Latin America Summit leaders bloc US
Latin America is slowly breaking away from its wealthier neighbours, and frankly, it’s about time. The region was one of the first areas in the world exposed to the spectre of colonialism. It began with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores in the sixteenth century, consolidated through the forced slavery of indigenous peoples and the robbery of natural resources, and ended with more than a few military coups, bloodbaths and social uprisings. If the summit last week- which excluded the US and Canada- is anything to go by, after centuries of imperial interference, the region’s leaders are proving they can go it alone.
On Tuesday the Caribbean Unity Rio Group Summit -composed of 32 countries in the Americas-met in Mexico to approve the so-called Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. The organization aims to provide an alternative to the Organisation of American States (OAS), which has come under fire from a number of Latin American presidents, not least of all Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, for excluding Cuba and allegedly pushing a US-centred agenda. Cuban President Raul Castro unsurprisingly welcomed the move. He described the decision as “historic”, echoing the sentiments of Chavez, Brazil’s president Lula da Silva and Bolivia’s Evo Morales, among others.
But this is not the first occasion Latin American leaders have signalled their intentions to form a regional bloc. The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), a trading bloc comprised of eight countries including founders Venezuela and Cuba was created in 2004, with the purpose of offering inter-regional trading as an alternative to the US-led Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
But with the advent of an emerging, stronger Latin American market, how will the region’s new makeup affect the international playing field? And will it set a precedent for other regions in the developing world?
Mark Weisbrot commented in the Guardian last week: “The increasing independence of Latin America has been one of the most important geopolitical changes over the last decade, affecting not only the region but the rest of the world as well.”
Weisbrot cites Brazil’s backing for Tehran to develop enriched uranium and rejection of sanctions as a sign of the region’s shift away from US influence. And the consensus reached at the Summit on backing Argentina’s claim to the Falklands has also demonstrated considerable regional unity.
Today, few commentators will deny that Washington has become less important to the regional economy. A growing number of countries in Latin America have turned inward or toward the East for trade relations, and with the US struggling to combat recessionary woes, this trend is likely to continue. Though, perhaps most interestingly, Latin America has started to look toward markets in Africa and India. This development could signal a growth in trade between countries of the global south, giving rise to a more multipolar world order.
At the very least, the fact that Latin America’s new regional organization was approved by the likes of Mexico’s president Felipe Calderon – the leader of a rightwing administration with ties to the previous US government – should warrant some food for thought. Latin America has hardly yielded in unison to the whims of President Chavez, but the wide spectrum of support from far left to far right is an indication of the region’s growing consensus for sovereignty, with some very real repercussions for its neighbours and the wider world.
Tags: ALBA, Bolivia, Caribbean Unity Rio Group Summit, colonialism, Cuba, economics, imperialism, Latin America, Latin America summit, Mexico, new world order, Raul Castro, regional trading bloc, US
