23700: (pub) Chamberlain: Haiti in focus at Rio Group meeting (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By ALAN CLENDENNING

   RIO DE JANIERO, Nov 4 -- Latin American leaders kicked off a two-day
summit Thursday with talks on a larger peacekeeping force for Haiti and the
impact on the region from President Bush's re-election.
   While Latin America has contributed the bulk of troops to the U.N. force
in Haiti, it still stands at about half the 8,000 personnel recommended by
the United Nations after President Jean Bertrand Aristide fled the
conflict-ravaged island in February.
   At least 79 people have been killed in Haiti since Aristide supporters
stepped up a violent campaign more than a month ago to demand his return
from exile in South Africa. Peacekeepers have been unable to halt the
violence completely.
   Rio Group leaders plan to discuss ways to increase troop strength in
Haiti, but the presidents of Brazil and Peru didn't offer specifics in
opening statements.
   "The nature of Haiti's problems requires us to adopt long-term
solutions," said Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo. "The Rio Group must
assume long-term commitments, based not only on free elections but also to
prevent the situation from repeating itself again."
   The peacekeepers in Haiti have also been stretched by having to provide
security for a massive humanitarian effort after Tropical Storm Jeanne
killed some 2,000 people and left another 900 missing and presumed dead in
the northwest city of Gonaives.
   "Our solidarity is being tested by the Caribbean crisis in Haiti,"
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.
   Without additional troops, it may be difficult to control the situation
in Haiti. When the country erupted into violence in 1994, then-President
Bill Clinton sent 20,000 Marines who stayed for more than a year.
   Latin America was a top focus for Bush after he won his first term in
2000, but important issues such as immigration took a back seat to
terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks and the war in Iraq.
   "I hope President Bush will start looking more closely toward the
south," Toledo said.
   With Bush's re-election, negotiations over a free trade agreement
stretching from Alaska to Argentina are likely to go into high gear -- a
key goal of many Latin American countries who want to boost their exports
to the United States.
   The summit comes only five days after Uruguayan voters strengthened
South America's political tilt to the left, electing their first leftist
president out of disenchantment with U.S.-backed free-market policies and
economic upheaval.
   But experts say Uruguay's new president, Tabare Vazquez, and the other
new left-leaning Latin American leaders are largely seen as pragmatists who
know they must have better relations with the United States to boost their
economies and raise living standards.
   While Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez periodically alarms some with harsh
anti-U.S. rhetoric, Brazil's leader and Chilean President Ricardo Lagos
have won praise from investors for sticking to free market policies while
emphasizing a greater role for government in helping the poor.
   Before leaving Chile for Rio, Lagos congratulated Bush on his victory.
   "Chile and the United States share common values and with that in mind
we will work together," Lagos said in a statement.
   Chavez, a self-professed revolutionary, stayed true to form, lashing out
at the United States after an early morning seaside stroll on Rio's famous
Copacabana Beach.
   "The American way of life, damn that, it's the road to hell," he said.
"They want to impose it on us with bombs and bayonets."
   Presidents and ministers from 19 Latin American countries attending the
18th annual Rio Group meeting are also expected to discuss lobbying for an
expansion of the U.N. Security Council.
   They want a permanent seat for a Latin American nation alongside the
current five permanent members: the United States, Russia, China, Britain
and France.
   Both Brazil and Mexico want a permanent seat, though Brazil's effort is
likely to receive more attention in Rio as it is hosting the summit.
   The Rio Group was created in 1986 to consolidate democracy in Latin
America through economic and social development and to spur cooperation and
integration.