WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to head to Chile yesterday for the inauguration of its first woman president, in a region where Washington has dwindling allies and leftist leaders are on the rise.

During her two-day trip to Chile, Rice will hold a host of meetings with Latin American leaders, including Bolivia's President Evo Morales, a coca farmer with close ties to Venezuela and communist Cuba who has described himself as a "nightmare" for Washington.

Rice said in an interview on Thursday with Latin American journalists that she was looking forward to seeing Morales, stressing the United States had no difficulty dealing directly with leftist leaders in the region.

"It is important for countries to be well-governed and to govern democratically. The United States has no trouble, no difficulty dealing with countries from either side of the political spectrum," said Rice, who will also be meeting presidents of Uruguay and Guatemala during her trip.

"I very much look forward to that," said Rice of the meeting with Morales on the sidelines of the inauguration today of Chile's new president, Michelle Bachelet.

However, Rice stressed she had no plans to meet Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, whose anti-American stance has enraged the Bush administration.

Outgoing Chilean President Ricardo Lagos said last month the United States and Venezuela should tone down their rhetorical outbursts to improve hemispheric relations. ----------Shift in focus

Latin American experts suggested Rice should use her trip to move the focus away from Venezuela-U.S. tensions and improve U.S. standing in the region where many say the United States is out of touch.

"Rice has an enormous task to repair the present disarray in which we find U.S.-Latin American relations," said Larry Birns of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a liberal think tank.

Part of the problem, said Birns, was that the United States viewed Latin America through the prism of Cuba and Venezuela, adding that if it was Rice's goal to win support among Latin American leaders to isolate Chavez, she would be disappointed.

"He (Chavez) is popular because he needles the United States and he talks like the average Latin American would talk," said Birns.

Several experts said a meeting between Rice and Morales would help improve Washington's image in the region.

"It will have a tremendous symbolic value that the United States is interested in having relations with the first indigenous president of a very poor country," said Peter Hakim of the think-tank Inter-American Dialogue.

Much of Latin America is under leftist leadership, posing a dilemma for Washington and its democracy agenda.

Julia Sweig, a Latin American expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, said there was strong suspicion among many Latin American leaders over the U.S. democracy agenda.

"Democracy ought to be America's greatest strength but when the U.S. says democracy they (Latin American leaders) see empire and imperialism," said Sweig.

After two days in Chile, Rice is set to go to Indonesia followed by a three-day visit to Australia before returning to Washington on March 19.