Glossary: Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA)
DEFINITION:
A regional group founded by the Montevideo Treaty of 1960 to increase trade and foster development. LAFTA’s failure to make meaningful progress in liberalizing trade among its members or to move toward more extensive integration prompted the leaders of five Andean states to meet in Bogotá in 1966. This meeting led to the creation in 1969 of the Andean Group (q.v.)--consisting of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru (Venezuela joined in 1973)--to serve as a subregional structure within LAFTA. LAFTA was replaced in 1980 by the Latin American Integration Association (Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración--ALADI), which advocated a regional tariff preference for goods originating in member states. ALADI has since declined as a major Latin American integration effort in favor of regional efforts, such as the Southern Cone Common Market (q.v.).