Lula and Chavez in Tit-for-Tat

In advance of the President's visit next month, Lula is working to keep Uruguay and Brazil aligned:

In Uruguay on Monday, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva gave Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez a bear hug and both said they had strengthened ties during talks at a country estate where Vázquez will host Bush on March 10, some 110 miles west of Montevideo.

Lula da Silva said he could assure smaller countries in the strained Mercosur trade bloc that they had the ear of the bloc's more powerful economies, like Brazil's.

''Brazil's relationship with the region is not one of hegemony,'' Lula da Silva told a news conference. He added that he and Uruguayan officials had discussed ''asymmetries'' in the trade relationships between small and large countries...

Uruguay and the United States last month signed a pact laying down guidelines for boosting trade between the two countries, a move Uruguayan officials said is key to future economic growth.

Lula da Silva's visit was viewed by the Brazilian media as a way to head off any attempt by the United States to establish a trade agreement with Uruguay.

Lula's visit was intended to head off a US attempt to establish a FTA with Uruguay. At the same time, I think Lula's comment about 'hegemony' is intended as much for Chavez - a mor immediate rival - as it is for the US.