After its inception, the Rio Group came to consist of 23 Latin American and Caribbean states, and had two primary concerns. The first, exemplified by U.S. exclusion from the organization, was to ensure that Latin Americans nations had control over their own international affairs. Hemispheric groups, most notably the Organization of American States (OAS), were heavily dominated by the United States' interests throughout the 20th century.

A secondary reason behind the creation of the Rio Group was to help mediate the American backed Contra wars of the 1980s and guerilla violence in Central America. The Rio Group was originally formed as the Contadora Group. The group had some measured success in demilitarizing guerilla groups in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala.

While the Contadora member nations did not promote an anti-U.S. point of view, it became clear shortly after its inception, that the group would not be a tool of the United States. The member nations denounced Washington's use of unilateral force to protect its interests. In another blow to U.S. dominance of the region, the group recognized the democratically-elected Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

By looking out for their own interests within the region, Contadora Group nations inevitably ended up working counter to U.S. paramountcy that had been so dominant for nearly a century. Thanks to the independent manner of its member nations, the Contadora Group acted as a de facto precursor to the Rio Group, which went on to become an autonomous force in the hemisphere.

In November 2008, Cuba joined the Rio Group in what many declared as a monumental step towards regional integration. The move signaled the continued decline of the United States' standing in Latin America, as illustrated by the steady rise of left-leaning governments, trade and aid organizations, such as the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), and major diplomatic spats with Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia.

Additionally, Cuba's eventual membership in the Rio Group represented a stunning triumph for Havana's political legitimacy – Havana had become a bonafide and authenticated regional player after six decades of isolation. While Cuba's new role is of unquestionable benefit to the island, it could pose an element of risk in that it may breed complacency in the regime and discourage the Castro government from making the necessary political and social concessions that would promote democratic values and reform some of the more Stalinist aspects of the economy.

Shared Strategies

Members of the Rio Group seek to form political consensus on a number of issues, beginning with harmonizing foreign policy goals and cultivating proceedings to bring about hemispheric security. The Rio Group has been successful in achieving these goals through various means.

In 1991, the five Andean states of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela signed the Cartagena Declaration on Renunciation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, which created a nuclear weapon-free zone in the northern part of the continent.1 Another important initiative implemented through the Rio Group was the Treaty of Tlatelolco, which expanded upon the Cartagena Declaration by prohibiting nuclear weapons throughout all of Latin America and the Caribbean.

While Cuba was not a member of the group when the treaty was signed, it ratified the treaty to show its solidarity with the region. In addition to the aforementioned weapon bans, the Rio Group has also advocated for greater regional representation in the United Nations, arguing for "greater efficiency, transparency, and democracy in the Security Council." 2

While the Rio Group has yet to specify how this will be accomplished, there is little doubt that the nations of Latin America believe it is time that their region play a larger role in global organizations, including but not limited to, the United Nations.

Evolving Mindset

Cuba's entry into the Rio Group is significant in that it demonstrates Latin American nations are beginning to insist upon alternatives both when it comes to the application of neoliberal processes and U.S. dominance when it comes to governing the implementation of practical applications. Cuba would not have been able to join the Rio Group without support from other left-leaning nations such as Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

Nor would the island have been able to be inducted had the United States been a participating member. Furthermore, Cuba's entry shows that Latin American nations are taking a less judgmental stance when it comes to dealing with governments that do not necessarily align with their own. At the same time, right-wing countries with ties to the United States, such as Colombia, El Salvador and Peru are becoming fewer in numbers.

Taking hemispheric realities into account is an important move and represents a clean break from many of the past policies of this country, which repeatedly had undermined, both covertly and overtly, governments who did not align themselves ideologically with its view and voice when it came to the disposition of its power and more concerned with their own national interests and world view. Meanwhile, it has become increasingly clear that Latin American nations are beginning to formulate their policies with less concern for what the U.S. reaction may be.

