Author: Miguel Ángel Barrios – 24/07/2025
Perón’s Continentalism: Is It Nostalgia or the Only Path to Existence?
A) The Ten Global Geopolitical Trends of 2025
- Reconfiguration Toward a “New Cold-Hot War”
Rising tensions between the U.S. and China—especially over supremacy in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as well as Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific—are intensifying alongside global rearmament, nuclear reviews, and growing military spending. A confrontation is emerging that is both economic and military. - Consolidation of an Anti-Western Multipolar Front
A coordinated strategy between Russia, China, and Iran is challenging the Western bloc in its North American and European versions, expanding cooperation into economic, military, cyber, and diplomatic dimensions. - Emergence of a Fragmented Multipolar World
The post–Cold War unipolar order is fading. The role of “middle powers” (India, Brazil, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia) is growing, acting as counterweights and balancing the power of global superpowers. - Deglobalization and Restructuring of Value Chains
Protectionist measures and the relocation of production are on the rise, disrupting global trade and cooperation mechanisms. - Digital Sovereignty and Cyber Autonomy
States are tightening control over critical digital infrastructure, investing in AI, and establishing technological regulation to protect key systems and reduce vulnerability to cyberattacks. - Technological Competition and “AI Nationalism”
A race is solidifying over who sets the standards for AI, chips, and advanced computing. Each nation seeks to assert leadership, limiting transnational collaboration. - Geostrategic Impact of Climate Change
Climate effects—droughts, rising sea levels, and migrations—affect national security, shift military deployments, and reshape the geopolitics of natural resources. - Hybrid Weapons and “Gray Zone” Actions
Cyberattacks, sabotage of civilian infrastructure, disinformation, and covert operations aim to destabilize opponents without triggering conventional war, which no longer functions as it once did. - Revitalization of Military Structures and Regional Alliances
New groupings are forming, and ties among organizations such as the Quad, AUKUS, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are strengthening. - Persistent Multiregional Instability
Conflicts persist in Ukraine and Gaza, alongside nuclear tensions between India and Pakistan, keeping the global environment uncertain and placing strain on economies and logistical chains.
B) The Ten Geopolitical Trends in Latin America in 2025
- Asymmetric Latin American Multipolarism
Latin America is caught in a geographical zone of tension between pressure from the U.S. and China. In this context, Brazil—considered a “middle power”—is the country that most actively pursues a diplomacy of multipolar autonomy, strengthening ties with the U.S., China, Russia, Europe (particularly France, with which it shares a border), and Africa. - Growing Influence of China as a Dominant Geoeconomic Actor
China is already the main trading partner for several Latin American countries (Brazil, Peru, Chile). It also invests strategically in infrastructure (ports, mining, energy, telecommunications), aiming for a strong presence in the South Pacific, Atlantic, and Caribbean. - Fragmentation of Regional Organizations
UNASUR, CELAC, MERCOSUR, and ALBA are showing signs of deep weakness or crisis. A lack of cohesion prevails, with regionalism weakened by ideological rivalries. - Reemergence of the Debate on Sovereignty in Defense and Security
The debate around foreign military bases, organized crime, and transnational drug trafficking is returning—along with extra-hemispheric military “cooperation.” - Disputes Over Strategic Resources: Lithium, Water, Food, and Biodiversity
The “Lithium Triangle” (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile) is gaining prominence in the global energy transition. The region’s freshwater reserves, agri-food potential, and biodiversity make it strategically vital—attracting investment but also generating tensions over sovereignty and territorial control. - Technological Dependence and the Struggle for Digital Sovereignty
The region remains dependent on foreign tech platforms. Some countries, like Mexico and Brazil, are initiating national cybersecurity and data regulation policies—but without regional coordination. - Lack of Coordination in the Recognition of Educational Degrees
- Absence of a Policy for Achieving Common Continental Citizenship
- Lack of Common Curricula in Diplomatic Academies
- Lack of Shared Curricula in Military and Security Education Institutions, and in the Development of a Strategic Intelligence Scientific Community
C) Juan Perón: A Dead Past or a Program for the Future?
Juan Domingo Perón’s Latin American integration policy—actively promoting a strategically engaged diplomacy in both thought and action toward building a “Continental Confederation” or “Continentalism” during his three presidencies—not only remains relevant and contemporary, but in many aspects anticipated today’s geopolitical debates in the era of industrial continental blocs as the only actors capable of autonomous agency within a framework of asymmetric interdependence.
Below, we present a response that aims to demonstrate the validity of our hypothesis in the fragmented, multipolar world of 2025:
- Perón argued that Latin America must form its own geopolitical bloc (a Continental Confederation) to resist imperialist pressures.
- He promoted a “Third Position” between U.S. liberal capitalism and Soviet bureaucratic totalitarianism.
- He developed geopolitical projects such as the “New ABC” (Argentina, Brazil, Chile) and sought coordination with Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, and others.
- His thinking remains valid because history has shown he was right: fragmentation weakened Latin America.
- Strategic resources (lithium, water, food, and energy) can only be defended through geopolitical unity.
- Disinformation and dependence lead us to ignorance. When he spoke of a “diplomacy of peoples,” he meant there can be no integration without a cultural policy.
- He was a forerunner of environmental care as the path to sustainable development, without falling into abstract environmentalism—an idea echoed by Pope Francis in Laudato Si’.
- The guiding principle of National Defense is the mobilized people—the Nation in Arms—where the military instrument is its hard pillar.
- The concept of the Organized Community and territorial rootedness is the best response to organized crime. Border policy based on integration shifts the meaning of the border from separation to cooperation.
- He advocated for statistical and social studies to understand the nation’s anatomy.
- He supported the development of industry as part of a broader national industrial development project.
Prof. Dr. Miguel Ángel Barrios
PhD in Educational Sciences
PhD in Political Science
Author of more than 30 works on Latin American History and Politics
He has taught courses, seminars, and conferences as a guest in universities and diplomatic, military, and police academies across Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.