Exploring new ways of regionalization and integration in Latin America and The Caribbean Sea

The current international system affords opportunities to Latin America and the Caribbean, a grouping of 33 countries with unequal growth that represents a collective and diverse reality. Incomplete integration experiences and a network of intra-regional agreements are evidence that the current reality goes beyond "open regionalism" and is heading towards a new kind of regionalism that emerges from the convergence of the current mechanisms. In this context, a Latin America-Caribbean Integration System (Sistema de Integracion Latinoamericano y del Caribe, SILAC) is being promoted as a guiding mechanism for a flexible integration process with various speeds, tending toward the end goal of creating a free trade zone in the Region born from the convergence of existing (bilateral, sub-regional, and regional) models; a joint, independent voice in international forums; coordination of public policy; spaces for regional and "South-South" cooperation in education, science and other areas, and improved competitiveness. Doubtlessly, deepening this integrating tendency will require political will from the countries in the region, but there are already signs pointing in that direction.