MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina, November 6, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – US President George Bush, met with a rowdy reception and mass protests, has failed on Saturday, November 5, to sell his pan-American free trade deal to the Summit of the Americas.

"Necessary conditions are not yet present to reach an equitable and balanced hemispheric free trade accord, free of subsidies and distorting trade practices ... and taking into account the needs and sensibilities of all members," read an annex to the final declaration, which came hours after a scheduled deadline.

Chilean President Ricardo Lagos said differing views over how to proceed with the creation of the US-proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) persisted as the two-day summit ended in this Argentine seaside resort, reported Reuters.

"The point of contention is if the conditions are there for us to negotiate. A great majority said 'Yes' but others said 'Let's wait,"' he said.

The 34 member nations signed the final declaration with 29 nations prepared to resume talks in 2006 and five, including Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela, flat-out opposed to the deal.

The Bush administration had hoped to jump-start discussions to establish the world's most populous free-trade bloc, which have been stalled for the last two years.

It insists a regional free-trade agreement stretching from Canada to Argentina would give new markets to American businesses and help create jobs and greater prosperity in Latin America.

"Today the big loser was Mr. Bush," said Chavez (L). (Reuters).

Oil-rich Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, the region's most ardent free trade critic, has criticized the US plan, calling it detrimental to Latin American workers.

"Today the big loser was Mr. Bush," Chavez declared after the summit ended, praising the meeting and dubbing the five countries "the five musketeers."

"We have never had such an intense, frank and profound debate in the past seven years," he said.

Chavez came to the meeting vowing to "bury" efforts to move FTAA forward and rallied 40,000 people a football stadium Friday.

Prominent attendees included Argentine football hero Diego Maradona.

Other leaders from Latin America's big agricultural economies Brazil and Argentina have also voiced concern over any free trade deal, saying they would first like to see an end to US farm subsidies.

"Free trade is very important if we respect equality among nations," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told reporters.

He added it was "not opportune" to discuss FTAA before the crucial World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Hong Kong in December, where subsidies would be a key issue.

A Brazilian protester wears a mask of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as hundreds march protest Bush's visit. (Reuters).

US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters aboard Air Force One, traveling with Bush en route to Brazil, that although no accord was reached, progress was still made in the bid to create a free-trade zone.

"It's not deadlocked," Hadley said.

"We went from a summit which was supposed to bury FTAA to a summit ... in which all 34 countries actually talk in terms of enhanced trade and an FTAA."

He said Bush listened as well as expressed the US view.

"His approach is to not to try and dominate but to participate as one of equals and listen, and that's what he did," Hadley said.

"At critical times he made his views obviously clear."

US officials say 29 of the 34 countries represented in the talks are behind the proposal.

Bush's stop in Brazil is the second part of a Latin American trip that will also include a stop in Panama.

Ahead of his arrival, police in Sao Paulo fired tear gas and used batons to disperse a crowd of about 1,000 people protesting in the city center against Bush's visit.

The march began peacefully with protesters shouting "Go home Bush!" but police responded after some protesters began throwing rocks.

The summit was overcrowded by massive anti-Bush demonstrations, as the resort's downtown looked like a battlefield.

Sixty-eight people were arrested in protests that left a trail of destruction in this seaside resort.

Protests were held in some 200 cities across Argentina.

Outside the summit area, protesters damaged several banks and cellular telephone stores.

A branch of Banco Galicia was set ablaze by protesters lobbing Molotov cocktails.

Others threw slabs of pavement onto the windows of BankBoston, an American bank, and fireworks at the British HSBC bank.

Protesters also shattered the windows of branches of fast-food chains McDonald's and Burger King.

Police tossed tear gas canisters to disperse the stone-throwing protesters, many of whom wore ski masks.