An Alliance Borne of Urgency

One reason the Pacific Alliance may succeed is the increasingly urgent need to transcend the chronic failure to link Latin America’s economies.

The Alliance would never have become a priority for its four members if Brazil had offered a credible plan to further economic integration with its most trade-oriented Latin American neighbors. Or if Hugo Chávez had been less successful in making free trade a bad word. The late Venezuelan president prioritized political over economic integration, and he was not shy about using his country’s oil to scuttle “neoliberal free trade agreements.” The United States, meanwhile, was too distracted by emergencies abroad and hobbled by gridlocked politics at home to launch initiatives capable of inspiring Latin American leaders.

All this paved the way for an alliance of four successful Latin American countries ignored by Brazil, threatened by Venezuela’s growing regional influence, and unattended by the United States. The allure of Asia’s giant economies was also a consideration. If it succeeds, the Alliance will not only boost members’ trade and investment with each other but also, more importantly, become an attractive economic partner for Asian nations interested in exploring economic opportunities in Latin America. The members of the Pacific Alliance are taking the need to pivot toward Asia more seriously than the United States is.

Other countries that could have spearheaded Latin America’s deeper integration with the rest of the world were either unable to lead such a project, distracted by other demands, or simply not interested. Most notable among these nations is Latin America's giant: Brazil. Paradoxically, its behavior created the conditions for the emergence of an alliance that Brazilian leaders clearly dislike.

The first decade of the 21st century was good to Brazil. Buoyed by booming commodities exports to Asia, easy access to financial markets, and the charismatic leadership of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the nation experienced a decade of prosperity and social development. Lula resisted pressure from his own party to abandon the orthodox economic policies that had finally tamed Brazil’s chronic financial instability, and used the commodities windfall to expand the social programs he had inherited. While Lula and his aides always stressed that building closer ties with neighbors was a priority, in practice it became obvious that Brazil and its president wanted to play in a larger—indeed international—setting.

As the financial crisis hit the United States and Europe in 2008, Lula leveraged his success at home and the fact that Brazil had ably navigated the economic turmoil to become the voice that, on behalf of the rest of the world, berated the bankers and governments responsible for the crash. “This crisis was caused by no black man or woman or by no indigenous person or by no poor person. This crisis was fostered and boosted by irrational behavior of some people that are white, blue-eyed,” Lula said in 2009 on the eve of a G-20 meeting where he would be treated as a primus inter pares. The Brazilian president also tried to intervene in the delicate negotiations of the United States and Europe with Iran over its nuclear program, and volunteered to mediate in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. His diplomats were actively engaged with other BRIC nations (Russia, India, China, and South Africa) in developing a common platform from which to influence global affairs, while also seeking to expand Brazil’s presence in Africa and make the country a permanent member of the UN Security Council. These efforts didn’t amount to much, but they did enhance Brazil's reputation as a global player.