Latin America is also Brazil

2022-05-10T04:02:42.443Z

On the eve of the most dramatic and dangerous presidential elections since the dictatorship, the democratic forces begin to envision greater attention to the role of their country in the region

Two protesters with a Brazilian flag in a pro-Bolsonaro march in Brasilia on May 1. EVARISTO SA (AFP)

No, the title of this column is not wrong.

It's not that I meant to say that “Brazil is also Latin America”, something that many Brazilians still find strange.

They see themselves as a separate continent, an empire.

But if it is true that Brazil has a geopolitical deficit by not considering itself entirely as part of the continent, it would also be true if Latin America did not feel Brazilian as well.

Precisely, at this moment of worldwide seismic movements in which the world's borders are threatened by the war in Ukraine, it is more urgent than ever that the map of Latin America does not ignore Brazil.

Try if not to draw it without it and you will see how it turns out to be aesthetically mutilated.

If it is true that Brazil loses part of its identity and of its economic and cultural vitality separated from the rest of the continent, it is also true the other way around, even if the language separates them.

Brazil is, for example, a giant within South America.

It represents 47% of its territory, with 8,547,403 square kilometers and 50% of its population.

It is the third in extension of the territory of the Americas and the fifth in the world and one of the economic powers of the planet.

Brazil has borders with 11 of the Latin American countries.

Its natural riches, the presence of Brazilian capital in Latin America and the geopolitical role it plays on the international board have become the object of study by analysts and politicians.

Brazil is the fifth country in the world in commercial relations with the European Union, responsible for 37% of said trade with the Latin American region and with 43% of the investment portfolio.

Due to its geographical and cultural conditions, the destiny of Brazil is irrevocably linked to the entire continent.

As the lucid Brazilian politician Franco Montoro wrote, “for Latin America the option is clear: integration or backwardness”.

And today, in the midst of the digital revolution, in an uncertain and even gloomy scenario for the globalized economy, it is necessary to resume an integration agenda in Latin America.

Today the danger of environmental destruction is even more serious for the world than war.

And with the fuel crisis, the urgency to focus on renewable energies is greater.

Hence the importance of Brazil's natural heritage with the immense extension of the Amazon, today seriously threatened by a government that does everything possible to turn it into a desert.

It has already destroyed 13,235 square kilometers, the highest figure in the last 15 years.

Saving that heritage must be the task of the entire continent today, which cannot feel oblivious to this environmental catastrophe.

It is important for the world at this time, when fighting for the defense of the planet, to remember that the destruction of the Amazon is a true genocide of nature that is equivalent to a universal war.

All you have to do is remember a few figures so as not to lose your memory.

Today the Amazon represents the largest flow of water in the world.

It discharges 219,000 cubic meters of water per second, according to the WWF.

It contains 20% of the planet's drinking water, according to Amazon Watch.

It is home to 16,000 natural species, 390 million trees and 40,000 plant species.

The Amazon is half of all the tropical forests that still survive in the world.

And Brazil today has the largest collection of exotic fruits on the planet and is the largest producer of citrus in the world.

And not only Brazil, but all of Latin America must feel responsible for all this natural capital.

On the eve of the presidential elections that are presented as the most dramatic and dangerous since the dictatorship (1964-1985), the democratic forces begin to envision greater attention to the role of Brazil within Latin America.

Thus, one of the pillars of its Constitution is being dusted off, where it is said that the country "will seek the economic, political, social and cultural integration of the peoples of Latin America, with a view to forming a Latin American community of nations."

Who is seeing it more clearly is former president Lula da Silva, who is still presenting himself in the polls as the winner of the elections and who has just announced that one of the points on his program will be to study the possibility of a single currency, not only for South America if not for all of Latin America.

This, according to the former trade unionist, would lead to having monetary security along the lines of the dollar or the euro and would contribute to creating greater economic stability.

The truth is that, perhaps for the first time, the most enlightened politicians in Brazil are beginning to understand that the country's destiny in the world cannot continue without unity and collaboration with the entire continent to which it belongs.

At the same time, this could mean opening a new dialogue of broader and closer collaboration throughout Latin America, something that would give it greater weight vis-à-vis the rest of the world powers.

If it is true that there is strength in unity, today in a world of divisions and the infernal awakening of the possibility of a new world war, nothing better than joining forces.

And this is the destiny of the Latin American continent, which should not be forgotten and should feel responsible for the fact that Brazil is also its own.