QUEBEC CITY – Corralled behind the metal fence that so riled anti-globalisation protesters, the leaders of all American countries except Cuba agreed yesterday to create the world’s biggest free trade zone.
The decision was reached despite protesters’ attempts to disrupt the three-day meeting. Most leaders decided the Free Trade Area of the Americas, would take effect in 2005. They also overcame the misgivings of several Latin American leaders to make a democratic government an “essential condition” for membership.
The Canadian prime minister, Jean Chrétien, said the agreement would usher in a “new era of maturity and confidence”. He also said that a delegation from the Organisation of American States would go to Haiti to report on the adequacy of its democratic credentials.
The so-called “democracy clause” in the Quebec Declaration means that a country in which democratically elected leaders are overthrown, for instance in a military coup, would be expelled from the group.
The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, had led the dissenters, sayingthe real threats to democracy in the region came “not from the armed forces or conspiratory movements, but hunger and poverty.” But by yesterday he had reluctantly agreed to sign up, though he noted that “in Venezuela’s case, representative democracy has been a trap that almost led the country to bloodshed”. The “democracy clause” was strongly advocated by Canada, with US support, and its adoption was hailed as a diplomatic victory by Mr Chrétien. “From this day forward the benefits of any agreements we reach will flow only to those nations that abide by our democratic clause,” he said.
Before dispersing, the leaders paid at least lip service to the need to address some of the anti-free trade arguments voiced loudly, and at times violently, from the streets. The draft text of the free trade accord was due to be released for public perusal a key demand of protesters, who condemned the secrecy and exclusiveness of the drafting process.
The Mexican President, Vicente Fox, was among several leaders who called for greater efforts to help the poor, saying: “You cannot have genuine democracy in a society where there is so much inequality of poverty, as happens in many areas of Latin America.”
One of the central arguments of the motley, but increasingly organised, anti-globalisation movement is that, under current rules, free trade benefits the rich at the expense of the poor, depresses already low wages and cuts jobs.
Overnight, a group estimated by police at 2,000 of the 30,000 who had marched peacefully through the city’s streets on Saturday had renewed their assaults on the perimeter fence, waging running battles with police until dawn. Police used tear gas and fired rubber bullets to drive them back. Police said 57 demonstrators and 43 police had been injured in the clashes, and more than 300 people arrested bringing the total for the weekend to more than 400.
