Latin Leaders Hold Closed-Door Summit in Mexico Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Saturday May 29, 4:22 pm Eastern Time Latin leaders hold closed-door summit in Mexico By Rene Villegas MEXICO CITY, May 29 (Reuters) - Nine Latin American presidents and top envoys from five other nations met behind closed doors at the 13th Rio Group summit in Mexico City on Saturday for talks on issues ranging from Cuba to world financial turmoil. The Rio Group, founded in 1986 to address Cold War-era civil wars in Central America, has evolved into a leading forum on trade and economic cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean. ``Our ultimate proposal is a process of continentalization that will arrive at a free-trade zone from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego,'' Argentine President Carlos Menem said on Saturday. Argentina will propose that the 14 Rio Group countries consider ditching their local currencies in favor of the U.S. dollar to promote trade and avoid international financial turmoil. The ``dollarization'' issue has touched off a heated debate in Argentina, where the government pegs its peso exchange rate at one-to-one with the dollar. Diplomatic sources told Reuters that Menem intended to push the regional dollarization idea during an open debate among the presidents. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told reporters on Friday that the always controversial topic of Cuba would be on the table as well. ``We want Cuba to be definitively integrated into the Latin American and Caribbean continent,'' Chavez said of the Communist-ruled island, which is neither a Rio Group country nor a member of the Organization of American States (OAS). Chavez, 44, and Cuban President Fidel Castro, 72, are personal friends as well as Latin America's most radical leaders. A paratrooper turned charismatic politician, Chavez won a sweeping election victory in December on a populist and nationalist mandate to overhaul the country. For the first time since the Rio Group was created, the main session was to be held without a formal agenda and only among the presidents or their top-level representatives. Aides were barred from the session. Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, who advocated the new forum, said on Friday that he sought to explore regional issues ``without preconceived conclusions.'' Present in the debate were Mexico's Zedillo; Hugo Banzer of Bolivia; Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil; Jamil Mahuad of Ecuador; Alvaro Arzu of Guatemala, representing all of Central America; Luis Angel Gonzalez Macchi of Paraguay; Julio Sanuinetti of Uruguay; and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Presidents Andres Pastrana of Colombia, Eduardo Frei of Chile, Janet Jagan of Guyana, Alberto Fujimori of Peru and Ernesto Perez Balladares of Panama were absent, leaving foreign ministers or, in Peru's case, Vice President Ricardo Marquez, to take their places. Another topic certain to be discussed was the upcoming summit of Latin American and European leaders set for June 18-29 in Rio de Janeiro. ``That Rio de Janeiro summit will be historic,'' Zedillo said. ``It will give clear momentum toward a relationship between two regions with a great shared history based on the great things to come.'' The six-hour session of leaders was scheduled to last into Saturday night, after which Zedillo and two other presidents were to hold a news conference. Copyright (c) 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-06.02.99-01:06:39-24493