas, with a stopover in Syria, earlier this year.

Venezuelan Jewish leaders objected to the presence of Ahmadinejad, who has called for the end of Israel and questioned the history of the Holocaust.

“We raise our voice to condemn these statements by the Iranian leader which incite hatred, becoming a threat to world peace,” the Venezuelan Confederation of Israeli Associations said in a statement. The country is home to a large Jewish population, including Holocaust survivors.

Alberto Garrido, a Venezuelan political analyst, said the links between Mr Ahmadinejad and Mr Chavez were becoming inexorably closer.