Washington's most outspoken critics in Latin America held center stage at a Mercosur summit on Friday, giving a sharp leftward push to a meeting of South America's largest trade bloc.
Cuban President Fidel Castro made a rare international appearance to celebrate the incorporation of Cuba's close ally Venezuela into Mercosur and sign an expanded trade accord between Mercosur and Cuba, which has been under a US economic embargo for more than four decades. "This kind of integration has centuries-old enemies," Castro said in a thinly veiled reference to the United States.
The 79-year-old communist firebrand also praised staunch allies Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales. Venezuela this month joined Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay as full members of Mercosur. Bolivia and Chile are associate members.
Hours after the meeting ended, Castro and Chavez rallied thousands of students and leftist political activists with speeches criticising US economic and foreign policy. More moderate leftist presidents like Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentina's Nestor Kirchner did not attend the event.
Castro's visit highlighted the difference in vision among some South American leaders over Mercosur and its efforts to more closely link the region's economies. Chavez has called the group a counterweight to US free-trade deals and Washington's influence in the region. But others have resisted that approach. Chile, widely seen as Latin America's star economy, has its own trade deal with Washington.
"Chile will continue to work on this regional integration, but recognises that there is a long path ahead," Chilean President Michelle Bachelet told her colleagues.
Securing energy supplies was a top priority at the meeting in Cordoba, some 435 miles (700 km) north-west of Buenos Aires. Bolivia is negotiating higher prices for its natural gas exports to Brazil, and Argentina is discussing an imminent tax increase that will make its gas sales more costly for Chile.