"No country, no matter how powerful, has the right to define democracy for the world," said Belize's minister of national development, Assad Shoman.
AMEN! George probably didn't get it though.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Reuters) - President Bush urged Latin America on Monday to build on democratic gains of recent decades but U.S. proposals to establish a democratic watchdog floundered on fears of U.S. interference and angered Venezuela.
Addressing the 34-member Organization of American States at a time when many Latin American leaders are contesting U.S. influence, Bush said gains in democracy since dictators ruled much of the region "must not be taken for granted."
In a 15-minute speech at the first OAS meeting in the United States in more than 30 years, Bush told the Western Hemisphere's top diplomatic body it faced a choice between two visions.
"One offers a vision of hope. It is founded on representative government, integration into the world markets, and a faith in the transformative power of freedom in individual lives," he said.
"The other seeks to roll back the democratic progress of the past two decades by playing to fear, pitting neighbor against neighbor and blaming others for their own failures to provide for their people," he added.
Bush made no direct mention of a U.S. proposal to add teeth to the OAS' Inter-American Democratic Charter by establishing a mechanism to monitor abuses by individual governments, potentially through civic groups or by elder statesmen.
But the measure took center stage at the three-day meeting in Fort Lauderdale and exposed widening fault lines between the Bush administration and Washington's traditional "backyard," where left-leaning governments have been elected from Argentina to Venezuela.
It also drew the wrath of Venezuela, one of the United States' biggest oil suppliers, which saw the proposal as aimed at leftist President Hugo Chavez, a vocal critic of U.S. power who has launched a self-styled revolution to better the lot of his country's poor.
Bush pledged to make Latin America a priority when he took office in January 2001, but Washington's attention shifted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The war in Iraq was also unpopular in Latin America, where many still harbor memories of heavy-handed U.S. interference during the Cold War.
In a rare diplomatic defeat, the United States was forced this year to abandon two candidates it had backed for the OAS leadership. The job finally went to Jose Miguel Insulza, a leftist Chilean statesman.
'DEMOCRACY CANNOT BE IMPOSED'
Venezuela denounced the U.S. proposal to monitor the democratic performance of OAS members.
"The OAS is not entitled to evaluate the state of democracy in different countries," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez told the gathering.
"We are not doing anything in order to change the politics, the decisions of the government of the United States, so we ask for the same treatment for Venezuela," he told reporters later.
Chavez was twice elected president of the world's No. 5 oil exporter, but Washington and other critics say he is showing authoritarian tendencies.
While all Latin American ministers attending the OAS meeting spoke of the need to deepen the region's commitment to democracy, most highlighted the organization's founding charter that barred interference in another country's affairs.
"Democracy cannot be imposed; it is born in dialogue," said Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.
"No country, no matter how powerful, has the right to define democracy for the world," said Belize's minister of national development, Assad Shoman.
Some delegates spoke in favor of the U.S. proposal, such as Peru's representative to the OAS, Alberto Borea Odria, who said his country suffered in the 1990s when former President Alberto Fujimori became increasingly authoritarian.
(Additional reporting by Adam Entous, Michael Christie, Arshad Mohammed and Frances Kerry)