U.S. prodding Argentina on political tilt to the left [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Mon, Dec. 12, 2005

INTER-AMERICAN RELATIONS
U.S. prodding Argentina on political tilt to the left

Argentine President Néstor Kirchner is worrying the Bush administration with his turn to the left and courtship of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez.

BY PABLO BACHELET
[e-mail]

WASHINGTON - Argentina is dispatching a senior diplomat to Washington to answer the Bush administration's increasing concern over President Néstor Kirchner's apparent tilt leftward in recent weeks, U.S. officials say.

Kirchner has been easing moderates out of his cabinet and courting Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chávez. And at the 34-country Summit of the Americas in Argentina last month, he strongly opposed President Bush's efforts to promote free trade.
So far, the Bush administration has opted to deal with the issue in private rather than in public, say analysts and U.S. officials in Washington.
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Only a week after the Summit of the Americas, Kirchner flew to Caracas, where he signed energy deals and obtained Chávez's pledge to buy more Argentine bonds, which would reduce Argentina's dependence on the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Argentine leader also has become a leading proponent of Venezuela's full membership in the Mercosur trade bloc, which includes Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil. And Chávez has said he wants to buy Argentine nuclear technology. U.S. officials have expressed confidence that Argentina will reject the proposal.
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