Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez rallied thousands of leftist sympathisers after a South American trade summit at Cordoba, in Argentina, railing against the US-backed free market policies they blame for many of Latin America’s woes.

Venezuela rejected Mexico’s demand for an apology today in a spat between President Hugo Chavez and Mexican leader Vicente Fox, calling it an unjustified ultimatum and saying Venezuela was recalling its ambassador.

US president George Bush and fellow leaders at the Summit of the Americas prepared today to debate whether to rekindle languishing talks on a hemispheric-wide free trade bloc, as protesters set fire to businesses and clashed with police.

A CROWD of 10,000 protesters chanting “Get out Bush!” swarmed the streets of the Argentine resort of Mar Del Plata yesterday, hours before the hemisphere’s leaders sat down to debate free trade, immigration and job creation.

Brazil’s left wing only won a partial victory in presidential elections that will go to a second round, but they still set off fireworks and danced the samba on the streets.