ALBA Venezuela’s answer to “free trade”: the Bolivarian alternative for the Americas

The paper provides a detailed scan of the position of each of the major ALBA countries in turn, plus Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. While Argentina and Brazil are beginning to get involved in ALBA activities, the prospects for Mexico seem to have dimmed with the stealing of the presidential election from Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Brazil’s position is both important, as the largest economy in the region and would-be UN Security Council permanent member, and seriously conflicted. On the one hand, the anti-poverty policies of the Lula government ought to dovetail easily into the ALBA framework. But the flagship state corporation Petrobras enjoys immense prestige at home while operating in neighbouring countries in a way that differs little from other transnational oil companies. The paper also gives a quick compare-and-contrast tour of regional groupings elsewhere in the world.[FGS OP NO 3]