The Miami Herald | By Tyler Bridges | November 19, 2003
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia _ The free-trade discussions in Miami this week must address the rising concerns in Latin America that eliminating trade barriers hurts the poor, some of the region's presidents said during a summit in Bolivia.
Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo, like several of the other heads of state at the Ibero-American summit this weekend, said he's convinced that opening domestic economies benefits consumers and creates jobs.
Portillo said Guatemala's own decision to allow more imports of wheat flour, chicken, fertilizers and cement has lowered the prices of those goods and forced local companies to become more competitive.
"People who didn't have access to those products now do," Portillo told The Herald. "But the masses are very anxious. They want immediate results."
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, speaking to the prime ministers of Spain and Portugal and 19 presidents of Latin America on Friday night, said they could not isolate their countries from the world economy, and that reducing trade barriers over the past 20 years has cut inflation, increased exports and attracted foreign investment.
"But they have not, for the most part," he added, "delivered the improvement in your people's lives for which they hoped."
Annan went on to say that "while 10 percent of households enjoy roughly 50 percent of national income, the poor have increased both in absolute numbers and as a proportion of the population _ reaching 43 percent last year. Such sharp inequalities slow down economic growth, as well as depriving the poor of their share in what growth there is.
As is his style, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez spoke much more harshly than Annan, telling reporters that "unbridled free trade is destroying our people."
Several of his colleagues, speaking far more diplomatically, said in interviews that many of their citizens remain skeptical that free trade will improve their lives.
"Obviously, there are worries," Ecuadorean President Lucio Gutierrez said. "It is hard to compete against countries with more advanced technology and agriculture subsidies. In some areas, we can't compete."
Most Latin American countries complain that the U.S. subsidies to American farmers give them an unfair advantage when exporting their products to Latin America.
Disagreements over those and other issues torpedoed the World Trade Organization talks in Cancun in September as Brazil and 20 other developing nations called on the Bush administration to reduce advantages enjoyed by U.S. farmers.
The leaders attending the 13th annual Ibero-American summit heard the concerns directly about a free-trade agreement when a speaker from a so-called "alternative summit" also occurring in Santa Cruz was allowed to read a list of grievances to them Friday night. Heading the list was the free-trade agreement.
"Listen to the people of America," said Eduardo Medina, an Indian leader. "Suspend the negotiations for the free-trade agreement."
Hipolito Mejia, president of the Dominican Republic, said in an interview that despite such comments he remains steadfast in his support for a free-trade agreement.
"There are always protests," Mejia said. "People have little faith in where our countries are heading. But I remain convinced that it is necessary and beneficial for my country to negotiate an agreement."
Uruguayan President Jorge Batlle, who has endorsed Miami as the site for the proposed free-trade headquarters, said he also remains committed to working out a fair agreement.
"People need work," he said. "How can they get the opportunity to have work unless they can sell what they produce? Exports are the only tools for these countries to grow. With our own markets, we can't grow. We need big partners."
Ecuador's Gutierrez, despite his concerns about the impact of a free-trade agreement, said he, too, hopes to reach a deal.
"We want to benefit from having access to a bigger market," he said. "We want to make it easier for our businessmen to export their products. We have to move forward. If we don't, we'll move backwards."The Miami Herald:
