Threatened borders. MERCOSUR potential and challenges to respond to the pandemic

• María Clara Stavile Bravin

  Universidad de Congreso, Arentina

• Ana Paula Collado

  Universidad de Congreso, Argentina

• Mariana Laura Covolo

  Universidad de Congreso, Argentina

The actual Covid-19 pandemic has generated a worldwide sanitarian crisis, in which all the countries were forced to apply adaptable measures to this issue. In Latin America, the fast coronavirus outbreak expansion led to adopt restrictive measures which impulsed an unanimous border closure. These actions limited persons’ mobility across the border, being exposed to vulnerability situations.
Although the main purpose is to stop the virus advance, the adopted measures suppose an important challenge for the south American region, taking into account the negative socioeconomic and sanitarian impact they can have in a post-pandemic context. This scenario brings border zones to special attention. These zones’ potentialities and asymmetries are characterized by the existing tensions between the possibilities of cooperation advances, and these territories’ securitization, which can be translated into national sovereignty defense. In this way, the cooperation to jointly formulate public health policies between countries in this region, is extremely important to prevent conflicts and to join efforts in the construction of mechanisms that can alleviate the pandemic effects. Within a regional cooperation framework, MERCOSUR’s capabilities can be used like effective coordination platforms to solve sanitarian issues and respond to these zones’ demands, as well as to avoid increasing tensions and conflicts in border areas.
The aim of this article is to examine the present tensions and obstacles to cooperate in border zones, to analyze the potentialities and challenges of public health policies coordination, giving the actual pandemic context. To conclude, this analysis has chosen the cities of Posadas (Misiones, Argentina) and Encarnación (Itapúa, Paraguay) as a case of study, taking into account their membership to MERCOSUR, the cooperation background between these cities and the effects the pandemic had in this border zone. The methodologies used for this investigation are documentary analysis and case of study.

1. María Clara Stavile Bravin, Universidad de Congreso, Arentina

   Licenciada en Relaciones Internacionales por la Universidad de Congreso (Mendoza, Argentina). Diplomada en Migraciones y Protección de Refugiados en la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Miembro fundador del Centro de Investigación Orientado a la Práctica (CIOP) en la Facultad de Estudios Internacionales de la Universidad de Congreso.

2. Ana Paula Collado, Universidad de Congreso, Argentina

   Licenciada en Relaciones Internacionales por la Universidad de Congreso (Mendoza, Argentina). Diplomada en Migraciones y Protección de Refugiados en la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Miembro fundador del Centro de Investigación Orientado a la Práctica (CIOP) en la Facultad de Estudios Internacionales de la Universidad de Congreso.

3. Mariana Laura Covolo, Universidad de Congreso, Argentina

   Licenciada en Relaciones Internacionales, directora de carrera de Relaciones Internacionales de la Facultad de Estudios Internacionales de la Universidad de Congreso, especialista en temas de género y polí­ticas públicas, diplomada en Polí­ticas Públicas y género por la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA). Miembro fundador y Coordinadora del Centro de Investigación Orientado a la Práctica (CIOP) en Facultad de Estudios Internacionales de la Universidad de Congreso.

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