Latin Summit: A Hit and an Error : Bush has free trade right and drug trade wrong

President Bush hit one and missed one at his San Antonio summit meeting with Latin American presidents.

The focus of the summit was his much-touted war on drugs, which is still a long way from victory, to put it mildly. Officially, the meeting was a follow-up to the drug summit held two years ago in Cartagena, Colombia, where Bush and the leaders of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia promised to cooperate in fighting the crime cartels that produce and ship most of the world’s cocaine.

In south Texas the four leaders were joined by the presidents of Mexico and Ecuador and the foreign minister of Venezuela.

Everyone at San Antonio was upbeat about one thing at least: The cartel based in Colombia’s Medellin is severely weakened because most of its leaders have either been killed or jailed. That’s an achievement, to be sure. But according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, cocaine production in South America may have actually increased by 40% in 1991 as other gangsters filled the vacuum created by the cartel’s decline.

One reason Ecuador and Venezuela were added to this second drug summit is because of increased drug trafficking in their territory as Colombia cracks down on its drug lords. This pattern of growth in the illegal drug trade is likely to continue as long as the U.S. demand remains high. The Bush Administration must put as much money into drug education and treatment programs as it does into military hardware.

But as frustrating as the subject of illegal drugs was at the south Texas summit, it was encouraging to see that the President did not waver in pushing for a free trade agreement with Mexico.

Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari was invited to the summit because his nation is a key transfer point for drug smugglers. But Bush and Salinas made time to issue an upbeat progress report on the complex negotiations aimed at a North American free trade pact that would include Canada. The trade talks have been bogged down lately, and there has been speculation that U.S. officials want to delay the controversial treaty until well after this year’s U.S. elections.

To his credit, Bush did not succumb to any protectionist pressure, saying that “no politics, no nothing is going to stand in the way” of the North American free trade agreement.

That’s good, because the sooner that treaty is signed and working as a model for economic development throughout Latin America, the quicker drug trafficking and other negative side effects of the region’s widespread poverty can be eliminated.