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Leaders fail to agree on free trade talks
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-06 09:19 MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina - Leaders from across the
Americas ended their two-day summit Saturday without agreeing whether to restart
talks on a free trade zone stretching from Alaska to Chile.
Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa said the summit's declaration would
state two opposing views: one favoring the proposed Free Trade Area of the
Americas, and another saying discussions should wait until after World Trade
Organization talks in December.
The decision came after negotiations extended eight hours past the scheduled
deadline. Almost all the leaders — including President Bush — left during the
discussions and put other negotiators in charge.
Mexico, the United States and 27 other nations wanted to set an April
deadline for talks, but that was opposed by Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay
and Venezuela.
The United States says the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas,
stretching from Canada to Chile, would open up new markets for Americans and
bring wealth and jobs to Latin America.
The zone's main opponent, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, said it would
enslave Latin American workers. He came to the summit vowing to "bury FTAA."
In the declaration, the five dissenting countries stated: "The conditions do
not exist to attain a hemispheric free trade accord that is balanced and fair
with access to markets that is free of subsidies and distorting practices."
The last-minute haggling at the summit of 34 Latin American and Caribbean
nations came after Brazil — Latin America's largest economy — hedged at setting
a firm date for talks because it wants to focus on WTO talks aimed at cutting
tariffs around the world and boosting the global economy.
"Anything we do now, before the WTO meeting, could confuse the facts and we'd
be creating an impediment to the WTO," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting at Argentina's most
renowned summer resort.
Mar del Plata was calm Saturday after protesters opposed to Bush's presence
the FTAA clashed in street battles with riot police, burning and ransacking
businesses just 10 blocks from the theater where the summit opened. Sixty-four
people were arrested, but police reported no deaths or major injuries.
Security remained tight. A huge downtown section of Mar del Plata remained
closed by metal barriers, and police and soldiers toted semiautomatic weapons.
Protests have become commonplace at summits, especially those dealing with
free trade and U.S. policies. But Friday's violence was on a much smaller scale
than clashes in 2001 during the Americas Summit in Canada, when police detained
400 people and scores were injured.
During a Friday rally, Chavez declared the deal dead in a speech to more than
20,000 demonstrators.
On Saturday, Mexican President Vicente Fox expressed irritation with Chavez,
saying: "This is a personal position of the Venezuelan president."
Fox also denied allegations by Chavez that Washington was trying to
strong-arm the region into a free trade agreement.
"No one has ever been forced into a free trade deal," he said.
The summit declaration also was expected to address such key issues as job
creation, immigration and disaster relief for an area often devastated by
hurricanes and earthquakes.
But the battle over the trade zone dominated the meeting, with Chavez pushing
for the creation of a trade zone just for Latin America and the Caribbean based
on socialist ideals.
Fox argued that the 29 countries that want to forge ahead should form the
FTAA on their own — even though that would dash hopes of creating a bloc
eclipsing the European Union.
Leftist activists also protested Friday in Uruguay, Venezuela and Brazil —
where Bush was headed for a much-anticipated visit with Silva. He travels Sunday
to Panama.
Bush planned to spend Saturday night in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia, and
be Silva's guest at a Sunday barbecue.
The visit is aimed at strengthening relations with Silva,
who was distrusted by Washington after becoming Brazil's first elected leftist
leader in 2003. Since then, Silva — a former shoeshine boy, grade-school
dropout, lathe operator and radical union leader — has abandoned his leftist
rhetoric and has stabilized Brazil's economy.
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