Bush, Ortega Trade ‘Friendly’ Handshake

President Bush sat down for talks with leaders of Western Hemisphere nations Friday and exchanged a “friendly” handshake with Daniel Ortega, the leftist president of Nicaragua the United States wants removed from power.

“I told President Bush that my government supports the electoral process and that we are working for peace in Nicaragua,” Ortega said after the opening of a two-day discussion on drugs, debt and the march of democracy through the hemisphere.

Bush said in reply, according to Ortega, that he would “support the will of the Nicaraguan people,” who vote in elections Feb. 25. The handshake took place out of view of the public.

Bush arrived in this capital to cheers when he declared, “I believe we can create here in the Americas the world’s first completely democratic hemisphere.”

An extraordinary security force--4,000 strong--was deployed to protect the leaders at the two-day “celebration of democracy” arranged by Costa Rica’s President Oscar Arias.

“We must do away with all the dictatorships in America because there will be no peace among us while even one of them remains,” Arias said in welcoming his guests.

“There can be no tranquillity for our people when one government lends itself to hiding corruption and distributing drugs,” he said in an apparent reference to Panama, whose leaders were not invited to attend.

Bush and Ortega traded barbed comments from afar before the face-to-face meeting, and the President made a point of giving Nicaraguan opposition candidate Violeta Chamorro a kiss when they met. She was an invited guest at Arias’ diplomatic conference, and Bush was to hold a coffee for her and Panamanian political figure Guillermo Endara on Saturday to underscore his opposition to the two governments they are battling.

For his part, Ortega said Bush was “always trying to trample on Nicaragua.”

The White House issued a brief statement saying the two men met “momentarily” and “shook hands in a friendly manner.”