MIAMI (AFP) - Scores of anti-globalization activists spent much of the day building giant papier-mache puppets and painting signs, in preparation for major protests here Thursday and Friday.
A flood of marchers are expected to converge in Miami to vent their anger against the Free Trade Area of the Americas, as trade ministers from across the hemisphere meet here to work on details of the agreement.
The protestors belong to disparate groups -- everything from organic farmers, affordable housing supporters and advocates for animal and immigrant rights -- that rarely coordinate events.
Many of those unaffilliated with labor unions gathered at a warehouse in a Miami industrial zone to work on the protest material.
The site Wednesday was a beehive of activity, with protestors entering and exiting the warehouse under the watchful gaze of young toughs that had their faces covered with bandanas. News reporters briefly toured the site on Tuesday, but were not allowed in Wednesday.
"We want these meetings to fall apart," said Rocky Pyskoty, 25, who came from Chicago to join the protest. "We are welcoming the (trade) delegates to join us in the streets to start a world of free and fair trade."
Separately thousands of members of the AFL-CIO, one of the largest union umbrella organizations in the United States, are expected to arrive for marches.
In the early afternoon Wednesday AFL-CIO President John Sweeney made a surprise visit to the activist warehouse.
The contrast was marked: Sweeney, 69, wore dark formal pants, a blue button-down shirt and leather suspeders. He was surrounded by a crowd young enough to be his grandchildren, many wearing cut-off shorts, T-shirts and wearing bandanas over their hair.
"We have every expectation that we'll have a peaceful rally on Thursday," said Sweeney. "I'm proud of what they are doing," he added, noting a convergence with the unions on "similar issues" such as worker's rights.
FTAA advocates say the agreement would create the largest free market area in the world, and would generate jobs across the hemisphere.
Jose Bravo, member of a group that links labor and environmental causes, doesn't believe that. He opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) back in 1994, and now he opposes the FTAA.
"They're calling the FTAA a NAFTA on steroids," said Bravo, who traveled from San Diego, California to join the protest.
The NAFTA "didn't raise the standard of living in Mexico," he said. "The FTAA will exploit workers and force a downward spiral in wages."
At a nearby city park about 200 activists gathered to hear speakers talk about the perils of the FTAA.
"They've called it by many names since 1492," decried Sagridan Murphy, director of the American Indian Movement in Florida, as he addressed the crowd.
"They called it conquest, colonialism, Manifest Destiny . . . and now they call it the Free Theft Area of the Americas!"
The crowd roared in approval.
"The people, united, will never be defeated!" they chanted, repeating the slogan in Spanish.
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