[Bloquez l'empire!] 10, 000 Summit demonstrators gather to protest againstBush

[Mary Foster]

> Summit demonstrators gather to protest against Bush
>
> Friday, November 4, 2005 Posted at 8:14 AM EST
>
> Associated Press
>
> Mar Del Plata, Argentina  - U.S. President George W. Bush, greeted Friday
by thousands of anti-American protesters, is making his call for liberalized
trade and increased entrepreneurship in Argentina, a country that adopted
such reforms in the 1990s and saw its economy collapse.
>
> Supporters of free trade say those policies aren't to blame for the
financial crisis and resulting bloody riots four years ago. Instead, they
point to other mistakes, chief among them government corruption and
Argentina's heavy borrowing.
>
> An estimated 10,000 demonstrators, shouting "Get out Bush!" and marching
in the streets of this seaside resort, illustrate the skepticism that many
South Americans have toward U.S.-led negotiations for a Free Trade Area of
the Americas stretching from Alaska to Argentina.
>
> Mr. Bush, who met Friday with national leaders who signed the recently
passed Central American Free Trade Accord, says open trade among nations in
the Western Hemisphere and beyond would help alleviate poverty. He's pushing
that agenda with the 34 nations gathered at the two-day Summit of the
Americas.
>
> Demonstrators poured into Mar del Plata for Friday's opening day. Police
with riot shields redoubled security, and navy ships patrolled offshore as
helicopters clattered over the luxury hotel where leaders will meet.
>
> "We're going to say 'No to Bush' and 'No to FTAA,"' said Argentine labour
leader Juan Gonzalez. "We don't have any confidence in anything he might
propose here. Whatever it is will only prolong hunger, poverty and death in
Latin America."
>
> Mr. Bush has acknowledged that the FTAA, which was once one of his highest
trade priorities, has stalled. Thomas Shannon, the new assistant secretary
of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said aboard Air Force One on the
flight to Argentina that the U.S. is still promoting the FTAA even though it
has been "slowed down," but also is pursuing regional and bilateral
agreements to move the president's free trade agenda.
>
> Mr. Bush is highlighting his success by gathering first thing Friday with
leaders of Central American nations involved in a recently approved trade
pact with the United States. Later in the day, Bush has one-on-one meetings
with the president of Chile, which negotiated a bilateral trade agreement
with the U.S., and the host of the summit, Argentine President Nestor
Kirchner.
>
> Mr. Bush and an outspoken critic, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, were
likely to meet Friday, shortly after Chavez's speech to a demonstration of
mostly anti-Bush protesters. Chavez has joked about whether Bush is afraid
of him and said he might sneak up and scare Mr. Bush at the summit.
>
> Mr. Chavez has said he would use the meeting as a stage to denounce the
U.S. as a "capitalist, imperialist model" of democracy that exploits the
economies of developing nations.
>
> Mr. Bush's trip comes as he faces the lowest job approval ratings of his
presidency back home.
>
> Argentina's economy is recovering faster than many leading analysts
expected, in part because of a boom in exports. But the country still
suffers from double-digit unemployment and high poverty.
>
> Mr. Bush applauded Mr. Kirchner, the populist leader who was elected in
the political upheaval that followed the economic collapse, for being a good
steward of the people's money. But he said Mr. Kirchner shouldn't look to
the United States to help Argentina reach a new financial settlement with
the International Monetary Fund.
>
> "Since he has proven himself to be capable of performing, it seems like to
me that the best policy ought to be for the Argentine government to deal
directly with the IMF, without the U.S. having to be a middleman," Mr. Bush
said earlier this week.
>
> Relations between Mr. Bush and Mr. Kirchner have been chilly. The
Argentine was an opponent of the war in Iraq and said before their meeting
at the last Summit of the Americas that he would "win by a knockout" in his
private meeting with Bush.
>
> Still, Argentina remains the only country in Latin America that holds
"major non-NATO ally" status with the United States, exempting it from
certain sanctions. The country has co-operated with the United States on
fighting drug trade and terrorism, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley
said.