The Americas | Unhappy union

The irrelevance of Mercosur

Once the herald of a liberal future, the trade bloc’s members are increasingly at odds

Paraguay's President Santiago Peña (C) speaks during the Mercosur summit.
Photograph: Getty Images
|SÃO PAULO

It was an especially pointed snub. Skipping the twice-yearly get-together of the presidents of Mercosur, Javier Milei, Argentina’s president since December, chose instead to speak to the hard right at a Conservative Political Action Conference in Brazil. “If Mercosur is so important, all presidents should be here,” huffed Luis Lacalle Pou, Uruguay’s centrist leader, at the summit in Asunción, Paraguay’s capital.

This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Insults and irrelevance”

From the July 13th 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

Uruguay's centre-left presidential candidate Yamandu Orsi.

Is Uruguay too stable for its own good?

The new president must deal with serious problems with growth, education and crime

Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to members of the media.

Bolsonaro’s bid to regain Brazil’s presidency may end in prison

Brazilian police have accused some of his backers of involvement not just in a coup, but in an assassination plot


A worker holds a salmon inside a salmon hatchery in Puerto Montt, Chile.

The mafia’s latest bonanza: salmon heists

Fish farming is big business in Chile. Stealing fish is, too


Parlacen, a bizarre parliament, is a refuge for bent politicians

A seat in the Central American body offers immunity from prosecution

Brazil courts China as its Musk feud erupts again

Xi Jinping, China’s leader, spies a chance to draw Brazil closer

Brazil’s gangsters have been getting into politics

They want friendly officials to help them launder money