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 Brazil and neighbors finally issued this past Friday, a statement warning "foreign military forces" against threatening the sovereignty and integrity of any South American country and "in consequence regional peace and stability." The announcement came at the end of Union of South American Nations presidential summit in Argentina.
The diluted statement put an end to six hours of wrangling with Colombia defending an agreement signed with Washington that will allow the deployment of US forces in seven Colombian bases to help combat narcotics trade and terrorism, while neighboring Venezuela and Ecuador plus Bolivia condemned it as an attempt by the US to ensure its strategic interest in South America and even beyond taking advantage of Colombian territory.
The meeting was a continuation of the failed summit in Ecuador at the beginning of the month which only managed to expose the deep differences between Unasur members regarding the specific issue of Colombia/US military cooperation but also others such as arms purchases and military and security spending and coordination without of the region sides.
The deliberate broad language, avoiding direct reference to the US military and Venezuela, permitted all twelve 12 presidents present to support the text, including Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, although two leaders, Uruguay's Tabare Vazquez and Peru's Alan Garcia left before the final "harmonious" picture.
All along Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva complained that a second round of speeches was unnecessary and was concerned how the press would report the following day about Unasur and regional integration, particularly since on request from Colombian president Alvaro Uribe the conference was on live television.
The leaders also instructed their Foreign and Defense ministers to meet next month and come up with a cooperation agreement that would enable the Unasur group to inspect military bases in each member country to confirm that promises are being kept.
The meeting however had some positive sides in spite of the extenuating debate.
Brazil, Chile and Argentina made strenuous demands that binding guarantees be made that the US military assets and personnel in Colombia not be used for any other purpose other than their stated mission of fighting drug-traffickers and Colombian rebels.
Uribe, responding to some of the criticism at the summit, said he would "not cede one millimeter of sovereignty" in the bases deal adding that a lease arrangement would leave the facilities under his government's control.
However the Colombian president provided few details about the 10-year base deal.
Speaking on Venezuelan state television, President Hugo Chavez called the summit "a great step that opened the gates to understanding, unity and peace - because we don't want war". He said the final resolution as "a very important gesture."
Peru and Paraguay adopted a different angle in the dispute.
Peruvian president Alan Garcia said that it was "shameful" that the region was investing 38 billion US dollars in new arms and equipments: "imagine the millions of poor people we could help climb out of destitution and give them hopes of a better life".
He also complained there was too much talk of integration but no bondage or linkage once Unasur or regional summits are over, "each president goes back to his country and does whatever he pleases".
Fernando Lugo, who came to power after a long career a priest and bishop among Paraguay's poor, also criticized the region's defense spending.
The twelve Unasur nations spent about 51 billion US dollars last year on their militaries, up 30% from 2007, according to the center for a New Majority, a Buenos Aires research group.
Lula da Silva said he also wants US President Barack Obama to explain what role the US will play in Latin America. "I think we have to have a good discussion with the United States." But he failed to persuade his fellow leaders to find common ground.
"One person can blame another, but that doesn't solve the problem," he said, shrugging and raising both hands. "When we're together at a table like this one, we must decide beforehand if we want to build an atmosphere of peace or of war. If it's for peace, we could put an end once and for all with all those threats and differences" he underlined.
Mercopress
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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.
chaves buys billions in arms
ecudor closes the US out of there country .
DID coulmbia say a word NO so shut up you idiots coulmbia found a way to have military help and make money at the same time.
as far as lula almost demand for PBO to explain what the US will do .
as soon as lula does the same about the goldman boy and the 70 others held in brasil.
as soon as brasil comes up with a human rights law and hold to it
as soon as brasil stops the press and lets them starts telling the truth