"The need for Latin American integration in the context of rapid and uncertain international changes"
Declaration of the CLACSO Working Group on Latin American Integration and Unity
1) The annual meeting of the Working Group on Regional Integration and Latin American Unity of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) was of enormous significance. Firstly, because this year the meeting was held in Mexico, a country facing enormous economic and social challenges, including the need to redefine its international relations and reclaim its historical role as a point of reference for Latin America after many years of governments that prioritized relations primarily with North American countries (the United States and Canada).
2) Over three days of intense intergroup activity at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a two-session open forum at the Journalists' Club of Mexico, leading academics from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, and Venezuela analyzed global conditions and trends and their effects on Latin America. From this perspective, particular attention was paid to the profound economic, productive, social, and environmental changes and challenges. The discussions not only offered diagnoses but also provided a framework for reflection and debate on alternatives to revitalize regional integration through democratic mechanisms and based on harmonious, rather than asymmetrical, complementarity among the countries of the region. This integration would be achieved through proactive policies that address significant social inequalities, environmental threats, and the exhaustion of extractive models.
3) The following topics were considered by the researchers: central significance; the reversal of the commodity price cycle; the effects and positions regarding geopolitical disputes between central economies (China, the United States, and Europe); the lower regional economic momentum; the worsening of monetary instability (emergence of cryptocurrencies); the growing balance of payments deficits; the increase in public and private debt; the instability of capital flows; and the serious social consequences of increased unemployment and social marginalization—one of its most evident signs being the migration of populations that leads to human tragedy.
4) A substantial part of the working sessions focused on a thorough analysis of the progress, limitations, and setbacks of the so-called progressive governments in the region, and the resulting shift towards a return to neoliberal governments in key countries like Argentina and Brazil, which have rapidly entered into crisis. The case of Portugal was also analyzed as a relevant example in the face of the macroeconomic austerity programs promoted by the European Union through the Troika: the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund. Portugal's experience illustrates the margins of national autonomy within the European Union through a pluralistic government that redefines sovereign frameworks for progressive economic and social policy.
5) The researchers highlighted among the critical features observed internationally that affect Latin American countries, especially the growing protectionism in core countries; the dismantling and/or marginalization of multilateral negotiation bodies for peripheral countries; and the pressures within the framework of the growing geopolitical disputes between major powers.
6) The meeting took place against the backdrop of President Donald Trump's threat against Mexico. In response, the CLACSO Working Group on Regional Integration and Latin American Unity immediately and unanimously decided to repudiate the statements made by the President, expressing solidarity against the discrimination and persecution of migrants and in favor of strengthening ties of solidarity, complementarity, and the affirmation of Latin America's independence and self-determination without external imperial interventions or impositions. Furthermore, the Group recognized the position of Mexico and Uruguay in favor of an international policy that supports negotiation, self-determination, and non-intervention in the case of Venezuela. This also represents a hopeful diplomatic gesture aimed at revitalizing autonomous regional integration bodies such as CELAC, UNASUR, and MERCOSUR.
Latin America, July 2019
This statement expresses the position of the members of the Working Group on Integration and Latin American Unity and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
