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Dean says U.S. needs to reach out to Latin America


By DENISE KALETTE
Associated Press Writer
MIAMI -- Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean on Tuesday said the United States should reach out to Latin America with programs that encourage trade and reduce poverty.

Dean spoke to a crowd of about 300 students and supporters at Florida International University in Miami.

"We need to reach out. There are extraordinary opportunities and extraordinary things going on in Latin America," Dean said.

Dean added that he would support legislation proposed for the U.S. to invest in Latin America, in programs that would target minorities and women. Rep. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. has proposed creating a development fund of $250 million to fight poverty in Latin America.

Dean said more goods bound for Latin America travel through Miami than any other U.S. city.

"This is an extraordinary city. It is the jumping off point for Latin America," he said of Miami.

Dean added that President Bush missed an opportunity to improve relations with Latin American countries, despite a promise made to Mexican President Vicente Fox.

Dean also said he would support a policy that would allow Haitian migrants to remain in the U.S. until their country stabilizes, a policy now offered to migrants from some Central American countries, but not to Haitians.

The public is concerned about illegal immigration into the U.S., and the Bush administration has fueled fears by referring to immigration quotas, leading to concern that immigrants may take U.S. citizens' jobs, Dean said.

Dean said Bush's proposed guest worker program is not the right approach because it does not help immigrants. The program, budgeted at $247 million by the Department of Homeland Security, would grant temporary visas to immigrants seeking employment in the United States.

"They get nothing in the United States but six years of indentured servitude," Dean said.

Instead, the administration should work with countries with high numbers of emigrants to the United States to improve their economies, he said.

Danny Diaz, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee in Washington responded that Dean's remarks were misleading.

"I would say that Howard Dean's rhetoric is long on rhetoric and short on reality," Diaz said.

Dean told the gathering that Democrats would try to win votes among evangelical Christians in the next presidential election. In the 2004 election, evangelicals played a decisive role. One-fourth of voters in swing states considered themselves evangelicals and voted for Bush by nearly 3-1 - forming a strong base for Bush in those states.

Many evangelicals have expressed concern about global warming and other environmental issues, as well as about the number of uninsured people, issues that also are important to Democrats, according to Dean.