ABSTRACT
On 18-19 April 1998, a second summit of the Americas took place in Santiago, Chile. Attended by the heads of state of thirty-four American states,1 it followed the first summit of the Americas, convened by the United States, in Miami in December 1994. The Santiago agenda included issues such as education, drugs, combating poverty and organized crime, but it was the announcement that the heads of state were ready to start negotiations for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) that received most attention.
