ARGENTINA: Demonstrators converge in Mar del Plata ahead of Bush visit for the Summit of the Americas

Record ID: 449038

  • Title: ARGENTINA: Demonstrators converge in Mar del Plata ahead of Bush visit for the Summit of the Americas
  • Date: 4th November 2005
  • Summary: WS: POLICE ON MOTORCYCLES DRIVING THROUGH THE STREET AT HEAD OF MOTORCADE
  • Embargoed: 19th November 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAAZM7N7KLO9HM80AYZNILBMUDD
  • Story Text: Argentina's resort city, Mar del Plata, was under tight security on Thursday (November 03) with large portions of the city cordoned off ahead of the start of the IV Summit of the Americas. Argentine police units tightened the already battened-down city as shopkeepers raced to board up storefronts as thousands of protesters prepared marches against U.S. President George W. Bush during an Americas-wide presidential summit. Anti-Bush sentiment runs high in the country due to the war in Iraq and U.S.-backed, free-market policies that Argentines say pushed millions of their compatriots into poverty. More than 7,500 police officers erected a security ring around the summit hotels and patrolled the streets and beaches of this normally bustling city of 600,000, which looked more like a ghost town. Coast guard boats and helicopters patrolled the shore, while air space was restricted. Leftist activists mostly from Latin America are holding an alternative Peoples' Summit and Bush's main critic in the region, leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, is due to speak there on Friday. Bolivian presidential front-runner Evo Morales arrived in Buenos Aires where he told reporters why he had come. "I come from the social, union battles, and at this juncture we are evidently in an electoral battle but the bringing together of the people, and the fight for life, in defence of humanity, well, that's why we are here, to participate and continue sharing these battles that come from the communities, from the neighbourhoods. That is the motivation, and that is why I am here," he said. Meanwhile, huge crowds convened on the square in the capital's centre to listen to the proclamation from the indigenous leader of Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) and representative of the country's coca-growers. "I am here under the rights that I have as a human being who was born on this planet that is in danger thanks to crazy people like these men (referring to U.S. President George W. Bush) who invade a country, kill, steal oil and then later want to give lessons on democracy and humanity," Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez said during a news conference ahead of a large, anti-Bush demonstration slated for Friday. The war of words between Bush and Chavez over trade and development will take centre stage at the summit, but Chavez also aims to be the victor on the streets. A Chavez-sponsored train will bring anti-Bush celebrities like Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona to the city. U.S. anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan and other relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq are also expected in town. Cuba's Fidel Castro, the only leader not invited to the summit, sent a delegation of Cuban athletes to the Peoples' Summit to support his friend Chavez. The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo demonstrated against Bush in Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata ahead of the U.S. president's arrival as well as members of the Workers Party. When asked what she would say to Bush, the leader of the Mother's of Plaza de Mayo, Hebe de Bonafini said that she would tell him "to drop dead." Argentina's "piqueteros" -- the militant unemployed who sprang to fame during the country's 2001-2002 economic crisis -- are organizing their own march for Friday. The bunker mentality even spread to the capital Buenos Aires, 250 miles (400 km) to the north, where two separate riots took place this week. The government blamed a hodgepodge of labour and leftist groups for the destructive rampages. But fears of terror attacks also came into play. Buenos Aires subway employees refused to work during the summit due to what they perceived as a security threat. Bush may also face protests when he travels to Brazil on Saturday. In Argentina, the summit of 34 leaders will concentrate on job creation as the key to long-term prosperity for Latin America, where the $3,000 per capita income is less than 10 percent of the U.S. average. More prickly issues, like the U.S. push to restart stalled talks for the Free Trade Area of the Americas or FTAA in 2006, may not make much progress in the forum due to resistance among Latin America's big economies. In a first act of protest at a Thursday meeting of foreign ministers, a young woman with a green scarf over her face held up the sign "No to FTAA." Locals who had hoped for a boost from the summit scoffed at it for the trouble it was causing their businesses.
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