Latin America may be free of war, but it is plagued by inequality, crime, corruption, drug trafficking, and social upheaval. Political stability and strong democratic institutions are rare, and South America in particular struggles to address social and economic demands. Despite collectively representing the fifth-largest global economy, the continent has struggled to form an influential bloc due to instability. This week, all 12 South American countries gathered in Brasilia to attempt to achieve continental integration. Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spearheaded the effort, hoping to revive UNASUR, the South American bloc he helped create 15 years earlier. However, ideological disputes led more than half of its member countries to abandon the organization. Lula appealed to South American leaders to put aside their ideological differences and concentrate on common interests, including economic growth, energy production, and environmental protection.
While Lula is still considered the region’s most influential leader, many at the summit were not willing to follow his advice. He was unable to convince all of his peers who, in the end, chose to assemble a group with members from each country to work on a plan for regional integration over the next 120 days. South America’s economic and political disparities have frustrated decades of attempts to create regional unions. UNASUR has not been the only bloc to flounder. MERCOSUR – a union between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay – has also struggled amid internal disputes.
Experts suggest that more pragmatism is needed, and the current immigration crisis in South America could help spur it. More than seven million Venezuelans have left their homeland since 2015, according to the United Nations. If countries like Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia want to repatriate undocumented Venezuelans and institute an orderly system of legal migration, some observers believe they will need Maduro’s cooperation.
Lula’s dream of a united South America is still a long way from success. But politicians like Amorim see hope in Europe’s example. The 12 countries of South America are much more culturally and linguistically similar than the members of the European Union. “Of course, there will be different views,” Amorim said of a possible South American bloc. “But we have common interests in many respects. We have to work for our interests in a unified way. Because like that, we have more strength.”