In the wake of President Bush's Latin American tour this past week, we've heard one side of the news. Along with Bush's publicized appearances from Montevideo to Merida, a doppelganger has devilishly followed his footsteps. In fact, Bush's stalker, none other than Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, once publicly called our North American prez the devil.

Marie Trigona goes beyond egregious name-calling in her latest balanced report from the trenches. She outlines Chavez's plan for a Banco del Sur, a Bank of the South. For quite a few years Chavez has sought to develop a lending institution headed up by member nations south of our border. The truth is, recently our Latin American neighbors have relied on the International Monetary Fund to the tune of more than two billion dollars, which must be repaid. This debt might not seem staggering to us gringos, but to our Latino amigos it is gargantuan. Moreover, Chavez wants the Banco del Sur to avoid the myriad "policy conditions" -- tons of red tape -- generally required to obtain funds from the IMF.

Still in its early stages, the Banco del Sur aspires to be a lending institution of the last resort, as well as a development bank, for countries like Nicaragua and Guatemala, two of the unfattest cats in our hemisphere. So far Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia are founding members of the Banco, said to begin operations within four months. If it can avoid corruption, a trans-national multi-billion-dollar Banco del Sur may spell relief from the United States as Rich Big Brother. In the post-Bush years after 2008, who could ask for anything more than a self-sufficient, economically healthy Latin America?

Marie Trigona deserves kudos -- and the ears of public radio listeners -- for this Free Speech Radio News "scoop."