A number of the region's non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said they would throw their weight behind Mercosur--the Common Market of the South--in hopes of promoting human rights and equality through the bloc.

Mercosur was set up in 1991 as a trading zone for Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. It has since grown to include Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Integrating all of South and Central America has been high on its agenda since signing a cooperation agreement with the Andean Community trade zone in 2004.

Mercosur now encompasses more than 250 million people, some 70 percent of the continent's total population.

Many details of fuller integration remain to be worked out and prospects for integration outside the economic realm remain far from certain. Nevertheless, Venezuelan and Argentine officials last week told NGOs from around the region and the world that the bloc would resemble the European Union (EU). The officials reiterated plans to establish a central governing body like the European Commission, as well as a common military and a unified currency.

The bloc's first parliamentary elections have been scheduled for 2011, they added.

''We want a community of nations which deals with political, economic, social, and cultural matters,'' said Hugo Varsky, special representative for regional integration and social participation at the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

''How can we make our presence known to the international community if we simply just have economic agreements rather than an integrated region?'' Varsky added in an interview with OneWorld.

The idea of uniting to counterbalance the overwhelming influence of the U.S. and EU resonated with many of the 70,000 participants who took part in the NGO talks that ended here Sunday. Formally dubbed the World Social Forum, the event is an annual gathering of NGOs from around the world and sprung up as a counterpoint to the World Economic Forum, held at the same time every year in Davos, Switzerland. As in previous years, the talks here focused mainly on how to combat corporate-led economic policymaking and lift the world's poor out of destitution.

To pull off regional integration, however, governments need NGOs to help them build public support for the idea, said Franklin Molina, a professor of international relations at the Central University of Venezuela.

''The problem with integration is that the governments and companies cannot do it alone. It will need the participation of all segments of the population,'' Molina told OneWorld.

Walter Prejo, general coordinator of the Cathedral of Peace and Human Rights, an NGO based in Merida, Venezuela, said his organization sees opportunity in agreeing to promote Mercosur.

''We want to help, cooperate and promote [Mercosur] in conjunction with the national governments, so they can hear the voices of the poor and promote human rights and equality,'' said Prejo, whose organization seeks to increase community participation and foster a culture of peace.

Like other grassroots activists, Prejo added that he worried that an expanded Mercosur would prioritize commercial and corporate interests above poverty eradication.

''Mercosur should address the economic situation and poverty eradication. Both are interchangeable. The economic development of Mercosur should guarantee economic opportunity, which would ease poverty,'' he said.

Gustavo Marquez, Venezuela's trade and integration minister, told OneWorld that Mercosur would adopt a ''social strategy'' aimed at fighting poverty and reaffirming South Americans' common cultural identity.

''On the economic front, our biggest hurdle is sharing our technology and promoting innovation so we can create an economy that complements all of its different members,'' Marquez said.

Molina, at the Central University, said advocates of pro-poor social policies in Mercosur should prepare for opposition from others who say such measures would hinder market forces and those who say that regional integration ignores the powerful U.S. market.

Originally established to encourage the free flow of people, goods, and currency between member countries, Mercosur eschewed social policy at the outset. But the failure of U.S.-backed, free-market reforms to boost economies throughout the region between 1997 and 2002 led Mercosur to turn its back on the U.S. and call for regional integration, Molina added.

While admitting there would be obstacles, officials speaking at the social forum emphasized that Latin America's vast natural resources would help bring the countries together.

''Absolutely we'll have problems, but we will keep on finding solutions,'' said Argentina's Varsky.

Venezuela's Marquez added that integration probably would prove easier in Latin America than it was for Europe.

''Because Latin Americans have a shared linguistic, cultural, and social history, it will actually accelerate the integration process,'' Marquez said.

The goal of continental unity is not new. Its most famous proponent was Simon Bolivar, the first to fight for the creation of a continental super-state. The revolutionary Ernesto ''Che'' Guevara took up Bolivar's cause, as have Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and a number of the region's new, leftist leaders.

Confronted with the expansion of Mercosur, the U.S. is pushing to create a hemisphere-wide Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) despite Latin American leaders' official opposition to existing plans, which they have denounced as giving the United States unfair trading advantages in key sectors including agriculture.

Washington also has scrambled to cement bilateral trade agreements with individual South American countries. In December, Mercosur was shaken when Uruguay said it might sign a bilateral pact with the United States. Peru recently signed its own U.S. trade deal, joining Colombia and Chile. Paraguay also is said to be moving toward an agreement with Washington.