by the El Reportero news services
Hugo Chávez
NEW YORK – Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is ready to gain a public relations victory in Latin America if the U.S. Congress fails to approve free-trade pacts in the region, according to sources.
If Congress failes to ratify trade pacts with Peru, Colombia and Panama may unleash a crisis in U.S. relations with Latin America. As a U.S. adversary Chávez, would turn it to his advantage, according U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns.
“If we turn away (from approving the pacts), it’s going to embolden someone like Hugo Chávez that he can make hay out of that crisis,” said Burns. “We certainly don’t want to see someone like Chávez gain a public relations benefit if it doesn’t get through, that’s surely what he’ll try to do.”
Chávez blames U.S.-backed free-market policies for increasing poverty in Latin America. He has promoted his leftist Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, of which Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua are members.
Bush presses US Congress on Latin America trade deals
President Bush Friday urged the U.S. Congress to approve a set of free trade accords with Colombia, Panama and Peru. VOA’s Brian Wagner reports that Mr. Bush said the trade deals will benefit U.S.
President Bush made the speech in Miami, Florida noting it is crucial for U.S. trade with Latin America and other parts of the world. He said that $72 billion in goods and products passed through Miami’s ports last year.
The president said the strength of international trade has helped push the area’s economic growth and employment levels above national averages. “I think the case for trade is unmistakable in Miami, and we need to make that case all over the country. I’ve come to a place that has benefited from trade so others around the country can understand it can happen in their areas as well,” he said.
Problems mount in Tijuana
On 29 October the federal Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación (TEPJF) again delayed its confirmation that José Guadalupe Osuna Millán had won the August election for the governorship of Baja California. Osuna Millán is due to take office on November 1.
He is the only Partido Acción Nacional victor in a gubernatorial election since President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa took office in December 2006. If the TEPJF does annul the election in Baja, it will also set a questionmark against the narrow victory by Calderón in the 2006 presidential election. Calderón’s margin of victory (0.56%) was more than 10 times smaller than Osuna’s, yet there has not been a full recount of votes cast in the presidential election.
