Latin leaders steer away from US in policy on Colombia's civil war, Cuba

yahoo.com news ^ | May 25, 2003 | AFP

[Cincinatus' Wife]

CUSCO, Peru (AFP) - Latin leaders at a Rio Group summit took bold strides away from US policy leadership, seeking separate strategies on bringing Colombia's civil war to a negotiated end, and on communist-ruled Cuba.

Peru's President Alejandro Toledo told reporters leaders gathered in this ancient Inca city that leaders agreed to ask UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to press Colombia's guerrillas and paramilitaries to negotiate a peace deal.

"We have agreed to ask the UN secretary general to call on the FARC (Colombia's largest rebel force) to end the violence, sit down to talks and make progress toward peace," host Toledo said.

The Rio Group brings together Latin American and Caribbean leaders regularly to coordinate regional and extraregional policy positions outside the United Nations. The two-day meeting hosted 19 leaders from across the Americas.

"If that does not work," Toledo said at a press conference with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, "we will keep talking, because the Rio Group has not made any decision about militarization" or sending in troops from elsewhere inside the region to support Colombia's fight against insurgents.

"Peace is what we are concerned about," Toledo added. "That is why we agreed to ask Annan, in coordination with the Rio Group and Colombia, to work together for peace, put down arms and facilitate progress" toward peace.

Panama, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru have an immediate interest in pacifying Colombia, beaten down by a four-decade conflict that threatens to spill over into their territories.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said earlier that with the regional effort, "for the first time in Latin America, terrorists in Colombia have got the message that they are not invincible."

Leaders also signed a document called the Cusco Consensus on a series of initiatives aimed at bolstering democratic rule and mechanics among member countries.

The reassertion of multilateralism also came after Latin American protests at the US-led war on Iraq fell on deaf ears. Chile and Mexico have felt some strains in their ties with Washington, as the United States put off signing a free trade pact with Chile and the White House did not hold its usual party to honor Mexico's Cinco de Mayo holiday.

And Latin American leaders have been bolstered in their independence from US policy with the recent elections of several left-of-center leaders, among them Lula da Silva, Brazil's first elected leftist president.

Venezuela's elected populist-leftist President Hugo Chavez took part, but Cuba, the region's only one-party communist system, as has been the tradition, did not.

But Brazil's Lula said he was in favor of Cuba taking part in the next summit, which will be held in Brazil, and said he would handle necessary consultations with regional leaders.

US policy toward Cuba is aimed at isolating and squeezing Castro's government, but more than 43 years into his rule, it is often criticized as ineffective.

And Lula's open arms come despite Cuba's recent crackdown on dissidents and execution of ferry hijackers seeking to flee to the United States, measures that brought an international outcry even from many longtime Castro supporters.

Lula also told reporters the Rio Group would be sending a firm message to Group of Eight leaders meeting in Evian, France, next month rejecting farm subsidies, and in favor of better market access for exports from the region.

"We cannot accept multi-million-dollar farm subsidies, arbitrary trade measures, and protectionism . . . which take markets away from us and keep us from reaping the fruits of our labor," said Lula, who with Mexican President Vicente Fox will represent the Rio Group at the meeting in Evian June 1-3.

Lula said he hoped the meeting with G8 leaders would mark "a sign that our voice may be heard, and that rich countries may be ready to change their behavior so that free trade is a two-way street."

[Nitro]

They are probably still pissed about that piece of country we carved off and called Panama...

Power can be good, but it can also inspire hatred.

[Zipporah]

This reflects what I have been told by a close friend who is married to a Colombian. There is a pan American society that he belongs to and there will never be solidarity. The Colombians believe they are better than the Venezualians.. the Venezualians believe they are better than the Brazilians.. they all believe they are better than the Peruvians and the Mexicans.. so it goes.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

And jealously.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Interesting. I've had tradespeople work in my home who make a point of distinguishing themselves as being Guatamalan, El Salvadoran, etc. Apparently they don't think Mexicans are high on the list. Snobbery.

[Zipporah]

It is interesting.. in Colombia the 'upper crust' absolutely are classist. IF a person looks 'indian' ie Mayan etc. they are definitely rejected such as the Peruvians and Mexicans. The Mexicans of Spanish decent are looked on differently.

[Nitro]

Once again, I have proven that I am not perfect!

My Father is gonna be pissed!

[Cacique]

ping

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Put Politics Before Economy - Venezuela's Chavez Slams Pan-American Trade Pact*** Chavez proposed instead a social and political pact called the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, named after Simon Bolivar, the 19th century general who struggled in vain to politically unite South America. "We don't even need anything like Mercosur (a trade bloc grouping Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay), because we can't put the economy first in terms of integration. Political unity needs to come first," he said.

Chavez's opponents, who have organized months of violent protests, accuse him of authoritarian, communist-style rule in the world's No. 5 oil exporting nation. One person was killed and 22 hurt on Saturday when shooting erupted at an anti-Chavez rally in Caracas. The Venezuelan leader declined to comment on the violence, which came a day after government and opposition negotiators agreed to a pact that could lead to a referendum on his rule. ***

[wunderkind54]

Oh my god...where do I begin with this??

