Amid tight security, deputy trade ministers from 34 countries met Sunday in Miami to hammer out a Free Trade Area of the Americas pact, with insiders predicting "flexibility" this week to ensure at least a watered-down accord by the 2005 deadline.
Venezuela was said to be talking toughest against the U.S.-led accord, but other South American nations were leaning toward compromises that could include signing a wide-ranging pact but allow opting out of certain parts.
The trade leaders convened for FTAA talks in downtown Miami, as security forces deployed bomb-sniffing dogs, offshore patrols, metal detectors, fences and more to safeguard delegates and keep protesters away.
The 34 nations are trying to craft the world's largest trade bloc among all countries of the Americas, except Cuba. They seek to reduce trade barriers, spur economic growth and cut poverty, but differences abound over terms of a pact that spans countries as diverse as the powerful United States and downtrodden Haiti.
"Significant conciliation of views will be achieved [in Miami talks]," Mexico's President Vicente Fox forecast at a Bolivian summit Saturday after meeting with the presidents of Brazil, Argentina and Chile and backing an FTAA.
Meanwhile, cities vying to be chosen as the FTAA headquarters -- including Miami -- lobbied hard to win support. Panama's capital city got the nod from the Dominican Republic's president over the weekend.
Miami instead got egg on its face when Panamanian delegates said they'd been asked to contribute $100,000 if they wanted to hold a reception promoting their bid at the hotel where Miami organizers are hosts for the FTAA talks. "Developing countries like Costa Rica and Ecuador never requested anything like this from us," during previous FTAA meetings at which Panama hosted receptions, said Juan Francisco Kiener, president of Panama's leading business association, who protested the request in a letter. "It's not right."
Panama will hold its reception Tuesday evening instead at a different site, away from official FTAA talks.
Police said they're ready to handle more than 20,000 demonstrators expected in Miami this week, a broad swath from environmentalists to union activists and anarchists who reject moves toward free trade as a corporate grab and "race to the bottom" to exploit labor.
During the weekend, they arrested at least five people opposed to FTAA, including an observer dispatched by protesters to watch officers' conduct. The five were charged with obstructing the sidewalk and refusing to clear out after repeated requests.
About 3,000 employees from 40 different agencies are handling FTAA security, some in bicycle brigades, others on foot and in emergency vehicles and still others ready to use a water cannon on rowdy crowds, if needed.
"It is not a war," Deputy Miami Police Chief Frank Fernandez said. "We're here to create peace."
Police said they've even figured out a way to deal with protesters who might try to block streets by hanging on ropes from a tripod, their feet up off the ground. Instead of possibly choking the demonstrator by cutting the ropes, they'll use a vehicle with a ramp that lets officers grab a protester up high to dislodge him.
"I'm very confident," said Miami-Dade Police Director Carlos Alvarez. "We're as prepared as we'll ever be."
In other FTAA-related news:
- Luis Anderson, secretary general of the labor union federation Inter-American Regional Workers Organization, known by its Spanish initials ORIT, died of cardiac arrest around 2:45 p.m. Saturday while working in his office in Venezuela.
A former labor minister and union leader in his native Panama, Anderson was scheduled to take part in FTAA protests in Miami this week.
- A coalition critical of the FTAA announced a rally for Tuesday at noon at the Torch of Friendship in downtown Miami to call for tobacco to be excluded from the scope of an FTAA. The rally will feature a mock cigarette pack more than 13 feet high. For information, see www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/trade.
While FTAA talks get under way in Miami, individual nations in the Americas are busy forging separate trade accords.
Mexico signed a free-trade pact this weekend with Uruguay, its first with a member of South America's Southern Cone Common Market or Mercosur. Mexico already has pacts with North America, the European Union and with many other countries and is crafting a pact with Japan.
The United States is negotiating a free-trade pact with five Central American nations and may announce the launch of talks for separate accords with other Latin American and Caribbean countries this week.
Information from Sun-Sentinel wire services was used in this report.
Doreen Hemlock can be reached at dhemlock@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5009.
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