The positive aspects of Cuba's inclusion in the Rio Group are not limited to ramifications generated by ferment in international policy making. Rather, by entering and adding its approach to the mix, Cuba is becoming a part of an evolving region markedly different from its past. This is most often seen through newly developing trade blocs, and, although the Rio Group is not currently a notable economic force, the rash of connections that Cuban officials have entered into during casual as well as formal meetings is bound to increase Cuba's trade.

Moreover, since Latin America increasingly demonstrates that it will no longer automatically follow Washington's every turn, the United States may be forced to make unprecedented political and economic concessions to its neighbors in the future. This change in attitude would be extremely beneficial to many nations who have failed in the past to affect the direction of U.S.-Latin American relations over the past two centuries.

The U.S. may be pressured into easing relations with Cuba due to the shear volume of nations increasing their diplomatic ties with the island nation. Since 2008, numerous heads of state have visited Cuba. These have included Cristina Fernandez of Argentina, Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Lula of Brazil, Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, and Hu Jintao of China. No longer can Washington's politicians say that the rest of the hemisphere, nor the world, supports their policies towards Cuba.

Rather, Cuba has slowly been integrated into various regional institutions, including the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance in 1982, the Latin American Integration System in 1998, ALBA in 2004, and a free trade agreement with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in 2008. These are in addition to the recently formed UNASUR, the South American Defense Council, and the Ibero-American Summit.

Raising Eyebrows

Critics of recent developments would argue that while accepting Cuba into the Rio Group may be beneficial for the island, these member nations essentially are condoning authoritarian tendencies of the Castro regime. Despite technically being elected by the National Assembly of People's Power in February 2008, Raul Castro was the only candidate listed on the ballot.

Lack of political opposition is a clear sign that would-be dissidents have grounds to be concerned over of the repercussions from running against the incumbent party. In fact, Cuba ultimately offers such limited political freedom that one would be hard-pressed to find anyone running for office who is not a member in good standing of the Communist Party.

While a 1992 constitutional reform allowed other parties to exist, they are still not permitted to campaign or be publicly active. Furthermore, several of the alternative parties subscribe to some variant of the left-leaning ideology tolerated in Cuba and do not represent a major threat to the all-embracing Partido Comunista de Cuba.

Those who do oppose the government are at a high risk of being apprehended and questioned for their dissident viewpoints. A recent Human Rights Watch report concluded that there are more than 200 political prisoners in Cuba.3 Other estimates are closer to 85.

Cuba's constitution is in conflict with a number of the liberties spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the island-nation signed in 1948. Of course, this charter was signed prior to the Cuban Revolution, during the presidency of Ramón Grau, so some may argue that Cuba is not tied to the declaration today.

The 1976 Cuban Constitution declares that, "Citizens have freedom of speech and of the press in keeping with the objectives of a socialist society." Thus, private citizens and especially journalists face the risk of state-sponsored repression if they portray the government in a negative light. In fact, the state controls the media and uses it to portray the ruling party in unqualified positive terms.

This control, in essence, acts contrary to the entire concept of freedom of the press. In terms of freedom of association, Amnesty International states that "All human rights, civil and professional associations and unions that exist today in Cuba outside the officialdom of the state apparatus and mass organizations controlled by the government are barred from having legal status."4

The Rio Group's admission of Cuba, despite some demonstrable human rights abuses, has raised some eyebrows when it comes to the legitimacy of reasoning such an approach. The response to this line of reasoning seems to be that it is hoped that Cuba will be tutored from within and that association with democratic ideas can be good for the nation in opening it and transforming its ethos, but that Cuba also has much to teach as well as learn when it comes to seeking viable economic and political options.

Conclusion

While Cuba's entrance into the Rio Group has the capacity to influence both international and domestic affairs on the island, the likelihood remains that substantial change will be somewhat limited due to the reclusive and viscous nature of the Castro government. More so than most nations, Cuba's internal issues are relatively slowed by external events.

