This unified proposal could not be fully realised, because of the powerful forces of colonialism and the various methods it adopted. The notion of unity remained however, a concrete utopia of the peoples and since then, it has been a widely accepted political value, which, although it has not attained the speed desired by many of us, has not ceased to advance.

The most significant accomplishment that we have gained as an inheritance from the liberal thinking of the region has been overcoming that conflictive notion that prevailed in the definition of relations among neighbouring nations. After the reign of that confrontational vision for more than one century, we are now convinced that it is in fact detrimental and that strength lies in unity and good relations.

Today, the leaders of the region make the unified inheritance strongly felt, the legacy of our forefathers and social thinkers who developed the foundational ideas of our nations. The unified proposal today does not bear the obstacles of the past, it is now a task imposed by globalisation. In light of that global process, no one argues about it being necessary to strengthen the Latin American and Caribbean community.

There is an increasing awareness that in order to address our countries’ problems, it is necessary to do so from a regional perspective, since most of those problems originate in or are intrinsically related to the regional reality.

The Heads of State and Government who recently meeting in Rio de Janeiro, have kept that Latin American and Caribbean tradition, underscoring their commitment to defend the ideals of integration and open dialogue, characteristic of brother countries agreeing to a series of actions that advance the integrationist principle.

The starting point for integration has been the creation of an enhanced economic space that strengthens national economies, providing a market with greater capacity and purchasing power, and facilitating intra-regional investment to support the expansion of the economic infrastructure and the creation of employment.

However, the basis of this objective must be the definition of cultural identities, geographic proximity, the protection of shared natural resources and most importantly, the conviction that the democratic system is vital to improving the civic quality of our peoples.

Nevertheless, the need for integration is most powerfully manifested in the area of international co-operation, since it is now evident that development tasks need that resource and in order to tap into it, international co-operation organisations are demanding more and more to be associated with entities that group the largest number of countries, since they find that this facilitates negotiations with more powerful entities, with a greater response capacity and with an impact on a region instead of within the narrow boundaries of a specific country.

Today it is clear that unlike what happened in the nineteenth century, the region’s leaders will not miss the opportunity to meet the historic demand to achieve the integration of our nations during this century.

Dr. Rubén Silié Valdez is the Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States. The views expressed are not necessarily the official views of the ACS. Feedback can be sent to mail@acs-aec.org

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12 November, 2004