Bush lobbies for free trade in OAS speech
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-07 08:47

US President George W. Bush touted free trade as a means of strengthening democracy in a speech to representatives of the 34 nations belonging to the Organization of American States.

A hemisphere linked by trade "is less likely to be divided by resentment and false ideologies," Bush said at the group's first meeting in the United States in 31 years.

The recent free-trade deal between the United States and Central American nations "is a signal of the US commitment to democracy and prosperity for our neighbors," he said.

U.S. President Bush, left, shakes hands with Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza after speaking at the OAS General Assembly in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, June 6, 2005. [AP]

Bush also said Washington would continue to push for a pan-American free-trade zone plan known as the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The plan is currently stalled over agricultural subsidies.

In an earlier speech Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim labeled such subsidies unfair and an obstacle to the consolidation of regional democracy.

"Developing countries, including those in our region, need fair international trade rules that guarantee access to markets in wealthy countries for their products," Amorim said.

Latin American diplomats have also been skeptical of US proposals to approve a mechanism for strengthening democracy through the region.

Sunday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on the OAS to bolster struggling regional democracies, urging member states to "replace excessive talk with focused action."

Several countries are studying an alternative proposal for strengthening democracy that diplomats said was less intrusive than the US plan.

"Democracy cannot be imposed. It is born from dialogue," Amorim said, in a pointed rebuke of US policy.

The debate over a stronger OAS role to protect democracy intensified after Ecuadoran president Lucio Gutierrez was ousted April 20 by the country's Congress before his term in office was over.

In Bolivia, the government of President Carlos Mesa is under siege, with the country's eastern provinces demanding autonomy just short of secession and impoverished workers demanding the nationalization of the country's lucrative natural gas industry.

A recent upsurge in violence in Haiti has also played into the debate, with Rice strongly endorsing the Brazilian-led UN peacekeeping force amid reports Washington is considering sending US troops back to the Caribbean country.

Several South American nations see the US proposal as an invitation to intrude in the internal affairs of other nations -- and especially to monitor leftist-populist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who Washington has accused of seeking to become a dictator.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez said OAS rules do not permit the organization to monitor democratic processes in member countries.

Rice denied the US proposal was aimed at Venezuela.

On Monday she met at her hotel with Maria Corina Machado, the head of the Venezuelan opposition organization Sumate.

OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza of Chile denied media reports that the US proposal was rejected, but said that other countries do not share US concerns about Venezuela, noting that Chavez is a democratically-elected leader.

Insulza added that he did not want the Caracas - Washington controversy to cloud the debate over strengthening democracy.

"In my point of view, you can never use a mechanism without the agreement of that country," Insulza said. "This is a organization of American states. If the states don't want to do something, then nothing is done."

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