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 Leaders from Latin America received in Brazil by Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, welcomed Cuba and touted their independence from the United States during a two-day summit in the Brazilian Northeast, which began on Tuesday.
Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, commenting on Cuba's integration into the Rio Group noted that that country's presence at the encounter send a strong signal that Latin America no longer answers to the United States.
Representatives from 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries are gathered at the Costa do Sauípe resort in Bahia state. The summit, which excludes the United States and Canada, is aimed at deepening economic and political ties in the region.
The chiefs of state are also working to bolster integration and development as they look at ways to survive the global economic crisis, which many blamed on the rich nations, in particular the US.
Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador, whose country recently defaulted on a foreign debt payment, called for a stronger regional development bank to deal with the credit crunch.
The presidents of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay gathered separately Monday, December 15, for the Mercosur regional trade bloc meeting, which Cuban President Raul Castro attended as a special guest.
The trade bloc was not able to agree on a reform to eliminate dual tariffs on imported goods. Meanwhile, Castro discussed his willingness to hold talks with incoming US president-elect Barack Obama over the decades-old trade embargo against Cuba.
Unasur's Secretary
The Union of South American Nations, Unasur, agreed on a new timetable for the ratification of the organization's multilateral treaty and for reaching a consensus on the nomination of a standing secretary general, which has soured relations between Uruguay and Argentina.
The announcement was made Tuesday during the Latinamerican and Caribbean leaders meeting hosted by Brazil in the northeast of the country and which actually has four different motives: Mercosur, the Rio Group, Unasur and an extraordinary meeting of all 33 countries to discuss how to address regionally the global recession.
"There's an only great agreement which expresses the willingness of all presidents and that is that we want a permanent secretary general which is the result of a great accord between all countries", said Chilean president Michelle Bachelet who added the definitive date for such a nomination is next April, when Chile's pro-tempore chair period comes to an end.
Ms. Bachelet said April 30 was proposed by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.
"Then we will have to decide definitively on the secretary general", said Bachelet, following Uruguay's non acceptance of the majority formula amendment, instead of the consensus as marked by the Unasur charter.
Apparently much time was spent on discussing the issue of the nomination mechanism for which Argentina's former president Nestor Kirchner allegedly has a majority support, but not consensus. Uruguay objects his name because of ongoing diplomatic differences with the Kirchner administrations, including pickets blocking bilateral bridges and Buenos Aires reluctance to dredge River Plate access channels.
Although not much is known of the closed doors deliberations in Brazil, according to the local press, Ecuador urged a "majority solution" for the controversy while a "task force" was named to try to reach an understanding. Argentina and Uruguay virtually did not participate in the debate.
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.His essay on the "Political Dynasty" in another thread was quite refreshing to read. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj). 
A dispute over drug trafficking territory in Rio de Janeiro has intensified lately, leaving in its wake unprecedented acts of violence, such as the downing of a police helicopter in the northern zone of the city on October 17. Three policemen died and another two were injured. This event has drawn the attention of the international media, who are raising the issue of public security for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio.
what with the massive cia build up in equador, bolivia and venuzuela , the delta force impending invasion of the amazon, the horible ghastly things the usa has done to south america in the last 20 years , its just fantastic everyone there can gloat at their hated , bitter enemy the usa.
it doest matter that equador , bolivia and paraguay are sticking it to brazil , by nationalising brazilian investments ,or, not paying debts , they can all come together to show their disdain for the true enemy of all south america. and, those brothers in arms with brazilians, those bastions of respect and admiration for brazilians, the argentinians,my god, what a love fest all the way..
just dont let the world know that cuba is there and can trade with any south american country,it might spoil the image that they are massive victoms of the american embargo ( a peice of shit , i agree).