BY BRIAN TAYLOR
"Fuera Clinton" (Clinton go home) read the lead banner carried by workers protesting the U.S. president's arrival in Argentina. In a time-honored tradition, workers, peasants, and young people from Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela greeted William Clinton with protest marches and street demonstrations throughout his tour of the three Latin American countries. The week-long trip, an unusual one for the U.S. president, began October 12. It was designed to shore up trade pacts, spur austerity measures aimed against the working class in South America, and deepen Washington's domination in the region.

In Caracas, Venezuela, Clinton's first stop, protesters spray-painted "Millions for banks - hunger for the people" and "Raise the general salary" outside the National Pantheon, the building where the U.S. president spoke. During his sparsely attended speech October 13, Clinton praised Venezuelans for accepting austerity measures and said he "cared" about their future. A Washington Post article the next day, however, questioned whether the "feeling was mutual." Some 80 percent of Venezuela's more than 20 million inhabitants live in poverty, according to the government's estimates.

On October 14 dozens of Brazilian activists met Clinton on his arrival at the Foreign Ministry building in Brasilia chanting, "Clinton go home!" and "Imperialist Yankee!" Some protesters burned an effigy of the U.S. president. After the meeting with legislators, demonstrators bombarded Clinton's U.S. embassy-bound limousine with manure. Many were angry at a statement released by Washington that characterized corruption in Brazil as "endemic." Clinton apologized, claiming the description was "an appalling error."

In Argentina, according to an Associated Press report, Clinton faced protests "at every step of his two-day visit." Riot cops in full gear were deployed by the Argentine government October 16 to crack down on the hundreds of anti- imperialist activists. Two hundred protesters were detained. At a staged Argentine television program, designed to welcome the U.S. president to South America, youth from the audience grilled Clinton with questions challenging U.S. policy. In both Argentina and Venezuela chants like "Clinton No, Che Guevara Yes" were part of the actions. Guevara, born in Argentina, became one the central leaders of the 1959 revolution in Cuba, which overthrew the U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. A convoy of a half-dozen cars drove past the foreign ministry building in Brazil waving banners with photos of Guevara. Some 30 protesters there demanded, "Get rid of the embargo [on Cuba]!" as one of their chants, referring to the trade and travel sanctions the U.S. government has enforced against Havana for more than three decades.

During the tour, Clinton made moves to strengthen U.S. economic ties to the three South American countries. He was accompanied by U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and a number of congressional officials. In Argentina, Clinton announced plans to give that regime "major non-NATO ally" status, making it the first Latin American government to join Israel, South Korea, Egypt, Jordan, Japan, and Australia under that designation. Clinton praised Buenos Aires for taken part in "peacekeeping operations" from Bosnia to Cyprus to Haiti. The government of Chile, which just got a waiver on U.S.-imposed restrictions of military sales and is now buying F-16 fighter jets, opposes Washington's decision to give the Argentine government.

Clinton held up Venezuela as a positive example of carrying out austerity. "Americans look to Venezuela and see a growing economy, renewed and strengthened by sacrifice," he declared. In recent years the government in Caracas has rolled back the severance pay system for workers and is now looking towards "reforming" the social security system by partially privatizing it.

In Brazil, the U.S. president was looking to push further along the lines of the 1994 Summit of the Americas, where Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso agreed to work toward forming a western hemispheric trade bloc dubbed the "Free Trade Area of the Americas." However, many Brazilian capitalists are hesitant. When the trade barriers for U.S. toy barons were lowered in 1994, more than 520 toy factories closed over two years. Some 15,000 workers were fired. "We don't want a U.S. economic invasion, at least not until we are in a position to compete," said Synesio Batista da Costa, president of the Brazilian Association of Toy Makers, following Clinton's speech to business leaders in Sao Paulo. Clinton stated that he accepted the Brazilian government's right to increase business dealings with the European Union through Mercosur, a South American regional trade bloc. But he made a point of boasting that Washington has lower tariffs that its European counterparts.

Before the tour to the three Latin American countries began, Clinton was attempting to get "fast track" legislation passed in Congress. This would give the head of state the power to make trade proposals to Congress that would have to be voted up or down with no amendments. As of Clinton's tour, the "fast track" legislation was still being debated in the U.S. Congress.  
 
 
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