Suggesting a disavowance of anything the U.S. might purport, these nitwits are embracing Kofi Annan and the U.N.? Puh-leeze! Why not send Hans "Can't find my ass with both hands" Blix over at the same time?!

And the petulant tone about Bush not holding the annual Cinco de Mayo observation in Washington is astounding. Why not Bolivia Day, or Uruguay Awareness Week??

Miring oneself in leftist ideologies will not be an improvement. Disdaining U.S. advice is/and will be shortsided.

[q_an_a]

What is good about this whole Latin situation is that using the UN and a series of socialist governments will show the S American countries why Chile works and they do not. It is that Chile has decided to work out a system that supports the entrepenuer as the social future.

In five more years they will be so far ahead that even the LULU and Chavez wing of S. America will not be able to stop the desire for change by people that will call it the Chile revolution instead of the American revolution. It is still a combination of U of Chicago and Fernando Flores. Capitalism.

[Beck_isright]

No problem. If you disagree with us, don't look under the Christmas tree for your annual gift of aid. We should dissolve the OAS and any nation which does not agree with our policy will not be included in any beneficial trade or immigration agreements. That should change some minds quickly.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Suggesting a disavowance of anything the U.S. might purport, these nitwits are embracing Kofi Annan and the U.N.? Puh-leeze! Why not send Hans "Can't find my ass with both hands" Blix over at the same time?!

And

"If that does not work," Toledo said at a press conference with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, "we will keep talking,.............

Right! That appoach is so ineffective, it's obvious no change is wanted by these "leaders."

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Chavez is all hat and no horse.
He really is Castro's parrot.

___________________________________________

Chavez takes cue from Castro - Venezuela Says Colombia Exporters To Be Paid, But Not Yet [Full Text] BOGOTA -(Dow Jones)- Venezuelan government officials said Thursday they plan to allow their importers to pay the $200 million to $300 million that Colombian exporters are owed for goods already sent to and received in Venezuela

But Venezuela Production and Trade Minister Ramon Rosales, speaking in Bogota at a meeting with Colombian exporters, added that it will be another two weeks before further details of the payment process will be avaialable.

Up to 800 Colombian exporters and other business leaders who deal with Venezuela are awaiting payments from Venezuela. The exporters are becoming impatient due to four-month-old currency restrictions in Venezuela that have tightened dollar flows, saddling importers there with dollar-debts they are unable to pay.

Also speaking at the meeting was Juan Emilio Posada, president of Colombia's largest airline, Alianza Summa. He said the carrier is owed $3.8 million in Venezuela and that this figure increases $1 million each month.

"What's the purpose of selling in a country that can't pay," Posada told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting. "The moment will soon arrive in which this type of business is unsustainable."

Summa flies to Caracas from Bogota three times a day.

Venezuela's Rosales responded, saying a special plan will be set up so airlines such as Alianza Summa can be paid.

During the first two months of the year, Colombian exports to Venezuela totaled $69 million, down from $233 million in the first two months of 2002. [End]

__________________________________________

When all these big talkers get together in one room it certainly is full of bluster but when they get home, reality is there to greet them.

Thanks, Hugo! President of Venezuela deserves free-market award***It's time to nominate Venezuela's populist President Hugo Chávez to the ''Milton Friedman Award'' for his indefatigable work to advance the cause of free-market policies and political harmony in the developing world.

I'm not kidding. No other head of state has done so much in such a short time to wreck his country's economy, and to discourage his neighbors from engaging in the kind of finger-waving populism that has brought about massive capital flight and record poverty levels in Venezuela.

If it weren't for the disastrous performance of Chávez's ''peaceful revolution,'' Brazil's new leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would have probably launched the anti-free market policies he had championed for the past three decades, several foreign diplomats and politicians told me during a recent trip to Brazil. And Ecuador and Argentina probably would have followed suit.***

[bart99]

"Suggesting a disavowance of anything the U.S. might purport, these nitwits are embracing Kofi Annan and the U.N.? Puh-leeze! Why not send Hans "Can't find my ass with both hands" Blix over at the same time?! . Disdaining U.S. advice is/and will be shortside" --------------------------------- Actually, it's kinda nice to hear that some countries will NOT expect that the USA will solve all their problems for them. We shouldn't. We should be prepared to respond with assistance, IF asked, and something stronger if threatened. Period. It's like the world saying it is the US's responsibility to acheive pece in the mid-east, or to deal with the North Koreans - as if other countries can sit on the sidelines and watch. Besides, didn't Carter just do a wondeful job in Venezuela a few months ago - everything should be smooth there now and the oil back flowing in a free-market society. Yup..... we need more Carters in South America. Oh, OK..... Kofi will do I think Bush and company will pick our engagments carefully.

[FITZ]

They are probably still pissed about that piece of country we carved off and called Panama...

Didn't we give that back or at least we got rid of it? Now it's in the hands of the Chinese isn't it?