There seems to be a consensus forming at the Rio Group Summit going on in Cancun that an official body of nations should be formed that will be made up of Latin American and Caribbean nations exclusively.
The idea, officially proposed by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, calls for the creation of a formal body made up of Latin American and Caribbean nations without the United States or Canada. The group hasn't been named yet but is proposed to launch next year.
The rhetoric surrounding the group has been unsurprisingly harsh, with Chavez seeing the group as a way to "finally rid ourselves of the colonialism the U.S. imposed on the continent." Adding his two cents, Bolivian president Evo Morales said that he saw the new group as a way for the region to advance without the "control, blackmail and attempted coups" that he says have characterized the U.S.' participation in the region.
The first big question the new group raises is what this will mean for the OAS. Will the new group undermine or eventually replace the OAS?
Also, given that the group is being spearheaded by the Chavez-Morales block, will it be able to successfully include the more moderate and center-right governments of the region or will it simply be ALBA II?
Image Source: Wikipedia Commons
Online Sources: AP, Miami Herald, BBC Mundo
5 comments:
I'm not Chavista nor what you like to call "communist", but I think your comments are quite myopic and full of sophistry, paranoia, and bigotry.
Everybody knows what is undeniable: the US has financed every military junta in almost every coup in Latin America.
To deny the Monroe Doctrine and the Big Stick Policy towards Latin America is like denying the cold war ever existed.
Are you trying to deny the agression of USA against Nicaragua, for instance?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua_v._United_States
Arbenz, Allende, Bosch, Aristide, and the ouster of so many other left leaning presidents were openly endorsed by the USA via the OAS.
Why compare an organism such as the OAS with ALBA, if you are admitting that it could theoretically substitute it, when the OAS has nothing to do with economic policies but more to strengthen a socio-political union, as a Latin America that we are, an own identity, our own needs (independent of the USA)? What is your fear of Latin America achieving a union? Can you admit that you fall into a paradox? Your fear is evident, but of course it has nothing to do with the good of Latin America, but that it won't suit the interests of your country (USA) in the region. Why do you post about Latin America and pretend to care?
ALBA and Petrocaribe, if anything, has been nothing than an alternative of free(and fair) trade amongst Latin American and Caribbean nations and there is not one single reason why there should be an ALBA II, as you ridiculously implied.
Or is it that Latin American nations are only allowed to have Free Trade Agreements with the US, otherwise it is "communist" a/o "imperialist"?
If you don't admit anything of what we Latin Americans tell you, please Yankee, stop posting about us, since you have absolutely no other interest than keeping your political and economic hegemony in our countries and are more obsessed with Fidel Castro, than with the problems your own country brings to the rest of the world, like a typical US chauvinist, not a real patriot.
Boehmaya,
You're correct that ALBA is an economic union and what is being proposed in Rio is a political one. My reference to ALBA did not intend to imply anything more than to say that it is not an inclusive group - as some nations in the region embrace its agenda while others do not. Hence my question is whether what is being proposed at Cancun can be an inclusive regional body or if it will be a source of tension that (like ALBA) is embraced by some countries and rejected by others.
Thanks much for the comment,
Ben
Venezuela's Chavez is absolutely correct.
Look at the history of almost every nation in the western hemisphere. US has had its hand in coups, assasination attempts, and invasions and conquest in almost every nation from Canada to Chile.
Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Surinam, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Argentina,
It still rules Puerto Rico.
Bush Snr and Jnr both overthrew the popularly elected Haitian president Aristide.
As you have said, the new proposed organization, just as any other international body, is not meant to be inclusive.
For instance, last year OAS revoked the suspension imposed on Cuba in 1962.
Why would anyone, specially this kind of body, want a center-right government?
Fear. Somehow, I don't think that's going to be the first thought that comes to mind up north.
To the extent that the USG pays any attention to these adolescent shenanigans (the similarities between the Rio Group and rebellious teenagers at home are striking), it may suddenly occur to someone that these antics are a great excuse for shutting down the useless OAS and thinking real hard about the future of the BID.
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