Update 8: Leaders Fail to Agree on Free Trade Talks (Americas summit)

Forbes ^ | Nov. 8, 2005 | AP

[FairOpinion]

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."

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.

[FairOpinion]

Chavez is trying to turn the entire S. America socialist, see the last paragraph of the excerpt.

[Buck W.]

I'm surprised Bush went.

[familyop]

Central and South America are immersed in a Latin identity kind of national socialism, including something very much like Nazism. They've been indoctrinated by visiting/migrating/hiding west Europeans for the past 60 years.