Weekly Report - 2 October 2008 (ISSN 1741-7422)

When Brazil's President Lula da Silva entertained Presidents Evo Morales (Bolivia), Rafael Correa (Ecuador) and Hugo Chávez (Venezuela) in Manaus on 30 September, talks were meant to focus on the construction of an ambitious corridor scheme between Ecuador's port of Manta and Brazil's Amazonian city of Manaus, with onward links to the city of Santa Elena de Uairén in southern Venezuela and Brazil's Atlantic coast - an interoceanic alternative to the Panama Canal. Ultimately, however, it was the international financial crisis which dominated proceedings.