Mercosur Summit followed by "Peoples' Summit" - minus Argentina

(Note: Venezuela is now a full member of Mercosur.)

i guess argentina and brazil are trying not to piss off the u.s. TOO much...

[Argentine President] Kirchner and [Brazil President] Lula tried to offset the influence of the Venezuela-Bolivia-Cuba axis in the Mercosur trade bloc. President Kirchner left the Córdoba Mercosur summit early last night in what was rumoured as an intentional snub to his presidential colleagues, who included Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez. The move, however, was seen as a part of an effort by Argentina and Brazil to detach themselves somewhat from other members.

[...]

Mercosur chiefs yesterday wound up a summit in Argentina marking the incorporation of Venezuela, and which saw President Nestor Kirchner leave early in what observers said was part of Argentina's attempt together with Brazil to prevent Chavez from pushing the trade bloc too far to the left.

[...]

Kirchner's leaving immediately after the summit ended was a cautious move to mark a distance from Chávez and Castro, who after the official summit ended took part in a parallel "Peoples' Summit."

i understand the reticence of argentina and brazil to be identified too closely with fidel and hugo... however, i sure would like to see all of them figure out how to work together effectively and to present a united front... if latin america could figure out how to do that, they would be an unstoppable global economic force...

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