ABSTRACT
Ever since Latin American countries achieved their independence in the early nineteenth century, leaders have dreamed of integrating the region into a single nation. Simón Bolívar, for example, wrote in 1815 in his Letter from Jamaica that “more than anyone, I desire to see [Latin] America fashioned into the greatest nation in the world, greatest not so much by virtue of her area and wealth as by her freedom and glory” (1965 [1815]: 67). Over time, of course, nations developed distinct national identities, and these identities are keenly felt and not particularly amenable to easy alteration, despite the homogenizing influences of globalization. An Ecuadorian has little to do with an Argentine, in terms of political culture, racial/ethnic makeup, and cultural outlook, and much the same could be said about most any pair of Latin American countries. A dream of unity is just that, a dream. A United States of Latin America is not on anyone’s radar screen.
