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November 05, 2005
Free Trade of Insults
The Argentinean press continues to cover the chaotic atmosphere in both Mar del Plata and Buenos Aires during this year's Summit of the Americas, it is clear that Bush's visit is garnering the brunt of the news.
Clarín gives details of how the American president had extensive talks with a number of leaders, including a lengthy session with Argentine President Nestor Kirchner. La Nueva Provincia goes a little further in describing the setting as one that ranges in hostility from "anti-Bush" to "anti-anti-Bush," which is to say very little.
The largest circulation Venezuelan daily,Últimas Noticias, also provides coverage of the summit, including President Hugo Chavez's Declaration of Ten Points (against the Free Trade Zone of the Americas). Apparently both have agreed to be civil if they meet, but Bush has conspicuously avoided most leaders with the exception of Kirchner and the U.S.'s closest Latin American ally, Vincente Fox.
Thus far the reactions to Bush's visit and his accompanying free trade policies can be categorized as:
* Neoliberalism run amok, sheparded by one of the worst imperialists modern history has ever known (Chavez model).
* An audacious move on the part of a man who cares nothing for the poor, but who serves as an important economic ally nonetheless (Kirchner).
* A severe pain in the behind as they bring more attention to the problems plaguing those governments strongly allied with the U.S. (Fox).
* A chance to compare the American head of state to Hitler and human trash without offering much in the way of substantive argument (soccer start Diego Maradona).
It will be interesting to see how the proceedings unfold, but it is clear that with growing poverty and unemployment rising in the region, the "free trade policies applied during the past 15 years by regional governments under pressure from the US and the International Monetary Fund" will persist in their acuity (The Guardian).
Posted November 5, 2005 03:07 AM
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