The Castro regime has made relatively few changes in the past sixty years, and only with the recent transfer of power have any modest rights been institutionalized. Furthermore, the Rio Group has been active in sectors that generally do not directly impact the domestic well-being of nations.

While the organization has made tremendous strides in slowing the proliferation of weapons in the hemisphere, these programs will not change the average citizen's life like other more targeted economic or social programs in Latin America have. These have included the export of Cuban doctors to nations such as Haiti and Venezuela to provide medical assistance.

Nonetheless, after being expelled from the OAS in 1962 for being politically "incompatible" with the other member nations in a scenario scripted by U.S. intelligence services, Cuba is being welcomed back into Latin America with open arms; President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela believes Cuba, "is essentially the heart and the dignity of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean…Cuba always should have been returned to its place. Now we are complete."

The implications of Cuba's new relationship with the Rio Group remain to be seen, but it appears that Latin America has begun to slowly and steadily challenge Washington's leadership role in the hemisphere.

While the region may not be high up on President Obama's priority list, the president would be wise to recognize these changes and adjust U.S. policy accordingly, allowing for a more cooperative atmosphere instead of one in which the United States acts as a hemispheric policeman turned by issues which have prevented him from doing an honest job.

Hopefully Washington's policymakers will heed the words of Cuban Foreign Minister Celso Amorin, who recently declared, "U.S. foreign policy towards Latin America goes through Cuba."
 
Notes:

1.Goldblat, Jozef. Arms control the new guide to negotiations and agreements. London: Sage Publications, 2002. 149.

2. Inventory of Nonproliferation Organizations and Regimes. Rep. 23 Jan. 2009. Center for Nonproliferation Studies. 25 Feb. 2009 .

3. 2008 World Report: Cuba. Rep. Human Rights Watch.

4. Cuba: Fundamental freedoms still under attack. Rep. 17 Mar. 2006. Amnesty International. .

This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Adam Kott. The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) – www.coha.org – is a think tank established in 1975 to discuss and promote inter-American relationship. Email: coha@coha.org.

Eight foreign ministers and 11 undersecretaries from the Rio Group of Latin American nations took part in the two days of talks in Pilar, 70 kilometres northwest of Buenos Aires.

They were laying the groundwork for a Rio Group presidential summit to be held at the end of August in the Argentine mountain resort of Bariloche.

They were also preparing for the Summit of the Americas, which will gather the heads of state from 34 nations in Mar del Plata on Argentina’s south Atlantic coast in November.

Rafael Bielsa, the Argentine Foreign Minister who served as host for the talks in Pilar, said the Rio Group nations would jointly back new initiatives to fight poverty as a step to further strengthen democracy in the region.

Envoys also spoke in support of safeguarding democratic institutions in Nicaragua, where President Enrique Bolaí±os has been battling adversaries in Congress who want to oust him.

The Rio Group was created in 1986 in Rio de Janeiro by Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, amid serious armed conflicts in several Central American countries.

Meanwhile Bielsa and his Uruguayan counterpart Reinaldo Gargano agreed that a bilateral team would meet “as soon as possible” to gauge the possible environmental impact of two paper pulp mills that Uruguay is building and that Argentina alleges may pollute its environment.

The case has sparked a diplomatic row and Argentina said on Tuesday that if Uruguay goes ahead with the construction of the plants without the necessary environmental impact studies, Argentina would resort to the international courts.

Uruguay is building the plants in Fray Bentos, opposite the Argentine city of Gualeguaychú and across the Uruguay River shared by both countries.

Despite Argentina’s legal threat, both Bielsa and Gargano have said that the dispute hasn’t affected bilateral relations at all.

The bilateral team is due to issue a report within 180 days, the two foreign ministries said in a joint statement after Bielsa and Gargano met in Pilar.

Uruguay failed to attend two previous meetings of the team of experts, disappointed at Argentina’s having requested the World Bank to withhold financing for the pulp plants pending the environmental studies.

