What is Mercosur?

Is a trading zone between Brazil, Argentina,

Uruguay and Paraguay, founded in 1991 by the
Treaty of Asunción, which was later amended and
updated by the 1995 Treaty of Ouro Preto.
Mercosur Flag:
Where are these countries?
Where are these countries?
What is its purpose?
Its purpose is to promote free trade
and the fluid movement of goods,
peoples, and currency
Other kind of members
Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador,
Mexico , Peru and Venezuela have
associate member status
What other purposes?
Some South Americans see Mercosur
as giving the capability to combine
resources to balance the activities of
other global economic powers,
perhaps especially the United States
and the European Union.
What other purposes?
The organization could also potentially pre-
empt the Free Trade Area of the Americas
(FTAA).
In December 2004, it merged with the
Andean Community trade bloc (CAN) to
form the
South American Community of Nations.
 What is the Andean
Community?
The Andean Community of Nations (in Spanish:
Comunidad Andina de Naciones, abbreviated
CAN) is a trade bloc comprising the South American
countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and
Venezuela. The trade bloc was formerly called the
Andean Pact and came into existence with the
signing of the Cartagena Agreement in 1969. Its
Headquarters are located in Lima, Peru.
Economic Potential
There are more than 220 million
consumers in this region (South
America) and the combined
Gross Domestic Product of the
member nations is more than one
trillion dollars a year.
 Recent Events
The seaside resort of Mar del Plata, in the province
of Buenos Aires, Argentina, about 400 km (250
miles) southeast of the capital, was the venue of the
Fourth Summit of the Americas between
November 4th, and November 5th, 2005.
Head of States at Mar de Plata
 Recent Events
Major security arrangements and
massive popular protests against the
presence of the
President of the United States,
George W. Bush, on Latin American
soil, took place in the days leading up
to the summit.
 Recent Events
Thousands march in front of a banner with the portraits of regional presidents associated with efforts to
promote Latin American integration (from L-R, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Néstor
Kirchner of Argentina, Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay) during a
protest against the presence of U.S. President George W. Bush in Mar del Plata, November 4, 2005.
 Recent Events
The theme of the Fourth Summit of the Americas
was to be "Creating Jobs to Fight Poverty and
Strengthen Democratic Governance". The
Declaration and Plan of Action of Mar del Plata,
signed by the attending heads of state and
government at the conclusion of the event, was
expected to deal extensively with the topic of job
creation. Nevertheless most of the deliberations
concerned Free Trade Area of the Americas.
 Recent Events
In the midst of protests from the civilian population and after
opposition from the four Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina,
Uruguay, and Paraguay) and Venezuela, which maintained that the
U.S.-led proposal would damage their nations' economies, the
Summit talks failed to reach an agreement on a regional trade deal.
 Talks continued beyond the scheduled end of the meeting as
supporters of the U.S.-led proposal sought to set another date to
continue negotiations.
Twenty-nine of the nations at the meeting agreed to resume talks
over the Free Trade Area of the Americas in 2006; the five dissenters
instead proposed to wait for the results of the next
World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong .
 Recent Events
Leading up to the summit, Bolivian presidential
candidate Evo Morales, Argentine soccer legend
Diego Maradona, and Cuban singer and composer
Silvio Rodríguez travelled together to take part in
the "Peoples' Summit" or the "American Anti-
Summit", gathering Latin American activists who
oppose the neoliberal "Washington Consensus", the
Free Trade Area of the Americas, and U.S.
President George W. Bush.
 Recent Events
Evo Morales
Juan Evo Morales Aima is a leader of
the Bolivian cocalero movement, a
loose federation of coca-growing
campesinos who are resisting the
efforts of the Bolivian government to
eradicate coca in the province of
Chapare. Morales is also leader of the
Bolivian political party, Movement
Toward Socialism (MAS in its Spanish
initials).
 Recent Events
Diego Maradona
 Recent Events
Silvio Rodriguez
 Recent Events
Morales, Maradona and Rodríguez were part of a
group of participants who travelled aboard a train
named the Expreso del Alba from Buenos Aires to
Mar del Plata. Alba is an acronym for Alternativa
Bolivariana para las Américas ("Bolivarian
Alternative for the Americas") but is also the
Spanish word for dawn.

Expreso de
Chavez
 Recent Events
The group arriving in Mar del Plata
aboard "ALBA Express" went to the
World Cup Stadium where Venezuelan
President Hugo Chávez spoke to the
crowd, then joined the "peoples'
march" gathered to repudiate the
presence of George W. Bush in Latin
America.
 Recent Events
The Mexican President, Vicente Fox, has threatened to
cut off all diplomatic ties with Venezuela.
 Recent Events
He said he would take that action if Venezuela's leader, Hugo
Chavez, kept on making comments about him or Mexico.
 Recent Events
The controversy began last week,
after Mexico supported a failed US bid
to relaunch the Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA) at the Summit of the
Americas early in November.
 Recent Events
Mr Chavez had refused to apologize
for calling the Mexican President a
"puppy" of US imperialism.
 Recent Events
He also accused Mr Fox again for allegedly
violating protocol in trying to press for an agreement
on the FTAA when it was not on the summit's
agenda.
 Recent Events
Mexico said the comments "strike at the dignity of
the Mexican people" and demanded a formal
apology from Venezuela or severing diplomatic ties.
 Questions
• What is Mercosur?
• What is the potential GDP for all the South
American region?
• Which countries in South America oppose
the FTAA?