• by Jose Mujica
• Tuesday, March 08, 2011
• Inter Press Service

All countries, the small ones in particular, are having a hard time adapting to a shrinking world that is ever more globalised, interconnected, and interdependent. Given the infinite number of connections today, the traditional forms of production and distribution have changed. Transnational corporations control an important part of world trade and dictate the new regulations to which we have no choice but to adapt. To respond to these challenges, and as a inescapable response to globalisation, the world is organising itself into gigantic blocs, writes Jose Mujica, President of Uruguay.

In this analysis, the author writes that the goal for Latin America therefore is to build one nation that spans the entire subcontinent. We need Venezuela and the other South American countries in MERCOSUR to build the potential of the subcontinent, which would be staggering with the addition of Venezuela's energy resources, the fresh water of the pampas in the south, the Amazon, and the experience of our people.

A major problem that Latin America must address through the combination of inclusion and international integration is improving the living conditions of our poor. This requires us to increase our wealth, resources, and knowledge, though this in itself will not solve the underlying problem: our people are fractured into myriad groups.

In the fight for growth and social and economic expansion, the largest potential market for Latin America is the poor themselves, who must be brought into society. Although the region has progressed considerably in the last decade, we still have a colossal debt to the poor of our countries.

(*) Jose Mujica is the President of Uruguay.

//NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN CANADA, CZECH REPUBLIC, IRELAND, POLAND, AND THE UNITED STATES//

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

Where next?

Advertisement