Post

re: Latin America: Its Lexical Origins (Joe Listo, Brazil) (John Eipper, USA, 10/31/06 1:39 pm)

Joe Listo writes:

As much as I respect Mendo Castro Henriques's position (31 October), I
disagree that South America is a geopolitical unit, and that [Brazilian
presidential candidate] Alckmin represented "the North American motivation to destroy MercoSul." South America can be seen as a
geographical unit but hardly a geopolitical one. Individual interests are
infinitely far apart, and (with the welcome exception of Chile) Venezuela,
Brazil and Bolivia are under grossly populist, corrupt and inexperienced
administrations.
Former Brazilian president Fernando H. Cardoso supported MercoSul and the failures and successes of the program varied according with its members' own financial problems. Alckmin, who is affiliated with the same party as Fernando Henrique, participated in various presidential debates during the campaign and re-inforced his intentions of strengthening MercoSul.
If NAFTA represented an opportunity, as Fernando Henrique put it, it was
ill-examined during his administration, and totally discarded by Lula for
cheap political reasons. Lula criticizes NAFTA with the well-trod argument
that the US just wants to take advantage of the rest of the world. If this is true, then the countries who want to do business
with the US (I would risk a guess and say about 100% of the planet) must
pass legislation to regulate the exchange of trade in a way that it is
profitable to both sides. Brazil was sacked by Evo Morales (with the
blessing of Hugo Ch vez) when he took over US$1.5 billion in Petrobras's
assets in Bolivia.
The Lula administration applauded the act, stating that "Bolivia is a country that suffered way too much and it is time we give something back".
What about Lula's country, where 45% of the population live below the
line of poverty? I wonder what the reaction would be if the US seized any
foreign property. I hear and read a huge amount of criticism towards the
Bush Administration, but I am very sure his main goal is to protect US
interests.
Practically all private foreign businesses are successful in Latin America
because they are managed in a capable manner. The problem starts when governments (i.e., political agendas) are involved.

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John Eipper, Editor-in-Chief, Adrian College, MI 49221 USA

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