# Whither Latin American unification? Mercosur v. CAN, ALADI v. ALBA, all v. FTAA **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 22, 2007, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-latin-american-unification-mercosur-v-can-aladi-v-alba-all-v-ftaa/389010 "2007-01-22T22:53:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-latin-american-unification-mercosur-v-can-aladi-v-alba-all-v-ftaa/389010/1 "2007-01-22T22:53:00Z")
The following international associations have been either proposed or actually formed for the purpose of creating a Latin American trade/customs union: [Mercosur (Common Market of the South):](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercosur) Founded in 1991 between Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Paraguay. [Founded in 1969 by Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Venezuela joined in 1973, Chile withdrew in 1976. Venezuela’s membership is up in the air at present: > [@](#): > > During 2005, Venezuela decided to join Mercosur. Venezuela’s official position first appeared to be that, by joining Mercosur, further steps could be taken towards integrating both trade blocs. CAN Secretary General Allan Wagner stated that the Venezuelan Foreign Minister Alí Rodríguez had declared that Venezuela did not intend to leave the CAN, and its simultaneous membership to both blocs marked the beginning of their integration.[2] > > However some analysts interpreted that Venezuela might eventually leave the CAN in the process. [3] This prediction seems to have been finally verified in April 2006, with Venezuelan President Chávez’s announcement of his country’s withdrawal from the Andean Community after stating that, as Colombia and Peru have signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with the United States, the Community is “dead”. [4] Officials in Colombia and Peru have expressed their disagreement with this view, as did representatives from Venezuela’s industrial sector (Conindustria). [5] > > Despite this announcement, Venezuela has yet to formally complete all the necessary withdrawal procedures. According to Venezuela’s Commerce Minister María Cristina Iglesias, the entire process will take up to five years. Until then, Venezuela and its partners remain bound by the effects of the community’s preexisting commercial agreements. [6] [url=[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South\_American\_Community\_of\_Nations](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_American_Community_of_Nations)]CSN (South American Community of Nations):](]CAN (Andean Community of Nations):[/url) A proposed merger of Mercosur with CAN, intended to produce something modeled on the European Union, with, eventually, a common currency. At present merger has progressed to the point that every Mercosur country is an associate member of CAN and vice-versa, except for Venezuela (see above). [ALADI (Latin American Integration Association):](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladi) Formed by the 1980 Montevideo Treaty. Members are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. [ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas):](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternativa_Bolivariana_para_las_Am%C3%A9ricas) Founded by Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Cuba as a leftist alternative to ALADI, which is perceived as too pro-neoliberal and pro-U.S.; and as an alternative to the FTAA (see below). [FTAA/ALCA (Free Trade Area of the Americas):](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Trade_Area_of_the_Americas) A proposed “super-NAFTA,” envisioned to include the entire Western Hemisphere except for Cuba. The divisions between these various efforts apparently turn on the closely connected issues of: 1. Whether a Latin American trade union should (initially) include or exclude the U.S. Exclusion would not mean no U.S.-LA trade, but it would mean all Latin American union member nations would negotiate the terms of trade with U.S. as a bloc, as the EU does now. 2. Whether the union’s trade policy should be “populist,” or neoliberal/free-market/globalist. Issues for debate: 3. Which side has the better vision for LA’s future? 4. Which side’s vision will ultimately triumph? What international order will emerge in SA/LA? 5. What about countries such as Nicaragua, which are trying to maintain favorable relations with the U.S. and with Venezuela, etc., at the same time? (See [this](http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070205/blumenthal) recent article on Daniel Ortega’s inauguration as president of Nicaragua.) Will they ultimately be forced to choose one side or the other? 6. Assuming the vision of a Latin American union separate from, and in opposition to, NAFTA triumphs, will Mexico ever be drawn away from the American sphere and into the Latin American? 7. What about [CARICOM (Caribbean Community](http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070205/blumenthal) and [DR-CAFTA (Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DR-CAFTA) – where will they fit in? (DR-CAFTA already includes the U.S.; CARICOM does not, nor does it include Cuba). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-latin-american-unification-mercosur-v-can-aladi-v-alba-all-v-ftaa/389010/2 "2007-01-22T22:59:50Z")
Relevant earlier GD threads: [Let’s debate DR-CAFTA and FTAA vs. CARICOM and CSN](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=316971) [Future of the South American Community of Nations?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=329210) [Is the FTAA dead?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=343703) [Venezuela pulls out of Andean Community – South American unification derailed?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=372950) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-latin-american-unification-mercosur-v-can-aladi-v-alba-all-v-ftaa/389010/3 "2007-01-24T22:26:07Z")
Nobody has an opinion? This should be a topic of some interest – a united Latin American union would be a real player in world affairs. The U.S. would no longer be the undisputed hegemon of the Western Hemisphere. And it could directly affect our economy, for good or for ill. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-latin-american-unification-mercosur-v-can-aladi-v-alba-all-v-ftaa/389010/4 "2007-01-24T22:59:20Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Nobody has an opinion? [/QUOTE] The problem is, **BG** , there’s one particular poster around here who starts so many thread in GD every single day that marginal threads like this get pushed off the front page. Perhaps you can bring that up with one the mods. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-latin-american-unification-mercosur-v-can-aladi-v-alba-all-v-ftaa/389010/5 "2007-01-25T04:13:49Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] The problem is, **BG** , there’s one particular poster around here who starts so many thread in GD every single day that marginal threads like this get pushed off the front page. Perhaps you can bring that up with one the mods. 😉 [/QUOTE] :mad: Well, let’s **find** the greedy bastard! Let’s see . . . not that many clues to go on . . . maybe, out of vanity, he/she would have a username reflective of a mind ridiculously hungry for intellectual stimulation the way Paul Prudhomme is ridiculously hungry for blackened fish or a junkie is ridiculously hungry for smack . . . ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-latin-american-unification-mercosur-v-can-aladi-v-alba-all-v-ftaa/389010/6 "2007-01-25T04:36:02Z")
The other problem is that not many people are going to have the information to have an informed opinion on this sort of thing. I mean, I have an undergraduate degree in economics, and did a fair amount of research into international trade… and I still wouldn’t want to begin to explore this in GD without spending several hours brushing up. Particularly when developing stories - like what’s happening in Venezuela - are so centrally involved, and there are so many individual nations and interests involved that have to be brought together. I mean, it’s a very interesting topic to me, but with all those questions… I could end up staying up all night and writing a pretty extensive term paper in response without breaking a sweat 🙂 …not that it should stop the usual suspects from throwing out empty ideological replies anyways, but still! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whither-latin-american-unification-mercosur-v-can-aladi-v-alba-all-v-ftaa/389010/7 "2007-01-25T04:37:58Z")
[QUOTE=Kiros] The other problem is that not many people are going to have the information to have an informed opinion on this sort of thing. I mean, I have an undergraduate degree in economics, and did a fair amount of research into international trade… and I still wouldn’t want to begin to explore this in GD without spending several hours brushing up. Particularly when developing stories - like what’s happening in Venezuela - are so centrally involved, and there are so many individual nations and interests involved that have to be brought together. I mean, it’s a very interesting topic to me, but with all those questions… I could end up staying up all night and writing a pretty extensive term paper in response without breaking a sweat 🙂 [/QUOTE] By all means do so, and post it here. We’ll read it and deconstruct it. We’re nerds and proud **of** it. 😃