South American leaders sought to refocus their fractured trade bloc on the needs of the region's poor masses at a summit Thursday, while Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for remaking Mercosur to fit his vision of «21st century socialism.» Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, hosting the two-day summit attended by all of the continent's leaders except Peru's Alan Garcia, said it is time for the region to map its own economic future to benefit South Americans who live with little hope for the future, AP reported. «Integration depends only on us. It doesn't depend on the United States, Europe, Japan and China. It depends on our courage and political competence,» Silva said. With some 600 federal troops deployed around the city and warships patrolling the waters in front of Rio's famed Copacabana Palace Hotel, the presidents discussed Bolivia's request for full member status in the trade bloc and changes in customs rules to help Paraguay and Uruguay, the bloc's two smallest economies. Silva and Chavez signed a memo of intent for the state-rrtheastern Brazilian city of Recife. A decision on whether to build the pipeline will only occur after the study is completed in 2007. It would be part of a much larger pipeline system Chavez is promoting that could eventually link Venezuela's vast natural gas fields to Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