Separately, Bielsa reaffirmed that “Argentina will support Brazil’s candidate” to head the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Talking to reporters, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had called his Argentine colleague Néstor Kirchner to ask him to vote for Brazilian Joao Sayad – the IDB’s vice-president – as the new head of the multilateral agency. Amomim said that Lula was highly satisfied with his talk with Kirchner.

This article appeared originally in Mercopress – www.mercopress.com.

The 18th Summit Meeting of Heads of State and Government of the Rio Group ended November 5 with a reaffirmation of the need for a multilateral approach to resolve global problems and secure peace and development with social inclusion and full respect for international law.

The participants issued the Rio de Janeiro Declaration, in which they recognize that the new international realities urgently demand the strengthening and thoroughgoing reform of the United Nations.

In particular, so that the reorganized General Assembly, Security Council, and Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc) can preclude the emergence of situations that threaten peace.

In the document, the heads of State also reaffirm their commitment to the Goals of the Millenium, the Monterrey Declaration on Financing for Development, and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation of Sustainable Development.

The declaration devotes six paragraphs to the problems of Haiti, “the topic of greatest importance and attention at the meeting of the Rio Group Summit.”

After recalling that middle-income Latin American and Caribbean countries require cooperation and Official Development Assistance to achieve higher degrees of governability, “diminishing internal disparities, attaining the Goals of the Millenium, and overcoming poverty,” the communiqué underscores that peace and economic reconstruction in Haiti are among the Rio Group’s major challenges.

The Rio Group also vows to work with the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and donor countries to obtain the speedy liberation of funds pledged for the stabilization of Haiti.

The letter reveals that, on an operational plane, the countries’ chancellors were instructed to organize a seminar for November 20, to analyze the Haitian situation in depth and define tasks for cooperation with that country in the political, economic, and social spheres.

The Rio de Janeiro Declaration was signed by 11 of the 19 Presidents of the member countries – Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela – and the Vice-Presidents or Chancellors of Argentina, Guyana, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.

Agência Brasil
Translator: David Silberstein

The Ministers of Foreign Relations of the Rio Group have already drafted a series of proposals for the official declaration to be issued at the end of the 18th Meeting of Heads of State and Government of the Group, which begins today in Rio.

According to the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, the proposals must be approved by the Presidents, but the governments uphold the principles of multilateralism to which all countries in the region adhere and affirm the importance of solidifying democracy on a foundation of social justice.

Amorim said that the document underscores the importance of the initiative taken in September at the United Nations General Assembly to launch an international campaign to combat hunger and extreme poverty.

In the document, the governments also address the situation in Haiti.

Amorim disclosed that the encounter among State and government leaders should also advance discussions to create the South American Investment Authority.

The creation of this agency would facilitate the application of resources in infrastructure projects in countries which are constrained by limits in their levels of indebtedness.

Federal Troops

The presence of 18 heads of state from South and Central America, besides Mexico, for the Rio Group summit, has once again brought Federal troops into the city of Rio de Janeiro.

A total of 1,800 men have been stationed at strategic points, from the Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport to the city’s south zone where the delegates are staying. The summit will take place today and tomorrow at the Hotel Sofitel, in Copacabana.

The new military commander of the East, general Sergio Alves Conforto, emphasized that the troops are on a constitutional mission in support of the state government to protect the foreign leaders.

He added that when the leaders have departed there will no longer be any need to keep the soldiers on the streets. The security operation includes aircraft.

Agência Brasil
Translator: David Silberstein

Brazil’s greatest expectation for the final document to be approved at the Rio Group’s 18th meeting, which began yesterday and will continue through Friday, November 5, in Rio de Janeiro, is an unequivocal and objective declaration of economic and political support for Haiti.

“We want full recognition that the task of recovering Haiti is everybody’s responsibility,” affirmed Ambassador Luiz Felipe Macedo Soares, Chancellor Celso Amorim’s deputy in the temporary presidency of the Group, exercised this year by Brazil.

The event in Rio unites representatives from Brazil and 18 other South and Central American countries, as well as the Caribbean and Mexico.

