Menino to join delegation to Latin America

They will meet with the presidents of Panama, Peru, and Colombia. They will tour the Panama Canal, view plans for its $5.2 billion expansion, and discuss the potential effects of the US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement.

The delegation includes about 10 members of Congress and the Bush administration's commerce secretary.

And, coming along at the invitation of Bush officials, Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

"I'm off to a foreign land," Menino said yesterday. "It's an opportunity to learn about these countries, how we can work with them."

Menino, who has traveled extensively in recent years but has never been to those Latin American countries, leaves this afternoon for Panama and is expected back early Sunday morning from Medellín, Colombia. He is the only nonfederal official going on a trip meant to inform members of Congress about pending trade agreements with the Central and South American countries.

The trip is being funded with federal tax dollars; Menino's wife, Angela, is not going.

Menino said he was invited personally last week by US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, who is leading the trip and wanted to include officials from port cities that could be affected by the trade agreements. Mayors from several other cities, including Seattle and Los Angeles, were also invited, but they all declined, choosing instead to put the finishing touches on budget proposals or to attend a US Conference of Mayors meeting in Trenton, N.J.

But Menino saw the trip as an opportunity to try to reap rewards for Boston.

"Boston is a port city and is a significant player in the world market," said the mayor, who consulted members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation before agreeing to the trip. "I look forward to learning more about trade opportunities with Peru, Panama, and Colombia, and how Boston businesses might benefit from these agreements."

The trip could also be an indication that a mayor who has prided himself on being an "urban mechanic" and has put most of his emphasis on improving the neighborhoods is trying to find ways to appeal to a city that is increasingly diverse and to make Boston a bigger player on the world stage.

Menino said yesterday that one reason he agreed to go on the trip was to see the countries of origin of new immigrants to Boston, although the countries included on the trip have contributed a tiny portion of the city's growing Latin American population. In Boston, there are 527 residents who identify themselves as Panamanians, 759 as Peruvians, and 4,065 as Colombians, in all just 1 percent of the city's population, according to the 2000 US Census.

Menino has developed something of a reputation for finding a way to include himself in foreign trips, most recently when he took a weeklong trip to Rome last year as a guest of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. He paid $4,300 out of his own pocket for a hotel and airfare for him and his wife.

Other jaunts have included a six-day trip to Italy in 2003, paid for by the European-American Urological Association, where he spoke to attendees about being a cancer survivor and mayor of a city that is home to several major hospitals. There was also a trip to Istanbul with his wife in 2005, where he delivered a speech at the International Council of Shopping Centers conference, which paid for his five-day excursion.

During this trip, the delegation is scheduled to meet with President Martin Torrijos of Panama, President Alan Garcia of Peru, and President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, names that Menino struggled over yesterday. "There will be plenty of interpreters, they told me," he said.

The schedule includes a presentation on Colombia's plans to integrate former paramilitary members back into civil society, talks with labor leaders about economic conditions in Peru, and a briefing on how US businesses can benefit from the expansion of the Panama Canal.

Menino aides said another reason the mayor was invited was to make the trip appear more bipartisan. On an initial list of expected delegates there were eight Republicans and three Democrats, including US Representative J. Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican and former speaker of the House; US Representative Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat; and US Representative Jim McCrery, a Louisiana Republican.

"We're pleased the mayor can join us," said E. Richard Mills, spokesman for the US Department of Commerce. "We think he has a useful perspective on globalization and trade."

But the trip's goal - to encourage Congress to vote for free trade agreements with the three countries when they come before the US House and Senate later this year - is a politically sticky one for Menino, who represents a city that is dominated by labor unions.

Menino, who in the last election was endorsed by the Greater Boston Labor Council but wrangled with labor unions in 2004 before the Democratic National Convention, has rarely taken a strong position on free trade and said yesterday that the idea is worth exploring.

Late yesterday afternoon, Menino said he still hadn't packed but to fit in with the others would be favoring business suits over khakis and flip-flops.

"It's only 95 degrees there this time of year," he said.

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.