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<b>Continental integration</b><br>
<b>L</b>atin American countries started to be emancipated at a time when the
great European powers began to apportion the world into different colonies and
areas of influence.<br>
<img width=15 height=19 vspace=0 hspace=0 border=0 align=BASELINE src="../../iconos/b88p.gif">The
<b>division of Latin America</b> can also derive from <b>European hegemony</b>
and the dispute for the New World territories.<br>
<img width=15 height=19 vspace=0 hspace=0 border=0 align=BASELINE src="../../iconos/b88p.gif">As
a possible consequence of this worldwide process, among the local political
and economic projects there was always the thought of uniting the States within
the continent, so that a more fluent relationship could be achieved.<br>
<img width=15 height=19 vspace=0 hspace=0 border=0 align=BASELINE src="../../iconos/b88p.gif">The
<b>Organization of American States</b>, established in <b>1948</b>, is regarded
as a precedent for <b>Latin American unification</b>. Although such organization
basically operated under the control of the United States, the other countries
could increasingly make their weight felt. On the other hand, the geographic
situation of different groups of countries resulted in the formation of particular
political and economic frameworks, such as the <b>ODECA</b> <b>(Organización
de Estados Centroamericanos, Organization of Central American States)</b>, created
in <b>1951.</b><br>
<img width=15 height=19 vspace=0 hspace=0 border=0 align=BASELINE src="../../iconos/b88p.gif">The
first step towards the formation of a <b>common market</b> was the creation,
in <b>1960</b>, of the <b>ALALC (Asociación Latinoamericana de Libre
Comercio, Latin American Association of Free Trade)</b>. At first, it was compounded
by <b>Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay</b>; a year
later, <b>Ecuador and Colombia</b> entered into it. Finally, <b>Venezuela and
Bolivia</b> were included in 1966 and 1967 respectively. This organization sought
to free the <b>inter-regional trade</b> from customs barriers, without setting
a<b> common import tax</b> nor providing for co-ordination measures of domestic
or foreign policy. They intended to come to some <b>agreements</b> for <b>tariff
reduction </b>in every good in particular and other supplementary agreements.
However, this could never be put into practice. <br>
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