Abstract

In this article, we analyze the integration between the two main and largest Free Trade Zones (FTZ) in South America: Ciudad del Este, in Paraguay, and ZOFRI, in Iquique, Chile. To do so, we review the historical background, the central characteristics and the commercial dynamics of each one of them. To understand the link between the two FTZs, we propose an integration model based on the dynamics of commercialization on two scales: "top-down" (capital investment, international trade agreements, state policies, and large-scale smuggling) and "bottom-up" (micro-scale trade, distribution, and smuggling). Unlike "top-down" and "bottom-up", the more classical postulates of "transnationalism" that tend to assume that these are two levels that function independently, in this study, we show that both levels are completely interdependent and that this is the result of the overlapping of legal and illegal practices, as well as of formal and informal practices that occur in the marketing circuit between the two FTZs. Our methodological approach is based on focused interviews and ethnographic records, and on a review of specialized literature and institutional and press documents.