Bush Struggles for Support at Latin America Summit

[Say_What]

Uh, oh. BushCo meeing with plenty of resistance from LatAm leaders.

<clips>

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) struggled to persuade leaders across the Americas to back his economic, trade and security agenda at a summit on Tuesday but faced skepticism as many edge away from U.S. policies.

Bush called on Latin American leaders to embrace market reforms, greater democracy and quick progress on a contentious Americas-wide free trade deal.

...But several Latin American countries have moved to the political left and Washington-backed economic policies are no longer an easy sell in the region.

Brazil and Argentina, which back free trade, are fiercely critical of U.S. trade policy, saying its own massive agricultural subsidies effectively block access to the lucrative U.S. market for more efficient producers.

..."The great destabilizer in the region is poverty and neo-liberalism," Venezuela's firebrand President Hugo Chavez said in a speech here on Monday night

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20040113/ts_nm/americas_dc

---

Leaders of the Americas discuss governance, development

Monterrey, Mexico, Jan 13 (EFE).- The leaders of the Western Hemisphere except Cuba are scheduled to discuss democratic governance and social development here Tuesday during the final sessions of the Summit of the Americas.

The 34 heads of state and government participating in the two-day conclave in this northern Mexican city are expected to sign a statement stressing the need for the hemisphere to step up its fight against corruption and poverty and to encourage the development of small and medium-sized businesses.

Summiteers will also take advantage of the final hours of the event to hold bilateral meetings.

U.S. President George W. Bush plans to meet with Argentine and Bolivian counterparts Nestor Kirchner and Carlos Mesa, respectively.

The host of the summit, Mexican President Vicente Fox, is scheduled to meet with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, and later with the presidents of Uruguay and Ecuador, Jorge Batlle and Lucio Gutierrez, respectively.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, for his part, is expected to meet with Panamanian leader Mireya Moscoso and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Horst Koehler.

http://www.efenews.com/includesasp/noticias.asp?opcion=1&id=5883080


Activists : Antiglobalization activists twirl flaming sticks through the air while shouting slogans against the Special Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico. (AFP/Jorge Uzon)

[RandomKoolzip]

1. I want to hear Chavez go head-to-head with Bush....

And I want him to bring up Poppy and the CIA's involvement in dozens of military strikes, coups and covert actions in LAtin America. Maybe then they can be open to globalization and free market landrape.

3. Don't you want to go back

to the Lounge where it's safe!!!:evilgrin:

[RandomKoolzip]

6. Just keep me out of GD2004 and all will be fine.....

n/t

7. ok, although

I discovered this morning that GD2004 is better than caffeine. I got three or four entries into a thread and my blood pressure started going up and I suddenly felt way too wide awake and ... well you get the idea.

2. interesting times

Just a general comment. One strangely good thing that seems to be coming from the bushistas obsession with Iraq is that they have been ignoring Latin America (relatively speaking) & Latin America is coalescing into quite a force. This would be happening even if the bushistas had been paying attention, but I think it might be happening faster than otherwise. I hope it continues.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Most attention paid to Latin America by previous Republican Presidencies

seems to have been covert, and deadly, underhanded and dishonest.

They deserve a chance to live as free countries without our right-wing lunatics breathing down their necks.

[cprise]

9. "The great destabilizer in the region is poverty and neo-liberalism,"

He is talking about Clinton and Blair, not just the Bushes.

He is saying that the U.S. is a purveyor of economic violence. Dealing with it is SA's current dilema.

[xchrom]

5. oh bush is always struggling

with something -- he struggles to eat a damn pretzel.

[Laughing Mirror]

8. Latin America knows that the US is weak and slipping

That the dollar is collapsing, that Bush is tied up in Iraq and elsewhere, and since Cancun last year, that "globalization" and the World Trade Organization are dead as a doorknob. So they're not afraid to put up a resistance anymore to the dying colossus from the north.

[suegeo]

10. You are either with us or against us

Can't Smirky just brand them as terrorists and bomb them into democracy? After all, 9.11 changed everything!

Besides the adults are in charge now, and freedom = free trade!

/end Sarcasm

[JohnyCanuck]

11. Why should they believe anything coming from Smirky?

After all, he is a proven liar.