Lula's stature grows in S. America

Whether he's sloughing off Chavez's strident anti-Americanism or privatizing roads and power plants in Brazil, the former union firebrand who emerged from the assembly lines of Sao Paulo has repeatedly defied stereotypes since taking office in 2003 as the avatar of a new generation of leftist leaders. He has gone from being what some considered a radical bent on imposing socialism to a free-market champion who still funds social programs for the poor.

Lula enjoys a warm relationship with President Bush and was a guest last year at Camp David. But he's no U.S. patsy, challenging Washington on economic and security issues when he sees Brazil's interests at stake

On Tuesday, Lula assailed Bush's farewell address to the U.N. General Assembly last month for downplaying the U.S. financial meltdown.

"I thought he would make a goodbye speech that talked a little about the economic crisis," Lula, appearing disappointed, told reporters in New York. "He took the option of talking about terrorism again."

Lula also has gone toe-to-toe with U.S. trade negotiators as informal leader of the "Group of 20" developing nations, blocking trade deals that incorporate U.S. and European farm subsidies that the group says are unfair.

But for U.S. policymakers, Lula is a welcome counter-weight to Chavez's yanqui-bashing bluster. Last month in Santiago, Chile, Lula trumped Chavez at an emergency summit of South American leaders seeking to calm widening conflict in Bolivia, which shares a long border with Brazil.

The Brazilian president insisted that the group's final declaration omit anti-Washington invective -- to the dismay of Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales, both of whom have expelled U.S. ambassadors for alleged coup-mongering.

Many analysts conclude that the days of Washington calling the shots are gone -- collateral damage, in part, from the attacks of Sept. 11.

"That's when the U.S. clearly began focusing its attention on the Middle East, Afghanistan and Iraq, and many sensed the loss of engagement with the region," said Peter De Shazo, a former deputy assistant secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

In Venezuela, Chavez survived a short-lived 2002 coup that he blamed on Washington, and returned with renewed anti-U.S. fervor. Chavez lured allies with petrodollars and Cold War-era oratory as the Bush administration went to war in Iraq.