Testy Latin America awaits Bush [View All]

[struggle4progress]

Iraq war and trade issues weigh heavy ahead of Summit of the Americas.
By Alan Clendenning
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sunday, October 30, 2005

SÀO PAULO, Brazil -- <snip>

When President Bush arrives this week at the Argentine seaside resort of Mar del Plata for the fourth Summit of the Americas, leftist activists, students, Indians and trade unionists will gather at a basketball stadium several miles away to protest everything from the war in Iraq to U.S. immigration policy to free trade deals.

"We think his policies are totally contrary to what we want for Latin America and are promoting genocide, domination of workers and their communities, and the plundering of natural resources," said Argentine labor leader Juan Gonzalez, who is heading a protest "People's Summit" coinciding with Bush's visit Thursday through Saturday. <snip>

Antagonism toward Bush was highest in Buenos Aires, with 64 percent saying they have a poor or very poor opinion of the president. It was 63 percent in Montevideo, 47 percent in Brasília and 40 percent in Santiago. Those rating Bush good or very good came to 8 percent in Montevideo, 11 percent in Buenos Aires, 17 percent in Brasília and 19 percent in Santiago. The rest professed not to know or not to care. <snip>

The reforms that proved so unpopular are widely ascribed to the influence of U.S. free-market ideologues. Opponents brand the moves as "neoliberalism," or perceived enslavement of Latin Americans via American control of globalization through free-market economics, liberal trade and the breakdown of national borders. <snip>

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/sunday/news_3436f16c31a9e0b4007c.html