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We’ve discussed Free Trade (FT) extensively here, so I thought this
panel discussion from PBS NewsHour would interest some. US- Latin American
Relations @ http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/jan-june04/summit_1-13.html “…across Latin America, there's been
growing resistance to U.S. economic and foreign policy. Mexico and Chile
opposed the Iraq invasion at the U.N. Brazil ushered in a left-leaning president
critical of the global economy. And protesters in Bolivia and Argentina ousted
leaders perceived to be aligned with corporate interests and the International
Monetary Fund. But the most vehement U.S. foe is the Venezuelan president. Hugo
Chavez has resisted U.S. criticism of his close ties with Cuba's Fidel Castro.
And Sunday, Chavez blasted national security advisor Condoleezza Rice, after
she endorsed a Venezuela recall vote against Chavez. PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ
(Translated): Let's prepare President Bush's security adviser a reading and
writing comprehension course for adults to see if she can learn how to read. RAY SUAREZ: Brazil,
South America's dominant economy, has led the opposition to the Bush trade
plan, which was endorsed by the summit. But Brazilian President Luiz Inacio
Lula Da Silva, known as Lula, helped delete any language setting a firm
deadline. Lula's government is also fingerprinting American visitors to Brazil,
a retaliation against a similar U.S. measure for foreign nationals. Criticism of the U.S. and commitment to free trade RAY SUAREZ: For more
on the America's summit, we get three views. Mark Falcoff is a resident scholar
at the American Enterprise Institute, and has written widely on Latin America.
Moises Naim is the editor of Foreign Policy Magazine and the former minister of
trade and industry of Venezuela. And Robert Pastor is a professor of
international relations at American University, and author of numerous books on
trade and Latin America. He served on President Carter's National Security
Council staff. Well, Gentlemen, the
meeting broke up just a few hours ago with both blasts for Bush and the United
States over free trade and an acceptance that the free trade of the Americas
negotiations remain on track working toward a 2005 deadline. What do you make
of that, Mark Falcoff?
RAY SUAREZ: The date
as a goal, as a barrier, was sort of removed by common agreement. Does this mean
that the FTAA remains just a polite fiction amongst these negotiators or is
this a real thing that still has a real shot? ROBERT PASTOR : Well,
they still have agreement on the date based on the previous summits but I think
Mark is quite right that the differences now are so huge and the political will
seems so miniscule that they're unlikely to achieve that within a short period
of time. I think the one great dissatisfaction that was evidenced by the Latin
Americans was that perhaps trade is not
enough, that trade is not the path to development, that something more than
trade is needed. And unless the leaders
can find a way to define that alternative as the European Union did, then I
think the prospects of completing the free trade area of the Americas will not
be good. RAY SUAREZ: Moises
Niam, why that split vision, both blistering criticism of the American
ambitions to reach a free trade area of the Americas and an agreement to keep
working on it?
(end of excerpt) |
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