Clinton meets Uruguay’s new president

UPDATED:

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Troops from Uruguay are regularly among U.N. peacekeeping forces deployed around the world, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hoped on Monday to persuade that country’s new president to continue the support.

Jose Mujica, a former guerrilla leader, is the latest leftist president to be elected to a Latin American country.

Mrs. Clinton flew to Montevideo on Monday, beginning a tour of the region. She met with Mr. Mujica just hours before he’s sworn in.

Mrs. Clinton’s five-nation weeklong trip is sure to focus on the earthquake in Chile, even as she tries to build support for fresh penalties against Iran. She briefly will visit Santiago, the capital of Chile, on Tuesday morning.

“We want to show America’s support for the people of Chile while mindful of the realities on the ground,” Clinton aide Philippe Reines said Sunday.

The State Department has issued a travel alert advising Americans to avoid nonessential travel to Chile.

U.S. officials said Mrs. Clinton will meet with Mr. Mujica but has no plans for separate meetings with other inauguration guests, such as Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, Ecuador’s Rafael Correa or Bolivia’s Evo Morales. Later Monday she will meet with Argentine President Christina Fernandez in Buenos Aires.

After her brief stop in Santiago, Mrs. Clinton heads to Brasilia, Brazil, for talks with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose support the United States is seeking for a new round of U.N. Security Council penalties against Iran over its nuclear program.

In Costa Rica on Thursday, Mrs. Clinton will attend a meeting of regional foreign ministers that will focus on improving economic conditions in the hemisphere. She expects to see outgoing President Oscar Arias, who brokered an accord that ended the political crisis in Honduras last year.

Mrs. Clinton will also meet with incoming Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla before wrapping up her tour in Guatemala on Friday.

In Guatemala, Clinton will meet a group of Central American leaders, including Honduran President Porfirio Lobo, who took over in late January from an interim government that ousted leader Manuel Zelaya in a coup last June.