Anti-war and anti-US sentiments flowed in Latin America on Saturday as protesters took to the streets. Meanwhile journalists from the region took aim at their US colleagues for perceived biased reporting.
Protesters took their calls for peace to the streets in Santiago, Mexico City, Montevideo, Buenos Aires and Caracas on Saturday, adding to the Friday night protests in Bogota, Lima and many parts of Central America.
At least 1,500 people, many of them women and children, carried Chilean and Palestinian flags and banners condemning Mr Bush through the streets of Santiago. Organisers called on the Chilean government to take a tougher stance against the invasion of Iraq.
"We want the UN Security Council to convene, we want an end to the war, and we want George W Bush to be morally judged," said Mr Francisco Becerra, one of the protest organisers in Santiago.
There were also strong words from Caracas mayor Mr Freddy Bernal at the start a street protest. He called for Venezuelans to air their opposition to the "vile invasion" and "genocide" being carried out by US-led forces in Iraq.
Mexico City mayor Mr Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called the protests in his city "an act of solidarity with the civilian population of Iraq", but asked Mexican activists to keep their rallies peaceful.
At previous demonstrations, marchers ripped up railings protecting the US embassy, and stoned both the building and the police guarding it.
In Montevideo, Uruguay, Saturday's protests took on a creative edge, with artists and sculptors displaying anti-war works in a number of the city's squares.
They followed an artistic expression of a different kind in Bogota on Friday when hundreds of Colombian students braved rain and marched naked through the streets.
Argentinian President Mr Eduardo Duhalde reiterated his country's opposition to the war in a radio address on Saturday. he called for urgent humanitarian assistance "for so many victims, so many innocents who need help and protection".
Meanwhile, Argentina's press has expressed annoyance with US journalists. US officials "have besieged journalists and media to the extent that they feel a false dilemma between being faithful to their country and being faithful to the truth", according to an editorial in the magazine Noticias.
The result has been the abandonment of the US medias' "sacred sense of objectivity" in favour of "patriotic disinformation". - (AFP)