Political Development of Latin America

Spanish/Poli Sci seminar I'm taking next year. Brainstorming on things I could look at:

- Iniciativa para la Integracion Regional Suramericana (IIRSA), a regional plan for physical integration of the region. This means hundreds of infrastructure projects- waterways, highways, roads, dams, pipelines- that will cut through the forests, indigenous lands, pristine environments of rich biodiversity that should NOT be touched if Latin America wants to retain its extraordinary natural beauty.

- Union de America del Sur (UNASUR), a 12-country union modelled after the EU and three-pronged integration plan which would include a regional currency, a regional reserve fund and Banco del Sur- a regional development bank which is hoped to reduce the region's dependence on other international financial institutions such as the IMF. Distinguishing characteristics of this bank will be a divergence from neoliberal policy reforms and a "no conditionality" provision on its credit loans.

The recent Colombia-Venezuelan rift will be a test of UNASUR's effectiveness. There has been talk about how the region should be left to deal with this conflict on its own, with a distancing of the USA in the matter. Rafael Correa is the current president of it UNASUR's rotating presidency and will be heading the next meeting (happening today, in fact). Staying tune for news on that!

- Energy issues. The agreement recently signed between Peru and Brazil, of course tied to IIRSA, within which is included numerous energy transportation projects. I don't know where to begin on this issue, really.

- Economic expansion. Again, aside from linking countries in the region, IIRSA has a purpose of linking the region to the rest of the world. India, China, even Singapore (as in the case of the company Portek, which is in discussions with the Port Authority of Manta, Ecuador about transport concessions)

- And, obviously, environmental and indigenous issues:

Peru just announced that its most recent presidential candidate is an indigenous person (hurray!).

How is Evo Morales coming along in supporting Bolivia's majority demographic group? The Cochabamba climate change talks were promising and showed the country's initiative in its stance on climate change.

Brazil is a fascinating case- the exponential clout of BNDES in the region's infrastructural development, but the fact that it is a national bank and, unfortunately, the least transparent, accountable and socially responsible one of all large financial institutions.

Correa's Yasuni-ITT Initiative would keep over 400 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide under the ground in its crude form if countries would compensate at least 50% of the profits lost through not extracting it. It has received political support so far, but the only form of financial support seen as yet has been from Germany (50 million euros a year for the next 13 years). Ecuador and the UNDP will sign an agreement on Aug 3 to create a trust fund to manage international contributions to the Initiative. This seems very positive, essentially the use of carbon markets to avoid something potentially catastrophic. But of course, this comes with the doubts surrounding carbon markets...

I do have many more thoughts, which I will express here when I have the time