The third Summit of the Americas, held in Quebec earlier this month, agreed the goal of achieving a tariff-free market from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego in southern Chile by the year 2005.
The prospect of a market embracing 800 million people has been strongly supported by business interests in the US, and by the governments of Latin America, anxious to modernise.
However, although the summit agenda included the alleviation of poverty and easier access to education, many human rights activists believe that only corporate America will benefit from the market, not the poor and indigenous people of Latin America.
The Inter-American Human Rights Commission (IAHRC) starkly warned Chile's President Ricardo Lagos this month that conflict with Chile's indigenous peoples could lead to a national civil war unless their interests are given greater priority in the country's political agenda.
IAHRC president, Mr Claudio Grossmann, said Chile's Mapuche conflict is similar to indigenous conflicts across the whole of the American continent, where hundreds of uprisings could escalate.
In recent months the Mapuche, Chile's largest indigenous group, have become increasingly violent in their demands for the return of ancestral lands.
"We are currently in a very dangerous situation; indigenous communities are discriminated against in numerous countries, they live in extreme poverty and a large proportion are illiterate. All these factors and more have lead to a radicalisation of the situation that, we fear, could mean a `Balkanisation' of Latin America's indigenous issue," Mr Grossmann stated.
The Mapuche, who make up almost 10 per cent of Chile's population, once occupied some 31 million hectares of Chile and Argentina but now legally own just 300,000 hectares. Since December, tension has escalated in the region as more Mapuche communities, frustrated at the slow pace of government negotiations to buy back land, have taken direct action and occupied private estates.
The Arauco-Malleco Organisation, the most militant of the Mapuche political groups, has dramatically increased its power base. A recent government intelligence report alleged that Mapuche activists are intent on creating an autonomous nation for their people.
Opposition politicians have described the situation as a "Chilean Chiapas" and called on the government to apply stringent anti-terrorism and national security laws.
In an effort to reduce tension President Lagos recently convoked the Indigenous People's Historic Truth Commission and said the commission's findings would form the basis of future government policy.
A peaceful and prosperous future for all the citizens of the Americas is unlikely to be achieved, however, unless the issues raised in Santiago are addressed on the wider stage of future Americas Summits.