The victory of governments aligned to the right and the extreme right in South American countries should not cause a rupture in Brazil’s relations with its neighbors, although it represents a new challenge for the regional integration projects defended by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
The assessment, made by a source with a high level of information in Planalto, is that there will be a weakening of Latin American multilateral mechanisms, such as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) and the Union of South American Nations (Unasul), but not a rupture in relations between the countries.
According to this reading, the regional scenario will require Brazil to adopt a more pragmatic strategy, prioritizing bilateral negotiations instead of rebuilding political consensus in regional organizations, currently permeated by ideological differences between governments.
In one diplomat’s quantification, the perception that Brazil would be “surrounded” by hostile governments is exaggerated. He mentioned that, with the exception of the more tense relationship with Argentine president Javier Milei, the new leaders have signaled their willingness to maintain dialogue channels with Brasília.
The elected president of Colombia, Abelardo de la Espriella, for example, reacted in a manner considered constructive to the congratulatory message sent by Lula. Chilean José Antonio Kast would also have shown interest in maintaining dialogue during the next Mercosur Summit.
The Brazilian government’s expectation is that issues such as infrastructure, energy integration, combating organized crime and responding to natural disasters will continue to bring the countries closer together, regardless of political differences.
For Itamaraty, these concrete interests tend to override ideological disputes, especially because the Brazilian market continues to be strategic for its neighbors and because, in the government’s assessment, many of the promises of cooperation made by the United States to the region do not materialize.
The internal diagnosis is that it will be up to Lula’s fourth term to keep the South American integration agenda alive, albeit in a less favorable institutional environment than that existing in the first PT governments.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