Soares, who holds the post of Undersecretary-General for South America in the Ministry of Foreign Relations (Itamaraty), recalls that the meeting can also represent an important step in establishing closer economic ties among these countries.

“After the protocol signed with the Andean Pact, the conditions are ripe for South America to become a free trade area. Now we shall make progress with Central America and the Caribbean. We shall also hold our first meeting with Mexico early in 2005.”

Soares, who is the Itamaraty official in charge of negotiations over the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), predicts that the arrangements worked out by Brazil and the Mercosur during the course of 2004 should have an effect on future negotiations with the United States.

“It makes a big difference for us to arrive at the table with a fortified Mercosur and having already held conversations with the Caribbeans and Central Americans. At the start of this year, the situation was very different.”

The Ambassador also underlines support for two proposals as Brazilian priorities for the final document of the meeting.

First, the international campaign against hunger and poverty, for which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva launched an appeal at a meeting parallel to the United Nations General Assembly in September, in New York.

And, besides this, the idea of “innovative financial mechanisms,” including a set of changes that Brazil has been defending in international forums in the calculations made by financial agencies with respect to the government budgets of debtor countries.

At present, outlays on infrastructure are considered expenses. Brazil proposes that they be counted as investments.

This would be beneficial in such instances as the country risk factor scale, which provides investors an assessment of how safe it is to lend money to governments.

If they were considered less indebted, countries could obtain loans at lower interest rates and spend less money on rolling over their debts, thus helping to generate a virtous cycle of growth.

Agência Brasil
Translator: David Silberstein

The heads of state of 19 South and Central American nations, along with Mexico, will be in Rio de Janeiro tomorrow for the opening of the 18th Rio Group summit which will last two days.

At the close of the meeting a document will be signed by the heads of state with proposals for regional cooperation and the solution of conflicts.

Three topics will be central at the meeting: a worldwide compaign against hunger and misery, international cooperation to deal with the situation in Haiti and the creation of an investment fund for members of the Rio Group.

In order to ensure a peaceful meeting, security has been tightened in Rio with 1,800 personnel from the police and armed forces on duty in the city.

The Rio Group was created in 1986 to consolidate regional democracy though cooperation and integration in economic and social development.

The third Work Meeting session of National Coordinators of the Rio Group was scheduled to begin today at 10 A.M. in the Copacabana Palace Hotel, in Rio de Janeiro.

Two sessions were held yesterday. These sessions are being used to prepare the proposals that will be submitted to the Chancellors of the 19 countries that comprise the Group (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Uruguay, and a representative of the Caribbean Community – Caricom).

The Ministers of Foreign Relations will meet this afternoon, and their talks will continue tomorrow.

They are responsible for drafting the document that will be presented to the heads of government and State who plan to attend the 18th Meeting of Heads of State and Government, which gets underway tomorrow.

The Rio Group, created in 1986, is a permanent mechanism of consultation and political coordination.

The Brazilian National Coordinator for the Rio Group, Minister Marcelo Vasconcelos, informed that the Brazilian government will propose the establishment of financial instruments to ensure resources for programs to combat hunger and poverty and cooperation with Haiti to reinforce the presence of troops in that country.

Another item on the agenda is the creation of a South American investment authority, which would act as a financial agency to obtain and distribute resources.

Agência Brasil
Translator: Allen Bennett

A joint declaration by the presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Chile, Ricardo Lagos, last week, in Santiago, Chile, recommends the “opening of a dialogue with Cuba by the Rio Group.” The Rio Group is formed by 19 South and Central American countries.

Lula and Lagos also reaffirmed “the absolute pertinence of the Rio Group as a permanent instrument for political consultations and conversations with other States and groups of countries.

The Brazilian Minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, stated that one of the outstanding points of the declaration “is the affirmation of ties with Latin America.”

According to Amorim, “many people had their doubts, saying that Chile was more concerned about its links to the North, to the FTAA, and this is an affirmation of its commitment to the Latin American community.”

