The heads of government of the 34 countries in the Americas that claim to be democracies will gather on November 4th and 5th in Mar del Plata, an Argentine resort. Two among them will dominate proceedings: George Bush and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. That is not because they are the wisest leaders present or because they are the richest, although the United States's economy dwarfs all others in the region and Mr Chavez commands windfall oil wealth. Mr Bush and Mr Chavez, who are expected to avoid each other in Mar del Plata, will steal the limelight mainly because they represent opposite poles of a strident hemispheric debate. At the first Summit of the Americas, in Miami in 1994, all the region's governments signed up to a common vision of democracy and free trade. That consensus was starting to fray by the third summit, in Quebec in 2001; now at Mar del Plata, the fourth, it has unravelled. The gathering's worthy official theme is to promote employment. But how? The plan for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), originally due to come into effect this year, has stalled, as Mr Bush admitted this week. He said that the Doha round of world trade talks should take precedence. In any event, Brazil is reluctant to endorse a new timetable for the FTAA.
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机译：自称是民主国家的美洲34个国家的政府首脑将于11月4日至5日聚集在阿根廷度假胜地马德普拉塔（Mar del Plata）。其中两个将主导诉讼程序：乔治·布什和委内瑞拉的雨果·查韦斯。这不是因为他们是出席会议上最明智的领导人，也不是因为他们是最富有的人，尽管美国的经济使该地区所有其他国家相形见and，查韦斯先生掌握了可观的石油财富。预计布什和查韦斯在马德普拉塔将彼此避开，他们将成为众人瞩目的焦点，主要是因为它们代表了激烈的半球辩论的相反两极。 1994年在迈阿密举行的第一届美洲峰会上，该地区所有政府签署了关于民主和自由贸易的共同愿景。这种共识在2001年魁北克举行的第三次峰会上开始破裂。现在在马德普拉塔（Mar del Plata），它已经解散了。这次聚会的正式主题是促进就业。但是如何？正如布什本周承认的那样，原定于今年生效的美洲自由贸易区计划已被搁置。他说，多哈回合的世界贸易谈判应该优先。无论如何，巴西都不愿意为FTAA制定新的时间表。
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