While the rest of the world has been pursuing business opportunities in South America, Berlin has been sitting on its hands. Now, with Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle looking for a signature issue, that may change.

Trips to South America aren't always easy. One of the first Germans to travel to the continent barely escaped ending up in a soup pot. In 1550, Hans Staden, a mercenary from the Hessian town of Homberg, went to South America at the behest of Portuguese settlers. Not far from where Sao Paulo is today, he fell into the hands of cannibalistic indigenous peoples who wanted to turn him into their next meal. He saved himself by offering the natives his services as a shaman.

This week, 460 years after Staden, a German is visiting the continent once again. Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, hardly an expert on Latin America, is touring Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil this week - in addition to a short stop in earthquake-shaken Chile - together with a colorful entourage. He hopes to make the region a focus of his foreign policy.

Westerwelle's approach stems from the insight that Brazil, in particular, is becoming more and more important on the international stage. But, like his predecessors, he is also searching for a foreign policy issue with which to make his mark. Former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer focused on the Middle East, while his successor, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, specialized in the Caucasus region. Both men sought to gain stature on the foreign stage without interference from the Chancellery.

Westerwelle is drawn to Brazil for the same reason. Chancellor Angela Merkel has monopolized Germany's relations with Russia, China, the United States and Israel. But she has never shown any real interest in South America's largest country.