Summit Leaders Deadlocked on Free Trade

Leaders from across the Americas, wrapping up a two-day summit overshadowed by rampaging protesters, faced a deadlock Saturday over the future of a U.S.-backed free trade zone spanning the Western Hemisphere.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said talks to lift trade barriers from Canada to Chile must wait until after the World Trade Organizationhosts key negotiations in Hong Kong next month to craft a global treaty slashing tariffs and farm subsidies and boosting the planet's economy.

"Anything we do now, before the WTO meeting, could confuse the facts and we'd be creating an impediment to the WTO," Silva told reporters on the sidelines of the two-day summit that began Friday at Argentina's renowned summer resort city. Mar del Plata was calm Saturday after protesters opposed to the presence of President Bush and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas, or FTAA, clashed in street battles with riot police, burning and ransacking businesses just 10 blocks from the theater where the leaders were opening the summit. No major injuries were reported.

Protests have become commonplace at summits, especially those dealing with free trade and U.S. policies. But Friday's violence was much smaller than massive clashes in 2001 during the Americas Summit in Quebec, when police detained 400 people and scores were injured. Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez emerged as the most vocal critic of the FTAA, declaring the deal dead at a peaceful rally Friday for more than 20,000 protesters.

Mexican President Vicente Fox expressed irritation with Chavez, saying: "This is a personal position of the Venezuelan president." The Mexican president denied allegations by Chavez that Washington is trying to strong-arm the region into a free trade agreement. "No one has ever been forced into a free trade deal," Fox said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051105/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/americas_summit_59;_ylt=AkovcB7HowefFMO7gE.BRfT.ucsA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=a0wGMochZC9E&refer=home

Like Chavez said, he would bury FTAA! This story says that Bush already left the summit:

Deadlock over free trade at Americas summit

City calm a day after violent protests as leaders argue over policies

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina - Negotiations on whether to revitalize talks on a hemispheric free trade zone dragged on for hours past a deadline Saturday, and a top negotiator said the 34 nations participating in the Americas Summit were still deeply divided over the issue.

U.S. President George W. Bush left Argentina on Air Force One as the negotiations that were scheduled to end before lunch went into the late afternoon. A summit closing ceremony was delayed, along with a press conference to divulge the summit's final declaration.

The top negotiator, speaking to The Associated Press, said countries would be allowed to opt out of a controversial clause on whether to schedule talks next year on creating a Free Trade Area of the Americas. The official declined to give his name because the declaration had not yet been finalized.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9904968/

and a defeat to Bush's plans to expand the misery of NAFTA to the entire region!