Rice Congratulates Chile's New President

VAPARAISO, Chile
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice offered congratulations Saturday to Chile's first female president, a socialist taking office more than three decades after a U.S.-linked coup that ousted the country's elected leftist leader.

The inauguration of Michelle Bachelet, a former health and defense minister, represented the triumph of democracy over a troubled history, Rice said.

The two met for about 30 minutes in this port city about 75 miles northwest of Santiago, but made no public comments afterward. At the swearing-in ceremony, Rice sat next to Mexico's foreign relations minister, Luis Derbez.

The chief U.S. diplomat also held talks with Bolivia's new president, Evo Morales, whose politics are similar to Bachelet's but who campaigned with an anti-American edge.

On the trip from Washington, Rice told reporters, "I think it's good to remember that it's now been almost 20 years that the United States has been a friend and supporter of Chilean democracy."

Rice offered no apology for the Cold War-era U.S. support of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, whose military dictatorship Washington once saw as preferable to the rise of leftist governments close to home.

"I think that that past is now behind us," she said.

The United States has long been linked to the 1973 coup that brought to power Pinochot, who served as president until 1990. President Nixon opposed the elected government of socialist Salvador Allende, and scholars have debated to what degree U.S. officials provided at least indirect support for the coup.

Rice's predecessor as secretary of state, Colin Powell, referred to the coup as "not a part of American history that we're proud of," though the State Department has said it did not instigate the coup.

The U.S. counted Chile under outgoing President Ricardo Lagos as an example of a leftist government with which Washington enjoyed strong economic and political ties.

Bachelet was jailed and tortured under Pinochet. As head of the country's defense ministry before her election, Bachelet is seen as having played a key role in reconciliation among Chileans after the close of the Pinochet era.

She is expected to continue the free-market policies of her predecessor.

Neither Rice nor Morales spoke to reporters after their meeting. Earlier, Rice said: "We want to have good relations with Bolivia. We have had good relations with Bolivia and we want to maintain it."

Since his election in January, Morales has held a cordial phone call with
President Bush and asked the United States to reconsider a proposed cut in anti-drug aid to Bolivia from $80 million to $67 million.

Morales led the often-violent struggle against U.S.-backed coca eradication efforts over the past decade, and he has promised to retool Bolivian coca policy.

Bolivia and Brazil are among 12 Latin American nations that have lost U.S. military aid or training because of their stance on the International Criminal Court. Chile stands to lose aid this year unless it receives a waiver from Bush.

The United States insists that nations signing up for The Hague court exempt U.S. citizens from its reach. More than 100 countries have signed the immunity agreements covering U.S. citizens on their soil, but many others have refused.

Rice suggested the Bush administration will make more frequent exceptions for nations that are cooperating with the U.S. to combat terrorism or drugs, or that are help the war efforts in Afghanistan or Iraq.

The court was set up in 2002 to hunt down perpetrators of genocide or other crimes against humanity, but its critics say it could become a tool for anti-American show trials.