Workshop: Latin America

1. According to Burlyai (2001) how has been the process of integration in Latin America?

Latin America has a growing economic highly dependent from United States.
In April 1994, Brazil launched its proposal for a South American Free Trade Area, or SAFTA. In the absence of progress during the FTAA negotiations, SAFTA would provide MERCOSUR with an "insurance policy" against the risk of northern protectionism.

South American Free Trade Area (SAFTA), will be the result of the integration of the big blocks of the region; the Andean Community and de MERCOSUR.
MERCOSUR, is the largest regional trade bloc in Latin America. MERCOSUR remains a state-led, primarily commercial initiative, and its evolution and sustainability have been fundamentally linked to strategic factors and power configurations at the regional and hemispheric levels.
The alignment of forces are determined by an evolution of the Latin American has been part of an expansive process of national and regional economic transformation, which has influenced the character of the process of integration.


2.According to at least other 3 additional academic sources, please explain how regional (economic or political) agreements in the Latin-American region have affected the way of doing business in the region.

(Ecuador 2009) Regional tensions Apart from the issue of Manta, relations between Quito and Washington have faced strain in the last two years largely because of regional geopolitics: The war of words between the United States and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez inevitably has drawn in other countries in the region. For his part, Correa has made no secret of his close rapport with Chavez. He is a frequent visitor to Caracas, and Venezuela has announced plans to assist Ecuador in developing its hydrocarbons infrastructure. However, Correa has stood back from joining the Boliviarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) grouping, whose members include countries noted for the stridency of their criticisms of the United States (Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Honduras). US support for Colombia's continuing offensive against the FARC, and the Colombian incursion into Ecuadorean territory last year, mean diplomatic relations between Quito and Bogota remain severed, despite the attempts of mediators (such as the Organization of American States) to patch up the rift. Accusations of Ecuadorean collusion with the FARC caused deep offence in Quito. It is plausible that once the April 26 presidential elections are over -- in which Correa is almost certain to be re-elected for a four-year term -- relations with Washington (and possibly Bogota) may begin to improve. Correa's political position will be stronger than any president of Ecuador in recent memory, and he will feel less need to exploit nationalistic responses. The new US administration also may well seek to rethink its stance towards countries like Ecuador, which, while critical of Washington, are prepared to maintain channels of dialogue. Relations between Correa and the US embassy in Quito have remained relatively cordial over the last two years.

(Leaders 2008) The biggest threat in the region is not Colombia but Venezuela. Mr Chavez has recently veered towards outright support for the FARC. Colombia alleges that the captured laptops show that he gave the guerrillas $300m (and also that the FARC is seeking uranium for a "dirty" bomb). Mr Chavez's mismanagement of Venezuela's oil boom has made him increasingly unpopular at home. His regime runs a risk of imploding. A cornered Mr Chavez might think of a border skirmish as the perfect distraction--and as justification for more repression at home. Even as they scold Mr Uribe, Brazil and other South American countries should warn Venezuela that it is destabilising the continent--and it is high time it stopped.

(Staying alive 2007)The situations of Bolivia and Ecuador are quite different. Both are governed by leftist presidents, Evo Morales and Rafael Correa, who say they have no interest in pursuing bilateral accords with the US. They both espouse anti-American rhetoric and recently took control of the assets of US energy companies operating in their countries.

(The Americas 2009) The last time the heads of government of the Americas got together, at the Argentine resort of Mar del Plata in November 2005, it was a fiasco. At a protest rally of 25,000 organised with the help of the hosts, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez spent more than two hours denouncing the United States and its plans for a Free-Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). At the meeting itself, 29 countries backed the trade plan, moribund though it was, and Mexico's president gave Mr Chavez a public ear wigging. George Bush and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva left early and Argentina and Uruguay were not on speaking terms. So the first aim of many of the 34 leaders who are due to assemble in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, between April 17th and 19th, is to preserve the diplomatic niceties and create a better atmosphere in the Americas. In this they may well succeed. For the region's political landscape has changed. Most obviously, the United States now has in Barack Obama a president who is as widely admired in Latin America as Mr Bush was disliked. Mr Chavez is on the defensive, his socialist economy wounded as badly as any other by the world recession. The most divisive issue concerns the one country that is not invited. Latin America is now united in wanting to end the diplomatic isolation of Cuba, and many would like the United States to lift its long-standing economic embargo against the island.

(Revolution 2009) He may be Latin America's least predictable "21st century socialist", but Rafael Correa seems assured of victory in a presidential election to be held on April 26th. This in itself is an achievement. The general election, held under a new constitution promoted by Correa, comes just 29 months after he was first elected. But no Ecuadorean president has secured a second consecutive term since the 19th century, and none of Correa's three elected predecessors managed to finish their terms. In addition, his Alianza Pais (Country Alliance) party is likely to gain a majority in the legislature, though it may fare less well in mayoral votes. So the president will probably be in a stronger position to tackle his country's acute financial problems. How he will do so is hard to say. He claims to lead a "Citizen's Revolution". Alianza Pais calls its leadership the politburo, and Correa rages against the World Bank and the IMF. But unlike Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, a former army officer, or Bolivia's Evo Morales, who is of poor Amerindian origin, Correa is a middle-class economist with a doctorate from the University of Illinois. He can be pragmatic. He has sacked some leftists in his government (though others remain), is friendly to mining companies and is fond of making PowerPoint presentations as the analyst-in-chief.

References:
Burlyai, Jan. 2002. Integration Processes in the Western Hemisphere. International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy & International Relations, 2002, Vol. 48 Issue 5, p36-43

ECUADOR: Pragmatism underlies Correa foreign policy. (2009, February). Oxford Analytica Daily Brief Service,1. Retrieved May 19, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1688059431).

Leaders: The war behind the insults; Latin America. (2008, March). The Economist, 386(8570), 12. Retrieved May 19, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1443102521).

Staying alive. (2007, July). Economist.com / Global Agenda,1. Retrieved May 19, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1299030471).

The Americas: The ghost at the conference table; The Summit of the Americas. (2009, April). The Economist, 391(8626), 34-35. Retrieved May 19, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1676776121).

The Americas: Revolution! Please give generously; Ecuador's election. (2009, April). The Economist, 391(8628), 41-42. Retrieved May 19, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1686534841).

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