MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina, November 4.— The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) was defeated by the peoples of this continent, said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to over 80,000 participants in a march repudiating the presence of George W. Bush in Argentina.

President Bush is in Mar del Plata for the Summit of the Americas, seen as a last ditch effort of his administration to resurrect a continental plan that would leave Latin American markets defenseless to US corporations while maintaining obstacles for access to the US market.

Washington had hoped the FTAA would take effect in January, 2005, but the reluctance of several governments as well as social, labor and political movements from throughout the region nixed the plan.

After a three hour march from downtown Independence Avenue to the Mar Del Plata soccer stadium, people from all across the Western Hemisphere shared their dreams and ideas with President Chavez, considered the voice of the peoples at the US organized Summit of the Americas, which began Friday afternoon.

Before going on to analyze the situation in the region, Chavez told the gathering that shortly before entering the stadium he had received a call from Cuban President Fidel Castro. The news brought prolonged cheers and applause. Chavez said the Cuban leader told him that he had watched the march live on TELESUR satellite TV and wished to send his greetings to all those present.

Chavez said he bid goodbye to his friend with the usual: "Hasta la Victoria Siempre" (Onward to Victory), Patria o Muerte, and that with a spirited voice, "like thunder crossing the Caribbean and the Orinoco, the Amazon and La Plata Rivers," Fidel had answered: "Chavez, long live Che."

The Venezuelan leader went on to say that to defeat imperialism and save our peoples, we must follow the formula of the great South American Liberator Simon Bolivar: "Perseverance and more perseverance; patience and more patience; work and more work; unity and more unity."

It’s not only about saying No to the FTAA; it is about building an alternative. That’s where the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) comes in, a project begun 200 years ago by our founding fathers, he said.

Chavez explained that Venezuela and Cuba have taken firm steps to begin building the ALBA, which includes political, social, economic and technological exchange of mutual interest.

As a result of the agreements reached between the two countries, he said, Venezuela was able to defeat illiteracy in less than two years. He added that in this short time a million and a half Venezuelans learned to read and write and are now continuing with their primary school education.

In addressing the anti-Bush marchers, including thousands who participated in the Peoples Summit sessions, Chavez said he had a proposal for the presidents at the Summit of the Americas: Let’s stop going from summit to summit, from speeches to more speeches and let’s defeat illiteracy in Latin America, which affects around 40 million people, and if you add in the functional illiterates the figure is some 200 million.

To confront illiteracy, hunger and improve medical attention of Latin Americans, Chavez said he will tell the Summit of the Americas that the people of Venezuela are willing to put up 10 billion dollars. He said to carry out this endeavor he was sure that Fidel Castro and the Cuban people would join in, "because that’s what the ALBA is about; being humanists and putting the social first."

He said the Bolivarian Alternative should be built from the bottom up, with the participation of workers, farmers, indigenous peoples, students, women, professionals, artists, etc. "We all have a role to play," he said. "It won’t be built by elites, but from our own roots instead."

Chavez also included the military, who he called on to take up the baton carried by the continent’s liberators. Imperialism, he noted, penetrated the military of our countries, fostered dictatorships and taught them how to repress and eliminate people, acting virtually as occupation armies against their own peoples.

"I belong to the army that rescued the cause of Bolivar and started the revolution, and as the people move forward they will do so accompanied by our soldiers, who are, and always should be, part of the very soul of the people, as were San Martin and Simon Bolivar," Chavez said.

He stressed the need for all conscientious men and women to come together and take part in what he called the "second independence."

Speaking to the huge crowd of young people, Chavez highlighted the importance of being radical, revolutionary and humanistic and endorse Bolivar’s ideal of a united Latin America.

He said there was no other option because each day Latin America faced more hunger and poverty due to the neo-liberal capitalist model which has wrought havoc on the people without mercy.

President Chavez promised that he would present the accords and resolutions reached at the Third Peoples Summit to the meeting of heads of states during the Summit of the Americas, which concludes Saturday. These had earlier been presented at the rally by Blanca Chancoso, leader of the Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement.

Chavez once again denounced the Pentagon’s plans to attack Venezuela, "the empire, in desperation, is acting like a cornered tiger." He called upon the people to stand firm saying throughout history the people have always come out ahead, defeating all empires.

Chavez noted that the White House has been trying for several years to destroy the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. He said that in the same way the US has failed to destroy the Cuban Revolution it will also fail in the case of Venezuela’s.

All evil must come to an end, and so will the US empire, he said, adding that while that end may not be here yet, it is approaching.

President Chavez stated that the people of Latin America face the same battle today as they faced 200 years ago, this time against a nation that has become a super power obsessed with domination and bent on swallowing up the people of Latin America.

Chavez’s much anticipated address followed a concert from well-known Latin American singer-songwriters including Silvio Rodriguez, Daniel Viglietti, Amaury Perez, Francisco Villa and Vicente Feliu, who once again used the power of song to defend love, life and the dreams of the Latin Americans.

Hebe de Bonafini, the legendary leader of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, Bolivian presidential candidate, Evo Morales, soccer legend Diego Armando Maradona, and Lazarito, a young Cuban boy invited by Chavez, also addressed the crowd.

The icy, incessant rain in no way affected the massive protest that had begun in the early morning. Hugo Chavez concluded his address saying, I’m going to finish from my heart with the words of [Jose] Marti: the hour of the second independence of the people of the Americas has arrived. Now I will bring your voices to the other summit.

(Granma) November 6, 2005