  |
|
South American summit open despite Bolivia unrest
AFP
COCHABAMBA, Bolivia
Petroleumworld.com 12 09 06A summit on energy use called by South American leaders opened here Friday, with some of the left-leaning allies of socialist Bolivian President Evo Morales among the key participants.
"Two things prompt us to unite South America: inequality, marginalization, exclusion, poverty, and second, policies imposed by some power, with the participation of international organizations," Morales said in his remarks opening the second Summit of South American Community of Nations.
The two-day summit ends Saturday with the signing of a Declaration of Cochabamba to promote equality and regional energy use.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived at the airport serving the Andean city of Cochabamba, saying, "Bolivia is an unbridled lover of liberty.
"Never have we enjoyed better conditions to integrate our continent and launch the next 200 years of history," he said, showered with flower petals thrown by crowds.
Economic "neoliberalism is the road to hell," said the typically blunt Chavez.
He answered questions about local unrest, saying, "It reminds me of what happened in Venezuela in 2001 and 2002," when a coup removed him from offices for two days.
"Democracy interests the oligarchy when it is convenient."
Native groups met each arriving president with garlands of flowers.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on arrival: "Let us show the world that we are a united continent."
Brazil has been one of the major promotors of South American economic union, through Mercosur, a free-trade area comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, with Bolivia and Chile as associate members.
Chile's Socialist President Michelle Bachelet was also expected to attend, itself a giant step for the only two countries without diplomatic relations, since 1978, over an 1879 war in which Chile took Bolivia's outlet to the Pacific.
While Bachelet and Morales will meet, their secretaries did not say whether the territory would be discussed.
And Peruvian President Alan Garcia agreed to attend, either in spite of, or to patch up with, Chavez, after a brutal presidential campaign earlier this year in which he said his opponent would go down the questionable path blazed by Chavez.
Other leaders who confirmed their attendance were President Nicanor Duarte of Paraguay, Tabare Vazquez of Uruguay and president elect of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega.
Meanwhile, in Santa Cruz, unknown gunmen fired on a Roman Catholic Church, the office of Public Works and the home of an influential man in the country's wealthiest, industrial province.
Ruben Costas, governor of Santa Cruz, also launched a hunger strike Monday against a series of constitutional reforms Morales followers are trying to push through a constitutional assembly after changing the voting rules in their favor.
About 400 people inside the governor's offices and in a main square of Santa Cruz capital have also stopped eating in support of Costas' protest, as have the governors of northern Beni and Pando provinces.
On Wednesday, Morales followers broke into the studios of two television stations in La Paz they claim were supporting the "oligarchy," while in Santa Cruz a human rights activist was called an "Indian lover" and beaten up by a some right-wing students.
The unrest has also spilled over to Congress where lawmakers have split into two groups, with members of Morales' majority Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) and opposition party members meeting in separate halls.
Confrontation already reached the boiling point on November 28, when Morales signed into law a sweeping agrarian reform bill that distributes land to the poor, setting off anger among landowners.
As Bolivia's first indigenous president, Morales has moved swiftly after taking office in January to make good on campaign promises to improve social justice in a society long dominated by the legacy of European colonialism.
The summit will gather an estimated 3,000 people and all heads of government from the region except Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe.
AFP 09 0316 GMT 12 06
Copyright© 2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
Your
feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.
Write to editor@petroleumworld.com
Any
question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com
Best
Viewed with IE
5.01+
Windows
NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels