BY OLIVER STUENKEL
JUNE 2, 2022
https://americasquarterly.org/article/petro-lula-and-the-future-of-latin-american-integration/
A second “pink tide” would create greater opportunities for dialogue. But structural obstacles abound.
SÃO PAULO — The success of regional integration in Latin America, it is often said, depends on ideological alignment between governments. It’s no surprise, then, that the possibility of both a Gustavo Petro presidency in Colombia and a Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva win in Brazil has brought expectations for a new cycle of cooperation on the continent. Indeed, if Petro and Lula succeed, Latin America’s five most powerful presidents next year—in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile—would all be, broadly speaking, ideologically aligned and, in principle, open to establishing constructive bilateral ties.
Recent years have seen a complete breakdown of regional presidential diplomacy, symbolized most prominently by the absence of dialogue between Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro and his Argentine counterpart Alberto Fernández. Yet while the return of open communication between Latin American heads….
