Chavez protests open Latin leaders' summit

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Protesters for and against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez got into shoving matches outside Venezuela's embassy in Chile Thursday as leaders from the Latin world arrived at a summit to discuss tight energy supplies and other issues.

The leftist Chavez, a strident antagonist of Washington who has used his country's oil wealth to spread influence in Latin America, has supporters among some Chilean leftists but others declared him an unwelcome guest ahead of his expected arrival.

Tight energy supplies threatening Latin America's economic boom will likely dominate the summit of leaders from the region -- who are almost all part of a new generation of leftists -- plus Portugal, Spain and Andorra.

While countries including Venezuela and Bolivia are flush with oil and natural gas, others like Argentina, Brazil and Chile need more power to fuel industrial growth and rising consumer demand.

Among several expected bilateral encounters to focus on energy is a possible meeting between Bolivian President Evo Morales and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva to discuss potential new investments in Bolivia's natural gas industry.

The official theme of the Ibero-American Summit in the Chilean capital is social cohesion, and leaders from up to 22 countries will also talk about more even distribution of wealth among their people and migration between Latin countries.

"More than ever, most of these countries are increasingly solvent, with strengthening democracies ... but inequality persists," said Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero after arriving in Santiago.

Latin American economies are booming amid an extended rally in metals, fuels and grains but many of the emerging nations' populations complain the new riches aren't reaching the poor.

Following a lackluster summit last year best remembered for the large number of presidents who did not attend, leaders will likely try to send a strong message about regional unity.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, one of the few center-right presidents in Latin America and leader of one of the biggest economies in the region, will stay home as he attends to flooding emergencies.

Outside the Venezuelan Embassy in Santiago, about 50 pro- and anti-Chavez protesters pushed and shoved as detractors tried to submit a letter to embassy staff declaring the leader unwelcome.

Chavez and his closest regional allies -- Bolivian President Evo Morales, Ecuador's Rafael Correa, Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage -- are scheduled to attend a large rally Saturday that is part of a parallel "people's" summit.

(Additional reporting by Rodrigo Martinez, Monica Vargas, Manuel Farias and Lisa Yulkowski)