Chavez joins the club

While Americans were busy barbecuing and fire-working to celebrate 230 years of independence, a couple of South American leaders got together on July 4th to celebrate a new union of their own. Argentine President Nestor Kirchner joined hands with Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez yesterday to celebrate Venezuela’s official entrance into MERCOSUR, South America’s expanding customs union. Venezuela has now tied a knot of sorts with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, forming an economic club that accounts for 78% of South American GDP. 

Is this a move by Chávez to expand his influence south, or are his neighbors simply trying to reign him in by getting him to commit to MERCOSUR’s standards on such things as tariffs, foreign relations, and conflict resolution? Or could it be a little bit of both? For now, it’s a little bit of neither. Venezuela has up to four years to adopt MERCOSUR standards. 

A South American version of the EU may still be a long way off, but let’s not forget that the Brussels behemoth also started out as a customs union. And while South American integration is young – MERCOSUR just turned fifteen – it’s moving at a healthy clip.