Monday, May 1, 2006

by Isabel Sanchez

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): The leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia signed a "People's Trade Treaty" Saturday to counter a US-led drive to forge a Pan-American free trade area.

Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, both elected leftist leaders, arrived in Cuba's capital Friday to sign the pact, which seeks to streamline commercial ties among the three governments opposed to US trade policies that they say overwhelmingly favor the United States.

"Now, for the first time, there are three of us," gushed Cuban President Fidel Castro, who leads the Americas' only one-party communist state. "I believe that, one day, all (Latin American) countries can be here."

Earlier, Castro said the accord was "an extraordinary document with profound humanitarian, social and economic content."

"It will be a great meeting of three generations of revolutionaries, of people representing the three revolutions that we still have to broaden," Morales declared after his arrival.

The Bolivian leader expressed confidence that the People's Trade Treaty will help promote "fair trade, trade that generates jobs, ensures living standards and defends human dignity."

Nicaraguan Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega, who will seek to return to power in November elections, was also on hand.

Morales, who swept to the Bolivian presidency on a wave of popular discontent last December, also formally joined the so-called Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, an initiative promoted by Castro and Chavez in an attempt to thwart US plans for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

Chavez praised what he described as Cuba's economic achievements under the leadership of Castro, his key regional ally.

"I have been visiting this country for 12 years," said the Venezuelan leader, "and in all those years, I have seen nothing but progress, growth and victories."

Venezuela now props up Cuba's fragile centrally planned economy with its oil supplies. Cuba suffered an economic collapse after the demise of the Eastern Bloc that used to subsidize it, and it is still in dire economic straits. Cuban workers earn the equivalent of about 22 dollars a month.

The mini-summit of leftist leaders has been eyed with some concern in the region, as members of the Andean Community that includes Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru fear their grouping could be dealt another blow if Bolivia decides to follow Venezuela's lead and pull out.

Venezuela officially pulled out of the Andean Community this past week in protest over its members signing bilateral free trade agreements with the United States that Caracas insists threaten the commercial interests of Latin American countries.

Bolivian Finance Minister Luis Arce has already warned that Bolivia will follow Venezuela's lead if Ecuador, Colombia and Peru continue to develop their free trade ties with the United States.

However, plans to pull out from the Andean Community worry Bolivian farmers, who fear the move could negatively affect vital soybean exports.

But Morales sought to assuage their concerns by saying he had received assurances that Cuba and Venezuela will buy all of Bolivia's soybean crop.

"We have committed to buy all Bolivian soybeans at a fair price," Chavez confirmed in remarks to reporters.

Talks about forming the FTAA began at a Pan-American summit in Miami in December 1994, with the parties committing themselves to wrap up their work by 2005.

But Chavez managed to rally opposition to the accord at the last summit on the issue, held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in January of last year.

The summit, attended by US President George W. Bush, ended in a fiasco for the US leader: No agreement on the FTAA was reached, although the parties pledged to meet again this year to resume lagging negotiations.

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