Latin American unity plagued by tensions

Latin America has seen itself become heavily divided over the issue of whether to readmit Honduras to the Organization of American States (OAS) after the 2009 coup, with all the Central American states accepting the new government while big regional players like Brazil and Mexico insist that more must be done before they’ll recognize it. Meanwhile, President Alan Garcia of Peru has told Latin America news providers that there is a quiet arms race occurring in the region. In all, it seems that regional integration along the same lines as the EU remains a long way off at present.

Honduras has been a thorn in the side of the region for many months. At the recent meeting of the OAS in Lima, the issue of Honduras was the while elephant in the room, with even the inclusion of discussions of Honduras causing division. Nicaragua had made a request for Honduras to be on the agenda, but it was unsuccessful as the majority of Latin American foreign ministers voted against it.

President Porfirio Lobo, according to many Latin American governments, has not convinced them that he is the legitimate president of the country following a quick coup that saw the former President Zelaya flee to the Brazilian embassy before going into exile. If he returns to Honduras he may face corruption charges, this too has proven to be a point of contention in the region.

While Central America has acknowledged the legitimacy of the new government and the elections that brought it to power, despite scattered instances of violence and political intimidation, there are many Latin American countries, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela, among them, who see the new government as lacking in legitimacy.

“The way to go about this, and this is the position of many countries in South America, is if Zelaya is allowed to return to Honduras in a calm manner,” said Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the OAS, speaking to Latin America news reporters about the means by which Honduras might be readmitted to the group.

The issue of the former president’s corruption charges, however, are seen by the Honduran government as a domestic one and their opinion has been that such issues are not the business of the region.

So the country remains politically isolated in Latin America.

Meanwhile, President Garcia of Peru has been in Latin America news lately as he attacks his regional counterparts for spending unreasonably on defense contracts, even as the region seeks to become more unified.

“Presidents sit round a table to share coffee and lunch and other social activities: if so friendly, why then the arms?” he asked recently, adding that, “Since the start of Unasur ... we have doubled expenditure in arms in the South American countries, so honestly, I don't know what is the use of Unasur.”

Unasur, the Union of South American Nations, is a intergovernmental organization modelled on the European Union, which has as its goal the eventual integration of the continent into a regional bloc with universal trade, political and monetary policies.

President Garcia argues that such an organization is undermined by the hefty sums of money being spent by regional powers on their militaries.

Chile and Ecuador have been buying fighter jets from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer. In 2009, Brazil purchased 220 second hand Leopard-1A5 tanks from Germany, while Chile bought 140 Leopard-2A4 tanks. Brazil has also announced a military regeneration program worth several billion dollars and Venezuela recently spent $2.2 billion on tanks and armored vehicles bought from Russia.

President Garcia has called for arms controls in Latin America based on a trend of increased spending that he says is undermining regional integration and heightening suspicion among countries that are meant to be moving towards closer relations.

“From the point of view of arms purchases and conflicts, in the four years since the foundation of Unasur, the region has spent 25 billion U.S. dollars in arms and another 150 billion in current military expenditure. At this rate in the next four years, we will be buying 35 billion in arms and spending 200 billion in maintenance of military equipment and personnel,” the Peruvian president told Latin America news media during the Caribbean-Latin American-European summit.

The countries most involved in arms spending have argued that they need to replace military machinery that has become outmoded while Peru itself has purchased 80 new tanks from China, undermining its own argument on the issue and Honduras does not look like it will be readmitted to the OAS anytime soon. Regional agreement and integration seem a long way off then.