The Cuban government wants to expand the number of mixed Cuban-Brazilian companies. Although Cuba has approximately 400 joint-capital firms with various countries around the world, the partnership with Brazilian entrepreneurs has so far resulted in the constitution of only 2 mixed companies.

They are Busscar, which manufactures tourist buses, and Souza Cruz, which makes cigarillos. This information comes from the Cuban Ambassador to Brazil, Pedro Nuí±es Mosquera.

Expanding joint investments and bilateral trade was the principal theme of “Expo-Cuba” and the “Cuba-Brazil Business Encounter,” events that took place in May in the Rio de Janeiro Federation of Industries (Firjan), under the sponsorship of the International Business Center of Brazil, together with the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Trade.

According to data provided by the Firjan, trade between Brazil and Cuba amounted to approximately US$ 91 million in 2003. Brazil exported US$ 71 million, which represent 0.1% of the country’s total foreign sales. Imported goods from Cuba totaled US$ 22 million.

The chief Brazilian products purchased by Cuba last year were soy oil (US$ 2.1 million), chicken parts (US$ 1.9 million), and automobiles (US$ 945 thousand). For its part, Cuba sold nickel, cigars, medicines for human and animal care, naphtha, educational programs, cigarettes, and cement to Brazil.

Cuban Doctors

Medical students who studied in Cuban universities should soon be able to have their diplomas recognized as valid for the exercise of the profession in Brazil.

A commission comprising five Cuban specialists met yesterday in April with representatives of the Secretariat of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education (Sesu/MEC) to discuss mutual recognition of diplomas.

Last year, during a trip by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Cuba, protocols of intention were signed in the areas of technical and scientific cooperation and the endorsement of diplomas.

Then, early this year, the Brazilian team visited the principal Cuban schools of medicine, to assess the conditions for validating the degrees.

“The team was in the capital, Havana, and at the universities of Santa Clara and Cientuegos (cities in the interior), to check on the progress of the courses, mass medical care, and hospitals and walk-in clinics,” disclosed the head of Sesu’s Division of International Affairs, Professor Arsênio Becker.

According to Becker, Cuban medical training is, from early on, integrated with health care, and students begin their internship right away in the first year of medical school.

The Brazilian model is different, divided into two parts: an academic phase and another one, close to graduation, for internship. “Training in Cuba, different from ours, is integrated with medical assistance,” he said.

Despite the existence of two different models of apprenticeship, for Cuba’s First Secretary of Technical and Scientific Collaboration in Health, Filisberto Perez , the two countries can accept each other’s diplomas without drawbacks.

“Evidently we shall not allow poor physicians to practice in our country, just as it is fundamental for Brazil make sure that Cuban students submit to an evaluation here,” Perez affirmed.

During their sojourn in Brazil, the Cuban specialists visited installations of the Paulista School of Medicine that are part of the University of São Paulo (USP) in São Paulo and in the city of Marí­lia, in the interior of the state. They also visited the University of Brasí­lia and the Ministry of Health to examine the facilities.

Automatic Accreditation

Professor Becker recalled that the government’s intention is to evaluate the students who come from Cuba by means of a specific test. Currently, in order to obtain certification, would-be graduates must undergo a rigorous evaluation until their professional registration is granted.

For the Cubans, the examination would be less complicated. “We are not talking about automatic acceptance, but rather a special model for recognizing the Cuban diploma, unlike the one traditionally adopted by universities,” he explained.

The MEC is also studying the possibility of restricting the application of automatic accreditation to students trained at the Latin American School of Medical Sciences, which is also located in Cuba and will graduate its first class in 2005.

At present, there are about 550 Brazilians studying medicine in Cuba and another 180 who have already graduated but are unable to practice medicine.

According to Professor Becker, the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM), which was initially opposed to accepting the diplomas, participated in various meetings with the MEC and concurred with the application of a national examination for holders of Cuban diplomas.

Agência Brasil