SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - With Bolivia's bloody popular revolt fresh in their minds, Latin American leaders meeting over the weekend faced up to their failure to fight poverty over the last 20 years when the region embraced free-market policies.
As host of the annual summit of 19 Latin American countries, Spain and Portugal, Bolivia put poverty and unrest at the top of the agenda after violent protests by its own poor majority toppled a pro-market president and key U.S. ally last month.
"Despite our attempts to build something for all, exclusion, intolerance and discrimination are still the order of the day," said Bolivia's new president, Carlos Mesa, at the two-day event that ended on Saturday.
The summit's final declaration echoed the president, saying "economic reforms did not diminish inequality and social exclusion and in some cases worsened the situation."
Leaders said they would help Bolivia stabilize its economy to avert further turmoil in the Andean region. With no money in its coffers, Bolivia has asked for financing and special access to markets for its goods.
Like its neighbors, Bolivia opened markets to imports and foreign investment and privatized industry with the encouragement of the United States and Europe. But more than 60 percent of Bolivians still live in poverty, making it the poorest nation in South America despite its large gas and mineral reserves.
The story repeats itself across the region. The United Nations says 43 percent of Latin Americans live below the poverty line, while the number of poor has risen to 225 million in 2003 from 200 million in 1990.
At the opening of the summit, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan bluntly warned leaders about more difficulties to come.
"If you do not succeed in tackling deep social problems, some may be tempted to turn their back on the global market," Annan said after a 10-day tour of the Andean region where he noted democracy "is still vulnerable."
FREE TRADE ATTACKED
In Bolivia, rejection of a government plan to export gas to the United States sparked protests by peasant and indigenous groups. But others quickly joined in, like the coca leaf farmers who oppose the eradication of their crops in the U.S.-backed anti-drug war. Some 80 people died in clashes during a one-month standoff.
Many of the protest organizers came to the steamy and prosperous city of Santa Cruz for their own alternative summit where they voiced opposition to an Americas-wide free-trade zone in 2005, a U.S. priority in the region.
"This deal will be the economic and environmental ruin of the region," indigenous leader Carlos Medina told the Latin American and Iberian leaders, including the King of Spain. Cuban President Fidel Castro, an icon of the protesters, did not attend the summit.
Some Latin leaders have expressed doubts about the benefits of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, or FTAA, and want to slow down negotiations until they have proper guarantees from the United States, particularly on their farm products.
But presidents from Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Mexico were optimistic about key FTAA talks next week in Miami after agreeing on Saturday to push for a more flexible FTAA in which countries will commit according to their economic conditions.
"FTAA should not be only about big countries and trade, but rather for the sustainable and social development of the smallest and poorest countries," said Mexican President Vicente Fox
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.