While the heads of state met with their corporate allies to move toward implementation of the FTAA by 2005, activists outside this 400-year-old walled city staged militant protests condemning the secrecy of the negotiations and the erosion of democracy they claim is the result of surrendering government power to transnational corp.

Behind a 2.4 mile long concrete and wire fence, leaders from every nation in the hemisphere, except for Cuba gathered in Quebec City for the Summit of the Americas April 20-22 to negotiate the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The FTAA, an economic treaty modeled after the controversial North American Free Trade Agreement, would extend many of the same regulations found in NAFTA to the nations of North, South and Central America.
While the heads of state met with their corporate allies to move toward implementation of the FTAA by 2005, activists outside this 400-year-old walled city staged militant protests condemning the secrecy of the negotiations and the erosion of democracy they claim is the result of surrendering government power to transnational corporations. Between The Lines' Scott Harris has this special report.