The Olympic torch dodged China foes in Europe and played hide-and-seek with crowds in San Francisco. Now the flame is making its only Latin American stop on a five-continent tour amid cloak-and-dagger secrecy after recent turmoil. Handlers let no one publicly view the arrival of the flame in Buenos Aires, on its latest leg en route to Beijing. The lantern bearing the flame departed San Francisco and arrived at its second and final stopover in the Americas late Thursday on its 84,000-mile journey. Argentina is billing Friday's Olympic torch run as an easygoing street fiesta launched by a tango orchestra. But officials are worried enough about anti-China protests to mobilize thousands of police after protesters warned of a Buenos Aires "surprise."

The torch was met by major demonstrations in San Francisco, London and Paris this week on its relay around the world. Thousands of protesters angry at China's human rights record, its harsh rule in Tibet and its friendly ties with Sudan scuffled with police and attempted to block the torch's passage.

Taken to its hideaway after the long flight from San Francisco, the flame is to emerge Friday afternoon for a nearly 3-hour-long crossing of 8 1/2 miles of streets. Among 80 invited torchbearers, soccer great Diego Maradona remained in doubt, but former tennis star Gabriela Sabatini confirmed she'll be the last runner.

Organizers said competitive rowing teams will also glide with the torch down a canal linked to the muddy River Plate estuary. Then comes a dash past the pink-painted presidential palace, skirting the famed Obelisk spire en route down the broad 9 de Julio Boulevard to a finish at an equestrian club.

Asked where the torch was being sheltered overnight, local security officials said even they did not know.

"That's a state secret," quipped a city sports organizer, Francisco Irarrazabl, one of the few to briefly glimpse the flame on the airport runway.

Turning more serious, he said security concerns were so tight after Paris and San Francisco that the Chinese delegation had requested that a planned photo opportunity on the airport tarmac with news agency photographers be hastily scrapped.

Meanwhile, the Argentines paying attention caught only a few seconds of footage of a wailing police motorcade, sirens blaring as rifle-toting officers in a SWAT van raced from the airport with Chinese delegates aboard a white bus.

Organizers bravely boast of hopes of holding a warm South American-styled street fiesta. But the weather could bedevil the flame: forecasts call for plunging temperatures and afternoon rain storms in the early southern hemisphere autumn. Organizers assured that the aluminum torch, fired by propane, wouldn't go out in a storm - but could be put on a bus in event of heavy rain.

Buenos Aires organizers are anxious to show a brighter face than the city did during ugly 2002 street riots that marked a chaotic descent into a huge debt default of a past economic meltdown.

But clearly the kind of daily protests inspired by riots a half decade ago have now become commonplace in Argentina, even as mayor Mauricio Macri urged protesters to stay away and not make "politics" of a sporting relay.

Authorities are deploying 1,300 federal police, 1,500 naval police and some 3,000 traffic police and volunteers - enough to ensure security "without going to the extreme that nobody will be able to see the torch," Irarrazabal added.

Activists were already preparing protests: Jorge Carcavallo unfurled a giant banner along the torch route reading "Free Tibet."

Falun Gong member Axel Borgia said the spiritual movement banned by China would protest as well, but he wouldn't give details. "The Olympic Games and crimes against humanity cannot coexist in China," Borgia said.

Amnesty International's local chapter issued a statement condemning what it called a growing human rights crackdown in Tibet. It wasn't taking part in protests but said the relay has become a rallying point for those demanding free speech and civil liberties in China and its territories.

Surprisingly, the torch relay has generated little of the attention garnered on other stops. Flame-snuffing incidents in Paris and protesters by climbers on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco were buried deep inside most newspapers.

One capital shopkeeper, Thomas Briega, said he was paying attention to the relay and hoped the torch would get through Buenos Aires unscathed after the chaos elsewhere.

"I hope to God nothing bad happens," he said.

Also on Friday, Singapore's prime minister warned that recent protests along the Olympic torch relay have angered the Chinese public and will create "consequences" beyond the games themselves.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the people of China are viewing the protests as an affront to their country during what should be "China's coming-out party, to celebrate its progress" and opening up to the world, according to a government statement.

Written By BILL CORMIER

Email To A Friend