Garcia launches "Pacific Arc" blos as counterweight to Alba - LWR 20 September 2007

Peru's President Alan García is championing a new political and economic bloc, known as the "Pacific Arc", comprised of Peru, Chile, Mexico, Canada and Panama. The idea took root at the Apec summit in Sydney earlier this month during bilateral talks between García and his Chilean peer, Michelle Bachelet. Last week García elaborated on the details of the new integration plan, which he described as a "modern social model" using free trade and investment to redress social inequalities. In this sense it is diametrically opposed to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's Alternativa Bolivariana para las Américas (Alba), a model of regional integration on principles contrary to neoliberalism which nonetheless seeks the same outcome.

Bachelet defined the aims of the "Pacific Arc" as a trade and investment promotion initiative "allowing countries to develop economic and social policies in a coordinated way." Peru, which is clearly frustrated with the slow progress of trade negotiations between the Andean Community (CAN) and other blocs such as the European Union (EU), is president pro tempore of Apec for the next year and intends to use its position to cultivate better ties between the "Pacific Arc" and Asian members of Apec. García said he would spend the first half of next year seeking continuity to the free trade agreements between the "Pacific Arc" member countries so that they could project themselves in a unified way to Asia, which he described as "the future in terms of trade and investment".

García was at pains to deny that the new integration initiative was a response to Alba, saying that was just the way journalists chose to dress it up, but he made several transparent allusions to the Venezuelan-sponsored project. "International messianism is not part of Peruvian policy," he said in an interview with the national daily El Comercio last week. "We do not aspire to leadership or the exporting of ideas but simply sharing common criteria with Latin American countries that belong to Apec; countries that have, or are in the process of sealing, free trade agreements with the US and countries that believe investment and trade are essential instruments to defeat poverty." García said these criteria were filled by Mexico, Chile, Peru and Colombia, which is neither a member of Apec nor as certain of getting an FTA with the US as Peru in the coming weeks. García said, somewhat optimistically, that it would satisfy both criteria soon.

García also seemed to throw down the gauntlet to Chávez by promising that the "Pacific Arc" model of integration would deliver better development and alleviate poverty more successfully than "alternative models" driven by ideology. He said he was convinced that Apec would enable Peru to make "an enormous jump in terms of development and economic growth, and therefore the social welfare of all Peruvians."

The launch of the "Pacific Arc" comes at a time when relations between Peru and Chile had looked precarious, with nationalist sentiment stoked on both sides of the border over the longstanding maritime jurisdiction dispute, and when relations between Peru and Venezuela appeared to be improving. The Peruvian foreign ministry recently accepted a Venezuelan explanation dissociating itself from the opening of an Alba office in the southern region of Puno despite initial shrill cries of protest against alleged interference in the country's internal affairs [WR-07-34]. Venezuela reciprocated by making no comment on Peru's decision to grant asylum to Carlos Ortega, a former leader of the country's largest trade union, Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela (CTV). It also mooted a return to CAN.

Relations with US
García's early moves when he assumed the presidency last year showed his propensity for shaping regional realignments. He was instrumental in bringing Chile back into CAN and by aligning Peru more with the US, acting as a counterweight to Chávez's relentless anti-US discourse. He got his due reward this week when the US published its annual blacklist of "major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries". Peru got barely a mention, despite being the second biggest producer of coca. In his detailed presentation of the report, Christy McCampbell, the Assistant Secretary of State for Counter-narcotics, described Peru as "a very cooperating country" adding that "they are a key partner in our counternarcotics efforts and cooperation".

Venezuela, on the other hand, and for the third year running, was singled out in the report from the other 13 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean on the 20-strong list for having "failed demonstrably during the previous 12 months to adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements". In a rhetorical gaffe, McCampbell underscored the politicised nature of the report by stressing that Venezuela had "failed demonstrably to cooperate with the United States." This is the key point. Several other countries on the list, which get no special mention, such as Haiti, Panama and Guatemala, have arguably had less success against drug-trafficking than Venezuela but they are seen to be fully cooperating with the US.

The report adds that Venezuela be given a waiver to possible sanctions under US law to enable the US to support (unspecified) "democratic institutions" in the country. McCampbell supplied slightly more detail, adding that this support would include providing assistance to "small community development programmes for the benefit of the Venezuelan people." He also elaborated on the reasoning behind the criticism of Venezuela. He said Venezuela had taken "insufficient action against drug trafficking", and cast doubt on its claims to have developed new programmes to fight increased drug trafficking. He insisted, without providing empirical evidence, that Venezuela is "a growing transshipment point for drugs bound for the US […] a situation that has (been) exploited by corrupt officials and created a weak judicial system and allows for organised crime." The report received a predictable response from Venezuela.

The foreign minister, Nicolás Maduro, dismissed it as "interventionist" and "abusive" and questioned why the US feels it has the right "to control and oversee the whole world".

Bolivia gets a longer, much more specific, mention in the report but less criticism. Its counternarcotics cooperation is adjudged to have been "uneven". The report claims that the government has "cooperated closely on interdiction, and operations and seizures have reached record levels". It also says that coca eradication should reach 5,600 hectares this year, surpassing its goal by 12%. It questioned the "zero cocaine, but not zero coca" policy implemented by the Morales administration, however, arguing that it focused on interdiction while neglecting to tackle the expansion of coca cultivation, which it said had "outstripped" eradication.

• Ecuador in drug report
  Aside from Venezuela and Bolivia, the US report on major drug transit countries also expressed concern about one other country in Latin America: Ecuador. It said that while the government had made "considerable progress in combating narcotics trafficking destined for the United States", there had nonetheless been "a dramatic increase in the quantity of cocaine transported toward the United States using Ecuadorean-flagged ships". It said this was a "serious concern" but that the effective cooperation between the US Coast Guard and Ecuadorean Navy had resulted in an increase in the amount of cocaine interdicted.