Brazil Looms Larger

[Socialistlemur]

5. South American countries aren't rich

There's a bit of a mistake in that text. South American countries aren't rich. They are either poor or at best average. They have a long tradition of bad governance, and it doesn't matter if its from the left or the right. Geography and ethnicity also hurts. For example the brazilians are Portuguese speaking and are not necessarily loved by Argentinians. This is why Mercosur is suffering and it's becoming irrelevant. On the other hand Venezuelans and Colombians are at each others' throats, and I have seen debates between Mexicans and Brazilians which remind me of WWI. This is even if we exclude the democracy versus autocracy and left versus right divides. A lot of this union and solidarity talk is mostly hot air from what I can tell.