Venezuela calls for front against US trade deals

VENEZUELA: President Hugo Chavez marked Venezuela's entry into the South American trade bloc Mercosur with a six-nation summit, an alliance that he says should be a common front against U.S. free trade deals.

Chavez and the leaders of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay formalized the bloc's expansion to include Venezuela, which Chavez claims as a victory against Washington's "imperialistic" economic plans for the hemisphere.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, a close Chavez ally, attended the signing ceremony as an observer.

"We are defeating the hegemonic pretensions" of the United States "and today we have placed a new cornerstone for the freedom and unity of South America," Chavez said to a rousing applause in a packed Caracas auditorium.

Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva called on fellow Mercosur members to maintain political solidarity when facing challenges from countries outside the region, but said that anti-Americanism was not a hallmark of the regional trade bloc.

"We have the right to demand there be no type of meddling in our region," Silva said.

"Today we are here to say to the world that we don't want to fight with anybody," he added. "We are peaceful countries. Each country should maintain its relations with the United States."

Oil-producing Venezuela's entry into Mercosur is expected to boost the economic clout of the trading bloc, bringing Mercosur's combined gross domestic product to US$1 trillion (euro780 billion) a year - more than three-quarters of South America's total economic activity.

Caracas, Wednesday, AP