Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06SAOPAULO495
2006-05-09 13:27:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Sao Paulo
Cable title:
MEDIA REACTION: WESTERN HEMISPHERE: SOUTH AMERICA,
how-toVZCZCXYZ0025 OO RUEHWEB DE RUEHSO #0495 1291327 ZNR UUUUU ZZH O 091327Z MAY 06 FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5010 INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 6156 RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 7071 RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 2417
UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000495
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD
DEPT PASS USTR
USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: WESTERN HEMISPHERE: SOUTH AMERICA,
VENEZUELA, BRAZIL, BOLIVIA; SAO PAULO
"Regional Disintegration"
Former Brazilian Ambassador in Washington Rubens Barbosa maintained
in center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (5/9): "Less than one and a
half year after the creation of the South American Community of
Nations, the process of regional integration has taken a course that
Brazilian diplomacy was unable to anticipate mainly because of the
way the Foreign Ministry has conducted relations with neighboring
nations. The GOB's proclamation of regional leadership resulted in
resentment demonstrated in public postures opposing Brazil, such as
the case of Brazil's claim for a permanent seat at the UN Security
Council and in the elections for the WTO and IDB.... Instead of
union between the region's nations, what has occurred is a quick
movement of fragmentation and disintegration.... With ambitious
proposals such as a mega gas pipeline and the creation of a South
Atlantic Treaty Organization, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez now
presents himself as the champion of South American integration....
Chavez's nationalist populism, however, is at the root of the
current process of regional disintegration.... From Brazil's point
of view, the logic of South American integration has always been the
Brasilia-Buenos Aires axis. Today, the Caracas-Buenos Aires axis has
become consolidated, as Brazil implicitly recognized by inviting
Chavez, who is not an interested party, to the Puerto Iguazu meeting
to discuss the Bolivian nationalization of Petrobras assets.... The
next stage of the process of regional division may be the
positioning regarding the US.... Once again Chavez is in the center
of developments with his ALBA proposal as an alternative to the
FTAA."
McMullen