NATION : Quayle Denies Snub on Latin Trip

WASHINGTON — Vice President Dan Quayle, responding to reports that his Latin American fence-mending trip has been cut back, today denied he had been snubbed by some countries he wanted to visit.

“It’s not ‘don’t come,’ ” Quayle said in an interview with Associated Press. “It’s a matter of timing on when you will come,” he said.

Quayle said his trip will be important both symbolically, to show the Administration’s interest in keeping good relations with its neighbors, and diplomatically, to try to smooth any feelings injured by last month’s U.S. invasion of Panama.

The itinerary announced Wednesday by Quayle’s office for his trip next week, with stops in Panama, Honduras and Jamaica, falls short of the journey indicated by President Bush’s announcement Jan. 5.