ARGENTINA-BRAZIL: New Tensions Sweep Southern Cone

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 20 1997 (IPS) - Just when tension has flared up between Argentina and Chile over a U.S. invitation for the former to become a non-NATO ally, a fresh diplomatic row has broken out between Argentina and Brazil.

The rift was triggered by remarks to a Brazilian newspaper by Argentine President Carlos Menem, who said Brazil’s candidacy to a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council would upset the regional balance.

The Argentine Foreign Ministry tried to play down the displeasure caused by Menem’s comments in Brazil. “We’ll be delighted if the U.N. accepts that Brazil is designated, but before that we will set forth our point of view on what we think is best,” said Foreign Minister Guido Di Tella.

Brazil is the largest member of the Southern Cone Common Market, a free trade bloc also made up of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, in which Chile and Bolivia enjoy associate status.

Although Mercosur countries have had their share of trade disputes, the new tensions do not concern economic matters. Chile is the leading Latin American investor in Argentina, and Brazil is Argentina’s top trading partner. A full 30 percent of Argentine exports go to its giant neighbour.

Former Argentine ambassador to the United Nations, Lucio Garcia, told IPS that Buenos Aires’ push for a rotating Latin American seat on the U.N. Security Council was “correct,” but that it should not have been expressed in an indiscreet manner, in a newspaper report. He underlined that it was a delicate matter which involved a country of particular importance to Argentina within the context of Mercosur.

The Security Council, comprised of permanent members China, the United States, Great Britain, France and Russia, is getting ready to accept five new members: Germany, Japan and three developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Argentina, Mexico and the United States agree that the Latin American seat should rotate between countries, with chances for reelection. Brazil, however, aspires to a permanent seat on the council.

“We must be very careful not to appear as if we were competing with an ally country in the region,” said Garcia, referring to “the surprise and displeasure” with which the Brazilian Foreign Ministry reacted to Menem’s recent comments to the daily ‘O Estado de Sao Paulo’.

Deputy Carlos Alvarez, of the new Alliance for Work, Justice and Education born of the merging of Argentina’s two leading opposition parties, echoed that view: “It was not a good idea to bring it up in a journalistic report.”

But he did agree with the governing Justice Party with respect to a rotating regional seat on the Security Council, and on the need for consensus among allies in the region.

“We must prioritise the capacity to develop regional integration. That is where our negotiating power lies, not in bilateral alliances like that of Argentina with the United States through NATO,” (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), said Alvarez.

The U.S. invitation to Argentina to become its first Latin American non-NATO ally was recently extended by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and is pending ratification by the U.S. Congress.

The news aroused the ire of politicians in Chile, and Foreign Minister Jose Miguel Insulza immediately set out for Washington.

Albright minimised the impact of the alliance, describing it as a recognition of Argentina’s support in international efforts such as the 1991 Gulf War.

In Chile, the main fears are that a new Washington-Buenos Aires relationship could lead to Argentina receiving advanced U.S. weaponry – in the wake of the lifting of a 20-year ban on sales of sophisticated arms to Latin America.

Former Argentine ambassador to the United Nations Lucio Garcia said the preferential U.S. treatment of Argentina contradicted current efforts to end the traditional animosity between Chile and Argentina, which have been involved in border disputes that have led them more than once to the brink of war.

“What we need to do is create trust, and not provoke fissures in a bloc which should present an image of homogeneity,” he added.

Politicians in Chile said the U.S. decision to declare Argentina a non-NATO ally would upset the regional balance. Senator Sergio Bitar of Chile’s governing coalition announced that he would push for an international diplomatic effort to check such initiatives.

But Deputy Alberto Cardinali of the right-wing National Renovation party went even farther, maintaining that the joint Chilean-Argentine military exercises scheduled for 1998 “should be ruled out until the relationship between the two countries is clarified.

“One thing is a neighbour with whom there are excellent friendly relations, and another are maneuvres with a nation that is a strategic ally of the United States,” added Cardinali, who wondered “who Argentina is seeking to protect itself from” with the alliance.

ARGENTINA-BRAZIL: New Tensions Sweep Southern Cone

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 20 1997 (IPS) - Just when tension has flared up between Argentina and Chile over a U.S. invitation for the former to become a non-NATO ally, a fresh diplomatic row has broken out between Argentina and Brazil.
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