by the El Reportero’s news services
A flurry of summits held in the Brazilian resort of Costa do Sauípe in mid-December — Mercosur,Unasur, Rio Group and the new regionwide CLAC— was not only a display of President Lula da Silva”s aspiration to regional leadership but also a sign that the creation of something akin to “an OAS without the US” could be in the offing.
Symbolic of the region’s new assertiveness was the much-publicised incorporation
of Cuba to the Rio Group. Meanwhile, in Panama, a US reminder of its own continuing influence passed largely unnoticed by the regional media.
Bolivia panics over Brazil gas sales
On Jan. 8 the government of President Evo Morales announced it was sending a emergency mission to Brasilia to discuss the sudden drop in Brazil’s natural gas imports from Bolivia.
Since Jan. 1, Brazil’s state energy group, Petrobras,has cut its daily imports of natural gas from Bolivia by a third, to around 19m cubic metres a day, from 31m.
This is because good rains in Brazil have fi lled reservoirs, allowing it to switch to cheaper hydroelectric plants rather than natural gas-fired thermal plants. Brazil is Bolivia’s main customer for Bolivian natural gas, which provides the Morales government with an estimated 41 percent of its fi scal income.
Divisions could cost ruling Frente Amplio elections in Uruguay.
The ruling Frente Amplio (FA) coalition is in danger of losing October’s presidential elections. Such a contingency seemed re-
mote throughout the entirety of the mandate of President Tabaré Vázquez so far.
It is now a real possibility with the FA facing divisive primary elections in June after failing to offer unanimous support to a single candidate for the presidency during a party congress in December.
Israel’s Gaza invasion provokes protests throughout Latin America.
CARACAS, Venezuela — Opposition to Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip is heating up throughout Latin America .
Venezuela has expelled Israel’s ambassador. Guatemala and Colombia have called on Israel to stop fighting and begin immediate peace talks. Demonstrators in Argentina , El Salvador and Bolivia have condemned the invasion.Brazil is sending aid to victims.
“There is a tradition in Latin America of rejecting violence to solve any international confl ict,” said Adrian Bonilla , the director of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Ecuador . “There is also a tradition of supporting the weakest country in a confl ict since most Latin American countries have been part of the Third World network.Another factor is that Israel is a close ally of the United States.”
Not surprisingly, Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez has taken the harshest stance.On Tuesday, he kicked out Israel’s ambassador and diplomatic staff. The Palestinian militant Islamist group Hamas applauded the move on Wednesday as a “courageous step.”
Chávez on Wednesday showed the photograph of a Palestinian child killed by Israeli bombs and said Israeli leaders should be tried for killing innocent men,women and children.
“Behind Israel is the American empire,” Chaavez said.
Chávez questioned why President-elect Barack Obama “until now hasn’t said anything” about Israel’s aggression. (Latin News and McClatchy Newspapers contributed to this report.)
