QUITO, Ecuador - Ecuadorean security forces battled protesters Thursday but the standoff failed to disrupt the work of trade ministers trying to hammer out a regional trade pact.
An estimated 10,000 anti-free trade protesters were not the only voices clamoring for an audience in Quito as trade officials from 34 nations met as part of negotiations for a Free Trade Area of the Americas. Representatives of a business forum, of civil society groups and the Hemispheric Social Alliance handed their recommendations over to the government officials Thursday, just one day before the minister was to issue a Declaration of Quito.
Police and army troops, some with dogs, cordoned off blocks of the city surrounding the Marriott Hotel, where the trade ministers were meeting under tight security. Troops stood by while protesters from Latin America and the United States waved banners and danced on armored vehicles. They then fired tear gas on protesters, dispersing them.
''The FTAA is not seeking a true free market, but the opening up of Latin American markets for the United States,'' said Juan Jine, a leader of the Guatemalan Coordinator of Indigenous and Rural People.
Ensconced behind several lines of police in the Marriott, trade ministers made no reference to the street protests, which included farmers who had marched for several days from Colombia and Peru. But there were other shadows hanging over the talks, which are showing the strain of carrying out trade negotiations over tariffs and investment rules in a world where trade agreements have become politicized.
Experts and observers had few expectations of big announcements or breakthroughs at the Quito meeting, as the worsening economic problems of the region further dampened the atmosphere.
Even business leaders -- boosters of the process from the moment the goal of negotiating a free trade area from Canada to Chile was floated -- were soured on some of the proposals. With new presidents set to take office in Brazil and Ecuador, Argentina's economy in collapse and Venezuela's government led by President Hugo Chavez calling for a slowdown in the pace of talks, at least four key players in the talks could not guarantee that future governments would keep past commitments.
Business leaders from different countries clashed at the Business Forum of the Americas and many questioned whether their recommendations were being heard. ''This process is exhausted,'' said Colombian lawyer Gabriel Ibarra, who had worked on a panel about competitive policy. ``What is the point of coming here if no one listens to us?''
No one expects trade talks to run smoothly, but there were signs of little and big strains.
Guayaquil industrial leaders refused to join the Ecuadorean business coalition because they rejected having a joint position for Andean countries. After the Andean countries of Boliva, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela had agreed in principal to negotiate tariff reductions as a block, Colombia backed down and agreed to lower tariff rates favored by the United States.
But by far the biggest disagreement was over the issue of U.S. agricultural subsidies. For Brazil, which runs a trade deficit in manufacturing and machinery, the only way to increase exports is through agriculture -- exporting citrus and soy to the United States.
But representatives from nearly all the countries launched into heated discussions of U.S. farm subsidies.
Asked what would happen if there was no agreement on this thorny agricultural issue, Roberto Nesto, president of Peru's National Society of Industries, warned: ``Then we would have a major problem.''
Some participants believe the distance between the sides is so great that the sensitive agricultural issue will be moved to the World Trade Organization, where trade negotiators are trying to work out a simultaneous reduction in European, Japanese and U.S. farm subsidies.
This is not a solution favored by the Latin American countries, but U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick has already insisted that if the FTAA is stalled, the United States will push forward with bilateral talks, including ones with Chile, Central America and even bilateral discussions with Argentina.
The trade agreement is not only about lowering import duties over a five-, 10- or even 15-year period. Patterned after the North American Free Trade Agreement, the FTAA would also establish rules protecting foreign investment, privatize many government services and do away with local laws about government purchases.
In an attempt to highlight momentum in the midst of considerable skepticism, Zoellick called a news conference to announce a Hemispheric Technical Assistance program to help small countries prepare for opening their borders to imports.
But the program, with U.S. funding to increase from $100 million to $140 million next year, falls far short of more ambitious programs that Latin American leaders are demanding to fight poverty.
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