Does the creation of CELAC herald a golden dawn for Latin America?

In my first blog I talked about the need for Latin American countries to work closer together in order to make their mark on the world. With the first meeting of CELAC (Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños), this week it would appear that this is exactly what is happening. At this meeting the leaders of the American nations pledged to work together in many aspects and create more regional ties in an attempt to withstand the current global problems. Indeed, whilst the United States and European nations have suffered recently, Latin American nations have continued to post strong growth and Colombia’s President stated that countries like his would have to increase their trade with other countries in the region because "a hurricane was hitting the developed economies" and that they could not rely on them anymore. One of the most promising signs about these pledges to work together to continue their strong economic performance were acknowledgements by leaders such as President Sebastian Pinera of  Chile that the region’s countries would put their differences aside.

As significant as these promises to work together was the alienation of the United States and Canada. CELAC was designed to overtake the out-dated Organisation of American States which was dominated by the United States and so CELAC will be a much more equal union of nations. CELAC has truly shown its intent to ignore the US and escape from the shadows of the old Washington Consensus by backing a bill calling for the United States to end its trade embargo on Cuba; a move which would have been unimaginable a decade ago.  The fact that Latin America’s countries have unanimously opposed the United States shows its waning power in the region and this could allow Brazil to become the most important country in the region. Its ten years since the economist Jim O’Neill coined the term BRIC for the developing countries he thought could dominate the world in the future (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and Brazil has certainly seen its economic and political muscle on the world stage expand massively over the last ten years. If Brazil continues to grow as it is and takes the rest of Latin America with it then CELAC, if it proves to be successful, has the potential to be as powerful and important (if not more) than organisations such as the EU and NAFTA.

Despite the fact that the world’s media has not given the CELAC conference much coverage it could be as important in writing a new chapter of global history as the Western economic crisis and the economic failure of states such as Greece and Italy is proving to be.