MANAGUA, Nicaragua – In a rare show of cooperation and solidarity, the leaders of Central America and participating governments from South America and the Caribbean pledged to work together to combat the regional food crisis that has resulted in a doubling of basic food costs over the past year.

Though the participating leaders represent a sliding scale of political ideologies, they spoke in one voice in criticizing the United States and its economic policies toward Latin America.

Left-leaning leaders blasted the free-market model of globalization promoted by the U.S., claiming it has led to increased economic and agricultural dependency on the North American giant, which protects its own farmers with government subsidies.

Center-left Honduran President Manuel Zelaya joined in the charge.

“There was confidence that globalization would resolve our energy and food problems, but they have made them worse,” said Zelaya. “Now we have less production in our countries and more emigration by those seeking the American dream.”

Zelaya also criticized the governments of Central America for ceding their roles to the free-market economy.

“We need to reactivate the role of the state. We can't be passive,” Zelaya said, urging a new era of agrarian reform, in reference to the Sandinistas' revolutionary policies in Nicaragua in the 1980s.

Even Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a defender of the free-market system, seemed to get into the spirit by criticizing the United States for spending billions on war in Iraq while not paying sufficient attention to more real threats, such as hunger, closer to home.

Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, who received praise from the other leaders for organizing the summit initiative, noted the food crisis is nothing new to the poor countries of Central America, but said now it's receiving wide international attention because the slumping U.S. economy is having a “multiplying” effect on the problem.

Despite the spirit of cooperation and solidarity, politics did play a role at the end of the afternoon when Arias declined to sign the final agreement. It included several new points by Venezuela, such as the creation of a $100 million ALBA bank for production, a proposal to create a new airline tax to finance a special energy and food security fund in the region, and a vague proposal to create an oil-agricultural alliance.

“There are some value judgments that I don't share,” Arias said of the final declaration that he refused to sign.

During a speech at the summit, however, Arias pledged to give $70 million to boost agricultural production.

Blake Schmidt contributed to this report.