Chavez aims to challenge Bush on trade
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-04 09:02

Chavez is expected to push that banking initiative at the two-day summit.

Some in the Bush administration have expressed concern about Venezuela's desire to build a nuclear power reactor. And, after Chavez said he might share his U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets with Cuba and China, U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela William Brownfield said that decision would need U.S. approval.

Still, those issues are unlikely to come up at the summit.

Instead, Bush will be holding bilateral meetings on everything from drug trafficking in Colombia to free trade.

Cuba, Venezuela's closest ally, is banned from participating in the summit. But Cuban pariament speaker Ricardo Alarcon showed up in Mar del Plata anyway.

He mocked the summit, saying that "even if they invited us, we would not have come."

"They are going to take a good photo with Bush, have lunch, eat dinner, and gab some more. What is happening over there is a plan that does no good for the people of the Americas," he told Associated Press Television News.

As hundreds more protesters began pouring into the resort for Friday's protests, police with riot shields redoubled security. Navy ships patrolled offshore as helicopters clattered over the luxury hotel where leaders will meet.

"We're going to say 'No to Bush' and 'No to FTAA,'" said Argentine labor leader Juan Gonzalez. "We don't have any confidence in anything he might propose here, whatever it is will only prolong hunger, poverty and death in Latin America."

Hundreds of protesters rallied in Buenos Aires before boarding buses and cars bound for Mar del Plata. Demonstrators opposed to everything from the war in Iraq to free trade toted backpacks and sleeping bags, some coming from as far as Argentina's northernmost border with Bolivia.

Santiago Zamora, a 30-year-old biology student from northern Argentina, sported a red Che Guevara shirt.

"We are going to fight against all forms of imperialism," Zamora said, voicing complaints against free-market programs some here blame for enslaving poor Latin American countries.