Resurgent left looks to integrate Latin America but faces challenges

“First, we saw a prolongation of the global crisis of 2008-09 that stretched into the second decade of the 21st century,” said Julián Kan, a professor of history of international relations focused on regional integration. “This had repercussions on trade as well as the new global players like China, the BRICS countries, etc. Then the trade war between the U.S. and China had an impact on the periphery, including Latin America.”

The conservative wave was another influence, which attempted to look at opening up national economies to trade outside the region. “In short,” Kan added, “there were no positive results at the level of regional trade in South America, and particularly in Mercosur,” the region’s trading bloc.

China’s return as a global power has been one of the strongest influences. “China has become a vacuum cleaner of Latin American exports, which has caused the flow of products to China and lowered the level of regional commercial exchange,” said Kan. Its insatiable appetite for raw materials includes soy from Brazil and Argentina, copper from Chile and Peru, and oil from Venezuela. Since the turn of the century, China has been replacing the U.S. as the number one trading partner across the region. 

“There is no doubt that many governments have started to look much more strategically towards Beijing as a result of the hegemonic transition from West to East, and the place that China occupies in the global economy,” Kan said. “The problem is the way in which they build the links with China. If only China is a vacuum cleaner of exports from the countries of the region, well, that can generate certain foreign currency but there is no possibility of thinking of associating with that power with an autonomous development.”

The region finds itself in a changing world of power relations. “The world is multipolar and this is an advantage for the region,” said Juan Ferrero, a senior lecturer in Latin American politics at the University of Bath in England. “The new left may be reasonably skeptical of the U.S. but not necessarily anti-American like in the 1970s. In terms of international relations, we’ll likely see a pragmatic, interest-based approach whereby the region benefits from the existing competition among superpowers.”

Currently, nations are tending to their own internal issues — Chile with its constitutional assembly and conflict with the Indigenous Mapuche in the south, Argentina with its economic crisis and spiraling inflation and Colombia with nationally high expectations for change.

Despite the loosening of regional ties at the economic level, there is strong support among societies, with 7 in 10 Latin Americans supporting closer regional integration. And with closer political alignment in the region, there are expectations that countries will begin to cultivate closer cooperation and reverse the decade-long decline.

“It’s still too soon to think about what is going to happen on the regional political chessboard,” said Kan. But the new left has been making moves. It has put more focus on ECLAC, a UN organization to promote economic cooperation, which had lost influence under liberal and conservative governments.

Then there is the newly created Puebla Group, a forum for left-wing politicians, academics, and social organizations across the region which aims to articulate ideas, development programs and state policies.

As South America’s largest nation, both in geography and economy, Brazil's election may energize the movement further towards integration. “The election of Lula might play a critical role to galvanize this grassroots support and give it a sense of purpose and direction,” said Ferrero. “The new thrust for regional integration needs the symbolism and charisma that Lula can provide but also real-world transformative initiatives.”

These initiatives include Lula’s suggestion of a regional monetary union if he is elected, or discussions between Chile and Argentina in establishing a lithium OPEC. “This would give them a say in the global price of the commodity,” said Ferrero. “Together with Bolivia, the three countries can become world leaders in the export,” which is a key component in the development of batteries for electric vehicles.

“One question is how to think at the regional level about the lithium issue, which will be a key resource for the future economy,” said Kan. “How can we think about the extraction and export of resources while not only doing it in national terms but also in regional terms? This requires political decision and also efforts to deal with internal interests, and also thinking about restructuring some forms of regional economic institutes.”

More broadly, the level of regional integration fluctuates between countries, with some more connected than others. “Mexico, for example, is totally connected to the United States, starting in the ‘80s and into the ‘90s through the NAFTA free trade agreement,” said Kan. “It is not that the country cannot think of greater cooperation and solidarity with their Latin American neighbors, but there is a tension at some point with its outward-orientated economy.”

Today’s terrain is broadly different than it was at the beginning of the century. “New global links have allowed the periphery, such as Latin America, to insert itself in another way and with other political alliances at the global level,” said Kan. Yet faced with poor performing economies, “this is where the initiatives, the ingenuity, the laboratory of ideas comes into play."

For Ferrero, this needs to be “based on strong political will and bold but concrete initiatives,” he said. “They need to inspire a sense of regional identity but also aspire to create solutions to the region’s more acute socio-economic problems.”

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