Summit leaders taped during closed-door session

["Stuart Lawrence" <stuartwl@xxxxxxxxxx>]

>From the Toronto Star www.thestar.com

Summit leaders taped during closed-door session

Bush upbraided for chauvinism by female Panamanian president

QUEBEC (CP) - The prying lenses and sharp pencils of
the press had been shooed out of the meeting hall.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien assured his fellow
summit leaders their discussion was now closed and
they could let their hair down.

Many did. But none of them noticed that a translated
feed of their vigourous discussion was still flowing
out of the room.

But an alert producer with Radio-Canada did take
notice and scrambled to run an audio tape of the
private discussions held Saturday.

Some of what was recorded would have cheered those on
the streets and may have chagrined George W. Bush.

The U.S. president could take comfort that his
chivalry was noted by the only woman head of state
around the table.

''I have to say that the speakers make excellent
speeches but they only speak of `Mr. presidents,' ''
said Panamanian President Mireya Elisa Moscoso.

''There's a woman president here, which I'm sure will
only be a short-term exception. I'd like to thank
President Bush for pointing this (the predominantly
male presence) out to me during the break.''

No TV cameras were rolling to reveal if Bush blushed.

But much of the rest of the session must have been
dreary for the U.S. president. One after one, leaders
of smaller or poorer countries lined up to indirectly
question whether his vision of unbridled capitalism
is the best way to nurture nascent democracies.

Bush had told his counterparts during the televised
session that democracy linked to markets was the best
weapon against tyranny.

But, once the cameras left and the doors were closed
to reporters, other leaders wondered how their
creaking and vulnerable economies could possibly
wield such a weapon. Others stated baldly that they
needed to know how much money countries like Canada
and the United States would be willing to pay to help
them make the transition.

''The most powerful, I insist, cannot avoid the
obligation of solidarity with those less favoured,''
said Paraguayan President Luis Angel Gonzalez.

That was code for a plea for cash before Paraguay can
prepare to meet the 2005 deadline set for a
negotiated deal on a Free Trade Area of the Americas.

Others asked larger countries to treat them as
equals, but not before they were given preferential
treatment.

''Don't poke sticks into our spokes,'' said
Guatemalan president Alfonso Portillo, thumping on
his desk for emphasis.

''The small economies are not the same as the big
economies. Just to become the equals of the big
brothers, we will need to be treated accordingly.''

Portillo's solution included a promise from larger
countries not to demand the lowest market prices for
commodities from smaller countries. How that
perspective might fit into the framework of a
hemispheric free-trade pact remained a mystery.

Hugo Chavez, the firebrand president of Venezuela,
scoffed at the notion of democracy as currently
constructed in Latin America.

''If the democracy doesn't provide land, if it's
concentrated in the hands of two per cent of the
population, we can't speak of democracy,'' Chavez
said.

There was little surprise on Sunday when the final
declaration from summit leaders reaffirming their
commitment to a hemispheric free-trade pact included
an asterisk that represented Chavez's dissent.

The format of the meeting didn't allow for debate or
discussion, so there was no noted reaction from Bush.

White House officials were said to be unhappy that a
technical lapse threw open what was supposed to be a
closed-door session.