The Great Barrier to Latin American Integration: Conquering the Andes by Bringing Back Hindenburgs by the Truckload

Simón Bolívar was not the first to dream of a united Latin America, and he certainly has not been the last. Integration has been on the agenda of many Latin American leaders, and of today’s most visible presidents, Lula da Silva of Brazil and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, have pursued their distinct versions of it for regional integration. The idea has been part of public discourse for so long that the original reasons for integration are at times only rarely discussed. The most basic of the arguments is that unity is the pathway to strength. Every global power has derived its ability to influence from its ability to unify the interests of large populations under a centralized and stable government. A prime example is the ascendancy of the United States to world superpower status, through the successful integration of its individual states into a combined federal government. This belief also is confirmed by looking at the growing clout of the European Union.

Another argument in support of integration is derived from the supposed failure of the Import Substitution Industrialization policies based on the findings of Raul Prebisch and subscribed to by many Latin American governments in the 1960s. Designed to foment domestic industry and reduce imports through a variety of mechanisms, these policies were more successful in larger countries where domestic demand was large enough to begin to consume the output of newly-generated production facilities. However, in small and large countries alike, these industries benefited from access to larger markets.

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This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Cory Mengual