New Label Defends Family Farming in Argentina

It’s pouring rain in the capital of Argentina, but customers haven’t stayed away from the Bonpland Solidarity Economy Market, where family farmers sell their produce. The government has now decided to give them a label to identify and strengthen this important segment of the economy: small farmers.

Energy Integration Runs into Short Circuits

Energy integration efforts in Latin America have been made in fits and starts, even though many clearly understand that the only way to solve the region’s energy shortages and high costs is by working together.

Q&A: Mexico and the Rediscovery of South America

Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, known as the ‘moral leader’ of the Mexican left, said that his country and Central America “focus very much on the North” and should make a shift towards South America and its integration processes, in order to achieve less-dependent, alternative development conditions.

Brazil Holds Key to Door Between Pacific Alliance and Mercosur

The Mercosur and Pacific Alliance blocs can strengthen Latin American integration rather than weaken it, analysts say.

Institutional Tangles, Deindustrialisation Hurt Mercosur

July will mark the start of a new era for the Common Southern Market (Mercosur), when it will expand to five full members, if the South American bloc manages to overcome the commotion caused by the admission of Venezuela and the suspension of Paraguay.

Bolivia Takes the Leap into the Big Pond of Mercosur*

To go down fighting in the Andean Community (CAN), with a combined market of 92 million consumers, or move up to the big leagues of Mercosur, with 275 million? This was the dilemma faced by Bolivia’s foreign trade strategists when it came to pursuing full membership in the bloc formed by its neighbours to the south.

Americas Team Avoids Paraguayan Rights Groups

Paraguyan rights groups are disappointed at being denied access to a delegation of the Organisation of American States (OAS) sent in this week to discover the facts behind the impeachment and removal of President Fernando Lugo on Jun. 22.

Brazil Drives Energy Integration in South America

Energy integration in South America will be a reality "in the medium to long term," driven by hydropower and drawing on Brazil’s experience, predicts Altino Ventura Filho, secretary of planning in this country’s Ministry of Mines and Energy.

SOUTH AMERICA: Mercosur Bloc – More Politics, Better Integration

The leaders of South America's Mercosur trade bloc decided to set up a committee to facilitate the incorporation of new members, adopt a mechanism to defend democracy in case of a coup, and ban vessels from the Malvinas/Falkland Islands from docking in member countries' ports.