Estoril, Portugal - When representatives of 22 countries meet in the Portuguese seaside resort of Estoril for the 19th Ibero-American summit from Sunday night to Tuesday, they will officially focus on how technological innovation can help modernize Latin American economies. All eyes, however, will be on leaders such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Colombia's Alvaro Uribe or Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as Latin America wavers between progress and conflict.
The summit may provide some "diplomatic movement or initiative" to ease political conflicts such as the one pitting Venezuela against Colombia over US use of military bases in Colombia, Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado said.
It was also thought possible that the summit might discuss the political crisis in Honduras, though Spanish government sources said that there were "no proposals on the table" on that issue.
Representatives of Latin American countries, Spain, Portugal and Andorra will discuss the economic crisis that has made poverty clearly increase in Latin America for the first time in seven years.
The number of people below the poverty line will rise from 180 million to 189 million, or 34 per cent of the region's population in 2009, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America.
Although the appearance of emerging economies will make for a fairer sharing of economic power, the "new economic model" will also be "more competitive and cruel," Ibero-American General Secretary Enrique Iglesias said.
Nevertheless, Latin America has dealt with the current economic crisis better than with similar situations in the past, Iglesias added.
The South American trading bloc Mercosur is hoping to negotiate a free trade agreement with the European Union, which Spain has promised to seek during its EU presidency in the first half of 2010.
Mercosur itself, however, has been riddled with trade disputes between Brazil and Argentina, which have now promised to start dismantling trade barriers.
The summit will try to fight the economic crisis with measures such as technological innovation, an area in which Latin America is "weak," Iglesias said.
Media interest, however, is likely to focus on political conflicts such as the one between Venezuela and Colombia, which is setting one of the stages for the rivalry between leftist and pro-US Latin American regimes.
Chavez has even urged Venezuelans to prepare for a war against what he sees as a US-Colombian plot to promote "Yankee imperialism," after Bogota allowed Washington to use seven military bases in Colombia.
Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates and the Spanish government were expected to try to mediate between the two sides at the summit.
"Colombia and Venezuela are aware of Spain's willingness to contribute to re-establishing channels of dialogue and to reducing tension," a Spanish government source said in Madrid.
Another row is meanwhile brewing between Chile and Peru over allegations that a Peruvian officer spied for Chile.
Leaders absent from the summit will include Bolivia's Evo Morales and Uruguay's Tabare Vazquez, who are busy with upcoming elections in their countries.
It was not yet clear whether Cuban leader Raul Castro would attend.
The spotlight, however, will likely be on the absence of the leader of Honduras, which was plunged into a political crisis following the ouster of president Manuel Zelaya in a June 28 coup.
The country is currently without a president after de facto president Roberto Micheletti stepped down temporarily to allow citizens to focus on Sunday's presidential elections instead of the political crisis.
The international community has sought the restoration of Zelaya as president, out of concern that the Honduran precedent could plunge Latin America's fragile democracies back into a spiral of military coups.
After returning to Honduras from exile in September, Zelaya has been hosted by the embassy of Brazil, which is increasingly emerging as South America's top power.
Rio de Janeiro was chosen recently to host the 2016 Olympics in a tacit recognition of the successes of Brazilian President Lula da Silva, whose country's economy is expected to grow by six per cent in 2010.
