LOS ANGELES : Chile’s Leader Urges U.S. to Invest in Latin America

Chilean President Patricio Aylwin on Monday encouraged U.S. investment in Latin America to help stabilize the fragile democracies and called for a free trade agreement between Chile and the United States.

“Consolidation of free markets acquires special importance in view of the recent threats to the democratic processes in some countries in the region (Latin America),” Aylwin told the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. “The 1990s could become the decade of democratic consolidation and economic reform. . . . But we must not forget that the democracies of the continent are fragile. Poverty constitutes a permanent threat to democratic stability.”