Latin Americans are greeting our president, in Argentina for the Summit of the Americas, with enthusiasm. The BBC reports:

Thousands of protesters chanting “Get out Bush” have thronged the streets of Mar del Plata, an Argentine beach town hosting the Summit of the Americas.

The US president and 33 other regional leaders are in town to discuss free trade and poverty, amid tight security. …

…The rally was held in a football stadium, after a mainly peaceful march though boarded-up streets.

Standing side by side with Argentine former football legend Diego Maradona, Mr[Hugo] Chavez told the crowd that the world’s eyes were upon them and the Americas.

Wearing a T-shirt accusing Mr Bush of war crimes, Maradona said: “Argentina is dignified. Let’s throw out Bush!”

Earlier protesters had surrounded a train that brought their comrades from Buenos Aires, among them Bolivian left-wing presidential candidate Evo Morales.

From CBC World News:

A crowd of 10,000 protesters chanting “Get out Bush!” swarmed the streets of this Argentine resort Friday, hours before the hemisphere’s leaders sat down to debate free trade, immigration and job creation.

Before dawn, thousands greeted a train bringing the last group of fellow demonstrators from Buenos Aires, including Bolivian presidential hopeful Evo Morales and soccer great Diego Maradona, who donned a T-shirt accusing U.S. President George W. Bush of war crimes.

Chanting “Fascist Bush! You are the terrorist!” the protesters hung from the engine and moved up the sides of the train, trying to shake hands with those inside.

Elisabeth Bumiller and Larry Rother report for the New York Times:

At a parallel “People’s Summit” in Mar del Plata on Thursday [see BBC photos], organized by a coalition of left-wing, indigenous and antiglobalization groups, American proposals on free trade also came in for criticism, as did Mr. Bush himself.

“We Said No and No Means No: No to Bush, No to F.T.A.A. and No to Repaying the Debt,” read one large banner at the conference, held in a group of tents and classrooms on the campus of a local university. Several thousand people attended.

“We’ve had enough of neo-liberalism and the damage it has inflicted on our societies,” said Juan Montenegro, who came from Buenos Aires to take part. “Bush is trying to destroy Iraq with bombs and guns and Latin America with an economic program that will rob us of our sovereignty.”

The “antisummit” began early in the week and is expected to culminate today in mass protest marches, led by Alfonso Pérez Esquivel, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Diego Maradona, the soccer idol. Mr. Chávez, with a foot in both of the gatherings here, is expected to be the main orator at a closing protest rally to be held at the main soccer stadium.

“F.T.A.A.” stands for Free Trade Area of the Americas, which is a proposal to unite the economies of the Americas into a single free trade area. This is a long-standing proposal that was also supported by President Clinton. I admit I am not well versed in the pros and cons of this proposal; anyone who wants to editorialize about it in the comments is welcome to do so.

However, as I understand it this area would include the U.S. I bet most American voters have never heard of it. And I bet most American voters would be enormously skeptical of it. It’d bite if F.T.A.A. were approved in Latin America but rejected in the U.S., huh?

Michael Fletcher writes for the Sydney Morning Herald:

The Bush Administration had hoped the meeting would help revive stalled plans for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a zone that would stretch from Alaska to Argentina.

“From our point of view, the Free Trade Area of the Americas has defined the summit process,” said Thomas Shannon, the US assistant secretary of state for the western hemisphere.

But that message was at odds with the sentiment in much of Latin America, where millions of people have yet to realise the promised benefits of democratic governments and free trade.

Across the region, half a dozen populist leaders have been elected in recent years, often supported by constituencies that blame US-backed economic policies, private investment and international trade for poverty and inequality.

It’s too soon to tell if the F.T.A.A. proposal will make any headway during the summit.

Marchela Sanchez of the Washington Post writes that most people of Latin America are tired of being caught between warring economic theories, whether Bush’s or Chavez’s.

As titillating as these activities on the sidelines of the summit may become, they will only serve to distract from the popular concerns that bring together the 34 elected leaders of the Americas — namely, to strengthen democracy and reduce poverty through job creation.

Indeed, the average Latin American is much less concerned with protesting against Washington, the war or Bush than in keeping his job and seeing his economic situation improve. More than in a battle of ideas, he or she is engaged in a day-to-day struggle to succeed in a democratic system.

New economic, social and political experiments, like the kind Chavez is pushing, are not gaining a foothold in Latin America. After 10 years of polling, the Chilean firm Latinobarometro concluded last week that Latin Americans are sold on democracy as a way of life. And even though in the last three years popular approval of democracy has not budged from 53 percent, Latin Americans are not actively seeking out alternatives. In fact a large majority say market economies (63 percent) and the private sector (59 percent) are what will help their countries develop.

As Marta Lagos, head of Latinobarometro put it, “people in Latin America are no longer interested in buying the dreams offered by extreme ideologies.'” Rather, she said, “they want to buy refrigerators.”

Cindy Sheehan is in Argentina with the protesters, which appears to me to be a bad move on her part. Outside the U.S. leftist extremism can actually get extreme, and Sheehan could lose credibility in America if she becomes too closely tied to far left anti-Americanism abroad.

The Right Blogosphere hasn’t picked up on this yet, however, probably because at the moment they are having a high ol’ time making fun of France.

Anyway–Nedra Pickler writes for the AP that Bush is trying to improve America’s image in Latin America. Fat chance. Marcela Sanchez of WaPo writes,

More than the Iraq war, it is Bush’s failure to recognize the maturation of democracy south of the Rio Grande that has increased popular disapproval. Regional democracies, most of them in their third decade of existence, have grown beyond the simplicity of left-right, either-or choices. Still, Bush’s war against terror and his obsession with Chavez and Cuban leader Fidel Castro suggest to Latin Americans that his administration’s frame of reference is still purely ideological and unevolved.

In other words, Bush’s Great White Father act is not winning ’em over. Maybe next time he’ll send Karen Hughes.