Summit Leaders Appeal for Aid to Argentina

Nineteen Latin American leaders rallied behind cash-strapped Argentina at a summit in Santiago, urging international lenders to come up with more emergency aid to ease the nation’s debt crisis.

Separately, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, host of the two-day Rio Group gathering in the capital, also asked his partners to find a common front on hemispheric free trade and World Trade Organization talks.

Summit leaders also announced renewed resolve to fight illegal arms and drug trafficking and to battle poverty and unemployment and diseases such as AIDS.

As the meeting wrapped up, Lagos said that he phoned President Bush on behalf of the leaders to press for international help for Argentina, which has $128 billion in public debt.