WASHINGTON — The White House confirmed yesterday that President Bush will attend a summit of Latin American heads of state in Argentina next month, ending speculation he would skip the event due to security concerns or to avoid an encounter with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

Bush will be in the beach town of Mar del Plata for a meeting of 34 hemispheric leaders Nov. 3-5, part of a regional integration project launched in Miami more than 10 years ago. He will then travel to Brazil and Panama.

There was speculation Bush would not attend because of plans by Argentine radicals to stage protests and to avoid a run-in with Chávez, a leftist-populist.

In 1994, leaders enthusiastically embraced concepts like free trade, privatization and economic deregulation.

But talks to create a hemisphere-wide Free Trade Area of the Americas have stalled, and much of South America is governed by left-leaning leaders critical of U.S. policies to lower barriers to trade and promote investment and private enterprise.