Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean

SOUTH AMERICA: Brazil Tries to Regain Initiative, at Summit

Walter Sotomayor

BRASILIA, May 22 2008 (IPS) - The formal creation of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in the Brazilian capital Friday, where 12 heads of state and government will sign a treaty, highlights the differences between Brazil and Venezuela on the future of regional integration, say analysts.

Brazil is attempting to regain the political initiative in establishing the South American bloc as a formal legal entity, a step that has been postponed several times because of tension between countries in the region.

“If Brazil does not do it at this time, (Venezuelan President Hugo) Chávez will do it, his own way,” foreign policy expert João Augusto de Castro Neves told IPS, after pointing out that the idea for a South American bloc was originally presented in 2000 at a meeting convened by then Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2003).

“Brazil is trying to recover the initiative,” said Neves, noting that the creation of what was originally called the South American Community of Nations was aimed at deepening regional integration by establishing a free trade zone between the countries of the Mercosur (Southern Common Market) and the Andean Community trade blocs.

Mercosur is made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (Venezuela is in the process of joining), while the Andean Community is comprised of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. UNASUR will include Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay and Venezuela.

One of the central aims of the South American Community of Nations was the construction of major physical and energy infrastructure links in the region, financed by the BNDES, Brazil’s state-owned development bank, one of the biggest banks in the region.

The name of the bloc was changed to Union of South American Nations at the request of the Venezuelan president himself, but the differences seem to revolve around broader discrepancies between Brazil and Venezuela.

The question of relations with the United States is one of the issues separating the two countries, with Brazil willing to engage in political dialogue and keen on preserving 44 billion dollars in annual trade with that country, and Venezuela frankly hostile to the U.S., which is, nevertheless, its biggest trading partner.

A statement released by the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said “the central objectives of UNASUR are the strengthening of political dialogue between the member states and the deepening of regional integration,” to move forward in the areas of economic and productive integration, financial mechanisms, social development, cultural cooperation, and the development of transportation, energy and communications infrastructure.

Diplomatic sources reported that Friday’s summit would recommend incorporating, under the UNASUR umbrella, the Bank of the South – a monetary fund and lender first proposed by Chávez, whose characteristics have caused tension between Brasilia and Caracas – as well as a regional Defence Council and South American Parliament.

But pointing to the Parlatino (Latin American Parliament) and Mercosur Parliament, observers warn of the risks of overlapping institutions with similar objectives.

“It seems to me that energy is being wasted in the creation of parallel mechanisms,” said Brazilian Senator Heráclito Fortes, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He argued that there are already many regional institutions in Latin America, which force member countries to hold a number of meetings throughout the year, the effectiveness of which is widely questioned.

But Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim downplayed the problem of overlap and said the new parliament would “have to adjust itself accordingly.”

Meanwhile, a string of recent conflicts between countries in the region forced authorities in Brazil to take certain measures, such as making a last-minute change in the hotel where Colombian President Álvaro Uribe is to stay, in order to keep him from running into Chávez and President Rafael Correa of Ecuador.

Tension has run high between the rightwing Uribe and his leftwing counterparts in Venezuela and Ecuador since Colombia bombed a FARC guerrilla camp in Ecuadorean territory on Mar. 1.