Western Hemisphere Leaders Arrive To Find a Tense and Fortified Quebec

AP 20apr01

QUEBEC -- Police in riot gear clashed with protesters in a haze of tear gas Friday as leaders of the Western Hemisphere's 34 democracies sought to advance plans to create the world's largest free-trade zone.

President Bush, attending his first international summit, held out the promise of a region of 800 million people "that is both prosperous and free.'' Yet Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez complained that many of the lofty goals set at a similar summit in 1994 have not been met.

Quebec City was tense and largely sealed off under tight security as the third Summit of the Americas got under way with arrival ceremonies, opening festivities and clashes between police and protesters.

Demonstrators tore down some sections of the concrete and chain-link security barricade near the summit site and pelted police officers in riot gear with cans, bottles, hockey pucks, rocks and stuffed animals. Police officers, who lobbed canisters of tear gas at the protesters, formed a line and marched on the demonstrators to force them back.

The summit drew an alliance of labor, environmental and human rights organizations and student activists in protest of the free-trade plan, capitalism and globalization.

"If they are protesting because of free trade, I'd say I disagree,'' Mr. Bush said. "I think trade is very important to this hemisphere. Trade not only helps spread prosperity but trade helps spread freedom.''

The disruptions caused a delay of at least an hour in the summit's opening ceremony and fouled up Mr. Bush's plans to meet his counterparts in small groups. He met Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien as scheduled, but meetings with Andean leaders and Central American leaders were delayed and one with Caribbean leaders put off altogether.

Mr. Bush watched some of the street demonstrations on television in his hotel room, aides said.

Mr. Chavez, after meeting with Mr. Bush, said the goals of the 1994 summit in Miami had not been realized. "We have advanced very little -- almost not at all -- in the social objectives,'' Mr. Chavez said. "From Miami, they said we had to fight without rest for the education of children. But now there are more children without schools than before in Latin America and the Caribbean.''

Seeking to prevent a repeat of violent demonstrations that shut down a 1999 international trade conference in Seattle, thousands of police and troops stood guard and merchants boarded up their shops.

While all 34 summit countries have endorsed the goal of a free-trade zone stretching from the Arctic Circle to Cape Horn, differences remain as to the pace and terms of this economic integration.

Still, "This is a remarkable achievement, one that would have been unthinkable just 15 years ago,'' Mr. Bush said on the White House lawn as he left Washington.

He noted that every nation in the hemisphere except Cuba is now a democracy. Cuban leader Fidel Castro was not invited to the gathering.