The summit, to be held Friday and Saturday, will be attended by 23 world leaders
                 from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal.

                 Military personnel, armored vehicles and security checkpoints are in place. Security
                 is tightest in the quiet neighborhood surrounding the hotel where the summit is to
                 be held, with all persons, bags and vehicles to be searched.

                 The summit will focus on economic problems in the region and the war on terror,
                 and Peruvian Foreign Minister Diego Garcia-Sayan said there will be declarations
                 involving the international economic world and international terrorism.

                 Ibero-American finance ministers are calling for solidarity with Argentina to prevent
                 its crisis-ridden economy from defaulting on loans. Also, they are appealing for an
                 end to Cuba's exclusion from multinational and regional loan institutions.

                 Cuban President Fidel Castro was expected to arrive in Peru on Friday. Leaders
                 from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Spain, Guatemala, Portugal and Paraguay
                 have already arrived.

                 There have been protests in advance of the summit. Laid-off Peruvian workers
                 staged a peaceful march asking to meet with government officials to resolve the
                 fate of thousands who lost their jobs during the tenure of former President Alberto
                 Fujimori.

                 The "Mothers Against Repression," a Miami-based anti-Castro group, is in town to
                 draw attention to Cuba's exile community throughout the world and the lack of
                 freedoms in the island nation.

                         -- CNN Correspondent Lucia Newman contributed to this report.