VZCZCXYZ0025
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSO #0495 1291327
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 091327Z MAY 06
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5010
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 6156
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 7071
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 2417

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000495 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD 
 
DEPT PASS USTR 
 
USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: WESTERN HEMISPHERE: SOUTH AMERICA, 
VENEZUELA, BRAZIL, BOLIVIA; SAO PAULO 
 
 
"Regional Disintegration" 
 
Former Brazilian Ambassador in Washington Rubens Barbosa maintained 
in center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (5/9): "Less than one and a 
half year after the creation of the South American Community of 
Nations, the process of regional integration has taken a course that 
Brazilian diplomacy was unable to anticipate mainly because of the 
way the Foreign Ministry has conducted relations with neighboring 
nations. The GOB's proclamation of regional leadership resulted in 
resentment demonstrated in public postures opposing Brazil, such as 
the case of Brazil's claim for a permanent seat at the UN Security 
Council and in the elections for the WTO and IDB.... Instead of 
union between the region's nations, what has occurred is a quick 
movement of fragmentation and disintegration.... With ambitious 
proposals such as a mega gas pipeline and the creation of a South 
Atlantic Treaty Organization, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez now 
presents himself as the champion of South American integration.... 
Chavez's nationalist populism, however, is at the root of the 
current process of regional disintegration.... From Brazil's point 
of view, the logic of South American integration has always been the 
Brasilia-Buenos Aires axis. Today, the Caracas-Buenos Aires axis has 
become consolidated, as Brazil implicitly recognized by inviting 
Chavez, who is not an interested party, to the Puerto Iguazu meeting 
to discuss the Bolivian nationalization of Petrobras assets.... The 
next stage of the process of regional division may be the 
positioning regarding the US.... Once again Chavez is in the center 
of developments with his ALBA proposal as an alternative to the 
FTAA." 
McMullen