At a meeting in Venezuela earlier this month, Paraguayan President Nicanor
Duarte brought up another source of division: alleged projectionist practices by
Brazil and Argentina that have prompted Paraguay and Uruguay to question the
benefits of Mercosur membership.
Chavez, however, called the display of leftist unity a "fiesta of
integration. He lunched with Argentine President Nestor Kirchner in Buenos Aires
before flying to Cordoba, arriving moments before Brazilian President Luiz
Inacio Lula Da Silva.
Unlike Lula Da Silva, who boarded a black limousine without making comments,
Chavez waded into a crowd of local journalists to speak of a new Mercosur,
pledging to use Venezuela's oil wealth to bolster the once-sleepy customs union.
"We are entering a new stage of Mercosur," Chavez said. "Imagine that ... the
incorporation of nearly 30 million Venezuelans into a southern common market,
and the Venezuelan economy is one of the most vigorous today in the world."
The summit allows Chavez to trumpet one of his long-sought foreign policy
goals weeks after some critics blamed his political meddling for contributing to
the election of losses of leftist presidential candidates in Mexico and Peru. He
has said Mercosur should be a front against U.S. free trade deals.
Venezuela's induction expands Mercosur beyond its beginnings in southernmost
South America. It now includes all the continent's largest economies -
Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela - along with Paraguay and Uruguay.
Morales and moderate leftist Chilean President Michelle Bachelet were
attending as observers.
Castro, who turns 80 on Aug. 13, has traveled to fewer international summits
in recent years. It was his first trip to Argentina since Kirshner's 2003
inauguration.
Cordoba holds special significance for Castro, a political mentor for the
younger Chavez and Morales. The central Argentina province was the boyhood home
of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the Argentine who gave up a future in medicine to join
Cuba's revolution.
The Mercosur leaders, meeting for the 30th time since 1991, are expected to
sign a deal promoting trade between their nations and Cuba, which has been under
a US embargo for decades.
