"The United States is not the boss here anymore," boasted Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez on Tuesday on arriving in Brazil and hailed the rendezvous of the Latin American summit without "the aegis" or the look of the United States and with Cuba's appearance.

"The important thing for independence in this hemisphere is for us to meet without the Empire (…) A new history, a new stage, is beginning," said the head of state on arriving in Costa do Sauipe, northeastern Brazil.

"We are taking a way that was missed long time ago, the time of (Simón) Bolívar, of (José) Martí, of our founding fathers. Here we are, talking, from the South," he added.

Presidents and representatives of 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries would meet until Wednesday in this Brazilian heavenly spa located in Bahía state, for a summit focused on hemispheric integration.