Omar Rachid

From the Euro to the Sucre: the Economics of South American Integration Omar Rachid

In the baroque tradition of South America, the bicentennials of independence movements throughout the continent have called upon celebrations for the disassociation of these modern republics from the ancient Spanish empire. The question that remains is, after two hundred years of official independence, have these republics relinquished the colonial mindset of supplying the great powers of the world? It is not in this author?s interest to answer this question, but rather to study the direction that these states are taking in terms of continental independence. This continent certainly did not lack leaders and visionaries in the early 19th century, because they, too, envisaged a unified South American continent. Unification was most successful in the cultural sphere since the missionaries and educators were the most successful in achieving a quasi-monolingual and mono-religious domination of the native peoples. Lacking allegiance to a single entity, the politicians and generals diluted the original plan by promoting personal agendas. Ever since, these twelve independent nations have not succeeded in channeling their energy towards recreating an ever more narrow union.