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Targeting terrorism, drugs, trade EU, Latin American leaders agree at summit to boost cooperation [Full Text] MADRID, Spain -- Nearly 50 European and Latin American leaders agreed Friday to boost their cooperation fighting terrorism and drug trafficking, while saying a European Union-Chile free trade deal could be an example for the whole region. Worried by growing instability in Latin America, EU leaders also urged their counterparts from the region to stick with democratic and economic reforms. "There must be no return to the outdated recipes of the past," Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said, opening a two-day summit of leaders from Europe, South and Central America and the Caribbean.

Latin American leaders asked Europe to offer practical help and not dictate solutions. "We are not here to be lectured at. We will only accept advice," said Argentine Foreign Minister Carlos Ruckhauf. At the request of Colombian President Andres Pastrana, EU leaders agreed to consider adding the leftist guerrilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to the EU terrorist list. Latin America has been shaken in recent months by the collapse of the Argentine economy, political chaos in Venezuela and resurgent violence in Colombia. The summit marked the first trip abroad for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez since a failed coup against him in April.

The EU initialed a new "association agreement" with Chile, which will free up $7.7 billion worth of trade. The deal, which will be signed formally in a few months, comes two years after a similar accord with Mexico. Despite concerns about economic progress, EU-Latin American trade has doubled over the past decade, making the region the EU's second largest trading partner. EU exports totaled $51 billion while its imports from Latin America amounted to $45.6 billion. [End]

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Chavez (castro wannabe) says EU summit going in wrong direction***The summit host, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, made a subtle dig at Chavez when asked for his reaction. "It's always possible to progress more at summits....and it's also possible to be present at summits when they are held," said Aznar, whose country currently holds the EU presidency. "I would have liked to have seen my friend Hugo Chavez in the summit of Andean nations, but we were not that fortunate," he said, referring to a meeting between EU and Andean leaders held while the Venezuelan leader was giving his news conference. Aznar defended the Madrid summit, saying it had produced substantial results.

The Venezuelan leader, who won fame in a failed 1992 coup against painful International Monetary Fund-backed reforms in his oil-rich nation, said an international pledge at the Millennium Summit in 2000 to halve world poverty appeared to have been forgotten. "I don't think there is any political will in the world at the moment to do that," the Venezuelan leader said. "We are in a labyrinth with no escape". He added that the European Union and Latin America had made little progress towards a "strategic alliance" since the first meeting of regional leaders in Rio de Janeiro in 1999. "What have we done in the last three years? We have not taken may steps forward," he added. "I do not see any trace of grand policy at these summits."

No stranger to controversy, Chavez's three-year-old "democratic revolution" has divided his South American nation along class lines, with many among the poor majority keeping faith with his pledge to increase social justice despite bitter opposition from economic elites.***