Monday, January 12, 2004

Reports coming in from the Americas Summit

Did you read the earlier post?

Latin American nations fiercely resisted a U.S. proposal to punish corrupt governments on Monday even as President Bush tried to win friends and isolate rivals at a regional summit.

The United States wants the 34 leaders at an Americas-wide summit in Mexico to agree to sanction the region's most corrupt governments by barring them from future meetings, but many were wary that it would lead to more U.S. dominance.

The corruption proposal seemed certain to fail. Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham said it met "a lot of resistance" because it was too vague and too difficult to apply.

"All countries have some corruption, including our own," he told reporters. "Who will determine the criteria for that and who is the person who will decide whether a country is invited (to meetings) or not?"
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HoHO! I think we can tell him. All together now....

Trade issues were also a cause of friction as Brazil and Venezuela led opposition to another U.S. idea: that the region's leaders again commit to reaching an Americas-wide free trade pact by January 2005.

Anti-American sentiment has grown across Latin America -- fueled by widespread opposition to the Iraq war -- and new leaders are openly challenging U.S. policies.


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