Raul Zibechi

This article examines the sixth summit of the Americas and analyzes how the event reflects a trend of Washington’s declining hegemony in Latin America and the rise of unified opposition to American policies, particularly the militarization of the region, drug war and isolation of Cuba.

With two years to go before the World Cup in Brazil, already people are questioning the massive evictions caused by the Cup’s enormous infrastructure projects and the legal privileges that must be conceded to the all-powerful FIFA, which has set itself up as a kind of super-state capable of imposing its own laws and special tribunals.

Colombia, traditionally Washington’s best ally in the region, is cozying up to Brazil and building a solid commercial, financial and political network with its neighbor while Washington becomes more and more isolated as a result of the geopolitical restructuring taking place globally and regionally.

At the end of December, the first popular uprising in the region against a government of the left took place in Bolivia.

Dilma Rousseff came very close to winning in the first round of voting in Brazil, she ended up on the threshold of the government currently led by Lula de Silva.

Since Apr. 26, a state of emergency has been in effect in five northern provinces of Paraguay, which represent a third of the nation’s territory.

The emergency has brought to light problems that will have serious consequences for the neoliberal business model.

Millions of Brazilians have serious housing problems. The Movimiento Sin Techo (Homeless Movement) seeks to organize them, and to occupy abandoned properties and land on the outskirts of the city to pressure the government.

In the decade in which it begins its ascent, the country is so important that it is forcing its main competitor in the region, the United States, to redesign its foreign policy to take into consideration Brazil’s prominence, a tactic that might destabilize all of Latin America.