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Latin America
Brazil's first circle of international relations is with its Latin
American neighbors. Being the largest nation in the region makes
this process somewhat delicate. Most border issues were settled
in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but some questions
concerning the borders with Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay, and Venezuela
remain. In 1995 Brazilian farmers and forest gatherers penetrated
Bolivia's Pando Department, in an action reminiscent of the invasion
of Acre by Brazilian rubber tappers in the 1890s. Brazil regularly
extends export credits and university scholarships to its Latin
American neighbors. A certain quota of Latin Americans are admitted
to the Rio Branco Institute and the armed forces staff schools.
An active participant in regional security activities, Brazil hosted
the conference that established the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal
Assistance (Rio Treaty) in 1947. In addition, Brazil was a founding
member of the OAS in 1948 and has participated in several OAS peacekeeping
endeavors. Most notable was Brazil's participation in the Inter-American
Peace Force (Fuerzas Interamericanas de Paz--FIP) in the Dominican
Republic in 1965. In the 1980s, Brazil was an active participant
in the Contadora Support Group (see Glossary), which sought a permanent
peace in Central America. In June 1995, eighty-seven Brazilians
were attached to peacekeeping operations in the Americas--thirty-seven
in El Salvador, thirty-two in Nicaragua, ten on the Ecuador/Peru
border, six in Honduras, and two in Guatemala.
The Treaty of Asunción--signed in 1991 by Brazil, Argentina,
Uruguay, and Paraguay--was the culmination of a rapprochement between
Brazil and Argentina after 160 years of regional rivalry (see Trade
Patterns and Regional Economic Integration, ch. 3). It also incorporated
Uruguay and Paraguay into Mercosul, and Bolivia and Chile joined
Mercosul in 1996.
Data as of April 1997
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