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Unasur under pressure: six nations, including Brazil and Argentina, suspend their memberships

Saturday, April 21st 2018 - 06:31 UTC
Full article 3 comments
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Paraguay believe the bloc has been rudderless under the current rotating presidency of Bolivia Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Paraguay believe the bloc has been rudderless under the current rotating presidency of Bolivia
Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Fernando Huanacuni said the six were only pressuring for a quick turnover in presidency and stressed they were not abandoning Unasur Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Fernando Huanacuni said the six were only pressuring for a quick turnover in presidency and stressed they were not abandoning Unasur
Unasur was created in 2008 when leftist populism advocated by the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and Brazil's Lula was at its strongest in South America Unasur was created in 2008 when leftist populism advocated by the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and Brazil's Lula was at its strongest in South America

Half of the nations belonging to Unasur, a South American bloc set up a decade ago to counter U.S. sway in the region, have decided to suspend their membership, a Brazilian official announced on Friday.

 The governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Paraguay believe the bloc has been rudderless under the current rotating presidency of Bolivia, according to a statement sent to Brazilian ministers.

Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Fernando Huanacuni said the six were only pressuring for a quick turnover in presidency and stressed they were not abandoning Unasur. Bolivia will call an emergency meeting to solve disputes in the bloc, Huanacuni added in an interview with state media.

Unasur was created in 2008 when leftist populism advocated by the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez was at its strongest in South America. But in recent years, the bloc has been paralyzed by divisions as center-right governments have risen to power in several countries.

“Unasur works by consensus but the differences between its members’ political and economic views are so great it can no longer operate,” said a Peruvian diplomat.

Brazil under ex president Lula da Silva and Chavez with other leaders set up Unasur to create a regional economic and political union that ultimately struggled to gain momentum.

Unasur sought to bypass the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS), which leftists considered a tool for promoting U.S. policy in Latin America.

Venezuela’s economic collapse and political turmoil post-Chavez has divided the region. At the OAS Summit of the Americas in Peru last week, the United States joined Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Paraguay in condemning Venezuelan elections next month that they say will cement a dictatorship under President Nicolas Maduro.

Efforts to build consensus behind strongly worded condemnations of Venezuela have run into resistance from Caracas’ left-leaning allies such as Cuba and Bolivia, as well as Caribbean nations that have benefited from Venezuela’s subsidized oil.

The remaining active Unasur members are Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Guyana and Suriname.

Categories: Politics, Latin America, Unasur.

Top Comments

Disclaimer & comment rules
  • Brit Bob

    Unasur and Argentina made public on Tuesday a letter dated last 5 April in which the regional group' Secretary General and former Colombian president Ernesto Samper, strongly supports Argentina's sovereignty claims over the Falklands/Malvinas and other South Atlantic Islands plus the adjoining maritime spaces. “The UK persistence in holding on to the colonial enclave of Malvinas against all odds, challenges not only 40 UN General Assembly resolutions, but statements from the Union of South American Nations, calling or demanding a negotiated solution to the territorial conflict”, writes Samper in the letter addressed to foreign minister Hector Timerman.

    Samper goes on to say that taking into account the commemoration of the 200 years of South American states' independence, “it would be convenient to corroborate the peace commitment of nations and peoples that make up the South Atlantic and put an end to an occupation that has lacerated for decades Argentina's dignity. Likewise it has ignored the uninterrupted and sustained commitment of several governments of your country to end the matter in a peaceful manner”, adds the letter. (MercoPress 29 April 2015).

    40 UN General Assembly Resolutions?

    Falklands – UN Resolutions & 2013 Referendum (1 pg):
    https://www.academia.edu/35921248/Falklands_UN_Resolutions_and_2013_Referendum

    Apr 21st, 2018 - 09:52 am 0
  • Brasileiro

    Brazil has an illegitimate government at that time. A popular non-voting government that took power through a coup d'etat.

    Please disregard any agreement or compromise signed by the corrupt criminals who took power in Brazil.

    Apr 21st, 2018 - 01:24 pm 0
  • :o))

    REF: “Brazil & Argentina, suspend their memberships”:

    It COULD have something to do with some of the many Operations [Car Wash?] which are under investigations!
    https://youtu.be/sL28LDX8mwY

    Apr 22nd, 2018 - 05:01 pm 0
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