MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mush politeness but little agreement in Summit

Leaders at the Iberian-American summit meeting over the weekend in Uruguay pledged to tackle the root economic and social causes of immigration, but Latin American leaders also criticized United States and Europe for its strict regulatory practices.

The debate showed strong arguments from both sides of the Atlantic, Latin American leaders whose citizens are emigrating claiming growing discrimination and decreasing cooperation, and European countries saying there's a limit to the influx.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe questioned Europe's restrictive practices in the face of Latin American immigrants, comparing positions with the 'ineffective' attempts to control the influx of illegal drugs. "They catch immigrants and send them back, but they don't seem to be able to stop drugs going into Spain", he said.

Bolivia's recently elected first Indian President Evo Morales accused the US and Europe of double standards.

'When migration is going from north to south, it is to plunder our natural resources,' said Morales, who nationalized Bolivia's oil industry last spring. 'Now they are criminalizing migration from south to north".

"How can we resolve the problem of immigration? (We must) take advantage of the natural resources to resolve the economic and social problems" Morales said.

Morales also recalled when as a union leader invited to Bilbao, his first trip ever to Spain he was stopped by the National Guard at Barajas airport demanding from him 500 US dollars. "In spite of the invitation they insisted until I got mad and told them that after 500 years of exploitation, there was no way I would tolerate the 500 US dollars demand".

Mexican President Vicente Fox renewed his attacks on the US decision to build a 1,100-kilometre fence along its southern border, calling it 'clumsy, not intelligent and obviously political.'

Representing the other side of the Atlantic, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Ruiz Rodriguez Zapatero called on Latin American leaders to work to 'eradicate poverty' and address economic inequality in their countries.

"The causes of immigration remain, lamentably, intact" Zapatero said, adding that the only 'effective' solution was to spread economic development more evenly, 'to transform socially poor countries and regions into areas of prosperity.'

European Commissioner ofr External Relations Benita Ferrero- Waldner - invited to attend the summit for the first time - told the gathering that Latin American immigrants were a vital part of Europe's economy.

The annual Iberian-American summit brings together Latin American nations, Spain and Portugal but was this year marred by the absence of at least eight of the 22 heads of state invited. The pull-outs marked the largest absence in the annual meeting's 15-year existence and included controversial Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, who said he was fatigued after being re-elected on Sunday but was pictured basking on a beach with his wife and family.

The next summit is to be hosted by Chile next year under the banner of social inclusion.