Priests to purify Mayan Site after Bush visit

Priests to purify site after Bush visit Posted by: "Kris" softbrezes45@comcast.net softbrezes45 Date: Fri Mar 9, 2007 4:15 pm ((PST)) good for them!!!!!! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070309/ap_on_fe_st/guatemala_bush_purification Priests to purify site after Bush visit By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 9, 12:20 AM ET GUATEMALA CITY - Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site toeliminate "bad spirits" after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the groupsaid Thursday. "That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers inthe United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in oursacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture," JuanTiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close tiesto Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday.Bush's seven-day tour of Latin America includes a stopover beginning lateSunday in Guatemala. On Monday morning he is scheduled to visit thearchaeological site Iximche on the high western plateau in a region of theCentral American country populated mostly by Mayans.Tiney said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it would benecessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits" after Bush's visit sothat their ancestors could rest in peace. He also said the rites — whichentail chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles — would prepare thesite for the third summit of Latin American Indians March 26-30.Bush's trip has already has sparked protests elsewhere in Latin America,including protests and clashes with police in Brazil hours before hisarrival. In Bogota, Colombia, which Bush will visit on Sunday, 200 maskedstudents battled 300 riot police with rocks and small homemade explosives.The tour is aimed at challenging a widespread perception that the UnitedStates has neglected the region and at combatting the rising influence ofVenezuelan leftist President Hugo Chavez, who has called Bush "history'sgreatest killer" and "the devil."Iximche, 30 miles west of the capital of Guatemala City, was founded as thecapital of the Kaqchiqueles kingdom before the Spanish conquest in 1524. kris "...the Supreme law of the land is the Great Spirit's, not man's law.....Thomas Banyaya---Hopi