CHILE: Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez arrives to Chile ahead of Summit; bilateral meetings between leaders get underway

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Chile on Friday (November 09), joining leaders from the Latin world for a summit on social equality. "I was reading the Summit materials, I was reading the document, the final draft of the document, the Santiago declaration, the topic of social cohesion, I don't like the word very much, the truth is that I don't like it," Chavez said. "We came here to support the Summit, of course, and its deliberations." His arrival comes a day after pro- and anti-Chavez protesters pushed and shoved outside Venezuela's embassy in Chile, and detractors tried to submit a letter declaring him unwelcome. The flamboyant leader also discussed the ongoing talks with leaders of Colombia's rebel insurgency in hopes of reaching an agreement that would include the liberation of hostages held in the Colombian jungles, some of them for years. "This has to be handled prudently and with a lot of patience," President Chavez said. "Hopefully, we will achieve the liberation of those people who are in the jungles and in Colombian prisons in the short term. That is what I am trying to do." Leaders from around Latin America and from Portugal, Spain and Andorra are in Santiago for a three-day summit to discuss ways to reduce poverty in their countries and protect people migrating within the Ibero countries. In particular leaders are drafting actions to help better distribute booming, commodities-based wealth in Latin America that is still not reaching most of its poor. In bilateral meetings, leaders will also discuss ways to share and guarantee supplies of energy, currently stretched in many of the countries that are driving Latin America's economic boom, including Brazil, Chile and Argentina. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe also arrived in Chile on Friday for the summit with his focus on the government's battle against rebels and paramilitaries. "The country has lost investment revenues because of fears of terrorism. We have been recuperating and we already have important investments, and those two (proposals), democratic security and a flow of investments with social responsibility are the proposals of social construction that we are dedicated to," said Uribe. Peru's President Alan Garica met with Summit host, Chile's President Michelle Bachelet, in a bilateral meeting one day after his victory following the passage of a free trade agreement in U.S. Congress. Among several expected bilateral encounters to focus on energy is a possible meeting between Bolivian President Evo Morales and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva to discuss potential new investments in Bolivia's natural gas industry.

ITN Source | November 9, 2007

Tags:. .handled. .document. .distribute. .alan. .letter