Reich warns Silva, criticizes Chavez and other deviationists

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

     Miami Herald
      Posted on Tue, Oct. 15, 2002

      Reich cautions Brazil's leading presidential contender
      By NANCY SAN MARTIN
      nsanmartin@xxxxxxxxxx

      The United States' point man on the Western Hemisphere
Tuesday cautioned Brazil's left-leaning leading presidential
contender against altering its capitalist economic model
because ``leftist models don't function.''

      Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a former union leader and
the Workers' Party candidate, is far ahead of
government-backed candidate José Serra, according to the
latest Brazilian opinion polls.

      Otto Reich, assistant secretary for the Bureau of
Western Hemisphere Affairs, speaking at The Herald's annual
Americas conference at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables,
also said that the ''heating up of the rhetoric'' on the
part of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is a matter of
great concern.

      In addition, Reich said that Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide needs to move quickly to diffuse
political turmoil in that Caribbean nation and that Colombia
can count on the United States in its fight against
insurgency groups, whose links with drug-trafficking has
become a battle against terrorist acts.

      ''These are not popular movements. They are after
power'' and profits from drug trafficking, Reich said.

      Colombia can win the battle against ''narco
terrorists,'' Reich said of the three insurgency groups
known by the acronyms FARC, ELN and AUC. But the country
needs help in training, intelligence and other resources,
which the United States is committed to providing.

      Meanwhile, Latin America as a whole needs to overcome
its historical problem with corruption.

      ''There are still too many in elite positions that are
addicted to power,'' Reich said. ''Corruption at any level
of society erodes public confidence and sabotages''
democracy and the free market.

      He cited Venuezuela and Haiti as examples of
government failure that ``has led to violence and
instability.''

      Reich also dismissed widespread speculation that
President Bush's tough resolve to maintain the economic
embargo on Cuba was a political move to help his brother Jeb
Bush get re-elected as governor of Florida.
Available at:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miami/news/local/4290302.htm








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