Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com
MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina: They sounded like one of Billy Graham's mass choirs, as thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of this ocean-side resort Friday, chanting "Get out!" to George W. Bush, the President of the United States, as he endeavored to promote the values of free trade to delegates who appear somewhat divided as they attend the 4th Summit of the Americas.
The protestors, some of them masked, became violent during the course of the day when some 1,000 people reportedly began to shatter storefront windows with clubs, threw stones and sharpened sticks at riot police and burned American flags.
Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela, addressed a crowd of about 10,000 in what police told Caribbean Net News was a peaceful protest, notwithstanding his anti-FTAA rhetoric, prior to the violence.
Nonetheless, the President of Mexico, Vincente Fox, unswayed by the protests, pointed out that the proposal would move forward, regardless and cautioned opponents attending the summit that the vast majority supports free trade.
Addressing the crowd beneath a giant-sized banner of Che Guevara, Chavez called on the masses which included personalities like soccer superstar Diego Maradona as well as Evo Morales, the Bolivian presidential hopeful, to help him overturn Bush's efforts to create the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
However, one of Latin America's firm advocate for free trade, Vincente Fox, told the press that roughly 29 of the 34 nations attending the summit are thinking about pushing forward with the FTAA, without the support of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, countries the U.S. has labeled "rogue states."
The few delegates from the Caribbean stayed out of harm's way, careful not to incite more problems, as Trinidad and Tobago has its eyes locked on becoming the Headquarters of the FTAA.
Last month the country's Minister with responsibility for Trade and Industry, Kenneth Valley, spoke of a plan which called for the integration of his country's economy with those of Latin America. This plan has sparked a measure of concern among his counterparts in the smaller islands of the Caribbean Community. (CARICOM).
According to Valley, his government is pursuing the site of the permanent headquarters of the FTAA and recently adopted Spanish as the first foreign language citizens of Trinidad and Tobago should "acquire."
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