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South American Unity May No Longer Be a Distant Dream:
The Region’s Left-leaning Governments Strive for Integration as Washington’s Plan to Isolate Venezuela’s Chávez Fails

By Seth DeLong
The Council on Hempispheric Affairs
April 11 2005

* The possibility of South American unity is more imminent today than at any time since Simón Bolívar’s original vision of continental solidarity.

* South America’s Atlantic coast democratic states consider political and economic integration both as a way to counter Washington’s hegemonic influence and as an end in itself.

* Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), along with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva and Argentine President Nestor Kirchner’s joint declaration of the "Buenos Aires Consensus" are examples of the continent’s growing frustration with the "Washington Consensus" and its drive to fulfill decades of discussion about Latin America’s own manifest destiny.

* South America’s increasing push for unity is also evident in its hardening opposition to Washington’s proposal for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and its refusal to follow Washington’s plan to isolate the Venezuelan president.

* The model towards which the region’s presidents are striving is the European Union, which is much more attentive to the social impact of open markets than the proposed FTAA.

* Unlike past governments, today’s center-left democratic states tend to view the grassroots social movements as allies, not adversaries.

At a summit held on March 29 in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, heads of government from Spain, Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela gathered to discuss an array of topics, ranging from security issues to regional economic integration. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez declared the summit’s intent to "accelerate the South American integration project as a geopolitical component because it is the only path that we have: the Latin American Union."Displaying his usual rhetorical panache, Chávez said this path would lead to a "new geopolitical map . . . to counterbalance the global dominance of the United States." While eschewing the more feisty rhetoric of his colleague, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva chimed in with a subtle barb to Washington by stating that "all we want to do is occupy our space in the world, show respect for all nations but also [want] to be respected by them."

Affirming the Cuzco Declaration
One main purpose of the summit was to affirm the agenda articulated at an earlier regional summit held last December in Cuzco, Peru. There, 12 South American countries signed an accord to merge the region’s two main trading blocs, the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) and the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) into a single unified bloc, the South American Community of Nations (CSN). The political significance of the Cuzco meeting was that it was the biggest step the continent has yet made towards the centuries-old ideal of a unified South America. At the meeting, CAN Secretary-General Allan Wagner told the IPS news service that, "Our ultimate goal is the United States of South America." As reported in the Economist, former Argentine President Eduardo Duhalde noted, "Our mirror will be the European Union, with all its institutions." Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, invoking standard Chavista bravura, declared, "We are here to give flesh, bone, soul, heart and life to the dream of Bolívar." Economically, Cuzco’s significance lies in its unification of the two formidable trading blocs MERCOSUR and CAN, which combined serves a population of 360 million, a $1.3 trillion GDP and an export market of $181 billion.

Haven’t We Been Here Before?
Calls for South American unity like President Toledo’s, whether based on trade or cultural ties, are nothing new to the continent. Dating back to Bolívar’s inter-American congress in 1826, regional leaders have frequently gathered at conferences intended to create regional trade blocs and continental alliances. But flourishing declarations of Latin unity, with very little to show for them, have provided ample food stock for cynics among both observers of Latin America as well as its leaders. For example, commenting on the Cuzco meeting, the former Ecuadoran vice president, Blaso Penaherrera, observed, "The presidents live from summit to summit. They’re going to turn into mountain climbers, passing from summit to summit." Speaking in a more pragmatic vein, in a recent NPR broadcast discussion with the author of this piece, Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, noted that, "one can talk about trade agreements among the countries of South America as a very useful advance, but let’s be real as well -- the biggest market in the hemisphere is the U.S. market. There’s not enough of a market in South America to really provide the growth that these countries need to break out of the cycle of poverty."

In contrast to this skepticism, what stands out regarding the March summit in Puerto Ordaz and last year’s meeting in Cuzco is that the plethora of obstacles, which historically have proven to be the bane of South American unity are now, for the first time, within reach of being surmountable. Moreover, most of South America is, to some degree, ideologically aligned along the same democratic, center-left political axis (except Colombia). This ideological alignment may prove to be a necessary if not a sufficient condition for regional unity.



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