ABSTRACT
The dream of Latin American integration goes back to the Congress of Panama, organised in 1826 by Simón Bolívar, and the four Spanish American congresses that followed, in a failed attempt to create a political confederation of the Latin American republics. By the mid 1880s the image of a united Latin America had given way to the idea of inter-American or hemispheric co operation and to the rhetoric of "Pan-Americanism." However, despite numerous setbacks Bolivar's vision of Latin American integration has never died. In his judgement, regional unity was an absolute necessity for the future of Latin America. Can the dream become a reality in the era of globalization?
