Miami residents often repeat the joke that Latins love the city because it is so close to the United States.
Leave it to El Salvador to remind Floridians that Miami is part of the United States.
During Gov. Jeb Bush's five-day whirlwind tour of Central America to build trade relations and gain new endorsements for Miami's bid to land the secretariat of a proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas, Salvadoran President Francisco Flores sidestepped any backing for the Miami location.
Flores withheld any endorsement because he is about to leave office. But the Salvadoran president did raise the issue of whether Latin America and the Caribbean would insist on a location outside of the United States for the secretariat.
THE BIG `IF'
The president called Miami a natural site, if ''Latin America and the Caribbean decide that the permanent secretariat be located in the United States,'' according to a statement from the Florida FTAA.
When Bush and a Florida business entourage took off on the Central America tour on Feb. 16, the governor was hoping to return with at least two solid endorsements of Miami's bid for the FTAA secretariat.
A SINGLE `YEAH'
Three stops and one missed landing later, Bush could tally up one firm ''yes'' vote for Miami -- from Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaņos. Miami also received one vote if Trinidad & Tobago dropped out since Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco has already endorsed Port-of-Spain, a decline from Flores and a pending decision from Honduran President Ricardo Maduro.
Bush was unable to ascertain Maduro's support because the governor's final stop in Honduras was canceled after heavy fog closed Tegucigalpa's international airport. The five-day trip was a joint effort of Enterprise Florida, the state's economic development agency, and Florida FTAA, Inc., a public-private effort seeking the secretariat.
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