Summit of the Americas Leaves Region More Polarized

In an effort to show that improving U.S. ties with Latin America would be a top priority of his administration, George W. Bush's first official trip abroad was to Mexico. "Muchos gracias, amigo," said the president in February 2001, thanking his Mexican counterpart for the welcome. President Bush added he felt "entre familia" (among family) by the warm reception of his Mexican hosts.

Since then, the administration's occupations elsewhere have caused relations between the U.S. and Latin America to sour. At the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina last weekend, hemispheric relations took another stumble over a proposed trade agreement, further polarizing the region.

The 34-nation summit deteriorated into a referendum on the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The U.S. delegation and its allies supported renewed rounds of trade talks, while the nations of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) economic bloc -- Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay -- opposed movement on the FTAA negotiations, along with Venezuela.

The Mercosur countries, which will induct Venezuela as a full member next month, argued they must first build closer economic ties among themselves before joining a larger agreement with the United States. They also said that pending trade disputes should be dealt with under the rubric of the World Trade Organization meeting next month.

In the end, the final declaration of the summit left open the option for further discussions of the FTAA. But Venezuela and the Mercosur bloc also managed to squeeze in wording acknowledging, "Some [summit] members maintain that the conditions for a balanced and equitable free trade agreement do not yet exist." In effect, the delegations agreed to disagree.

Joaquín Morales Solá, a columnist with the Argentine daily La Nación, wrote that the meeting "was a failure for both camps." In his column, Solá said Mercosur was completely isolated and out of touch, while the United States failed to gain key support for the FTAA, even with 28 Latin American countries already backing its position.

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