Union of South American Nations (UNASUR)
The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) is similar in principle to the European Union but with much less integration. UNASUR has a president and parliament based in Bolivia and, importantly, a defence council. This council serves as a mechanism for regional security and the promotion of military cooperation in South America. The bloc’s priorities included the defense of human rights, social justice, and the deepening of democracy, including the strengthening of a regional electoral monitoring system.
UNASUR is the successor of the South American Community of Nations (Comunidad Sudamericana de Naciones; CSN), established by 12 South American leaders signing the Cuzco Declaration in the city of Cuzco, Peru, in 2004. The UNASUR bloc, which was officially established in March 2011 following a 2008 treaty, is an intergovernmental union aimed at the regional economic, political and defense integration of South America. It comprises 12 countries, including the four members of the Andean Community of Nations, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru; the members of Mercosur, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela; as well as Chile, Guyana and Suriname, with Mexico and Panama as observers.
UNASUR has a population of 400 million people with a territory of 17 million square kilometers. By uniting, it would become the 4th largest economy in the world, with 6 percent of its gross domestic product. South America has a third of the world's fresh water, is first in food production, and has hydrocarbon reserves for the next 100 years. UNASUR is a gathering of exclusively Latin American countries. This is an OAS without the United States as a member. And being added to it is a security apparatus, again under Brazilian auspices, which represents an extraordinary challenge to the United States. And it's very clear that Brazil is beginning to make its stand as a regional superpower and is no longer deferring to the United States.
The continent has split into two camps. One group of countries with governments of the center-right and the center-left would like to engage the United States constructively to focus on economic ties and maintaining cordial political contacts. The other group with populist governments like those of Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador or Nicaragua -- would like to create barriers between Latin America and the United States and form a sort of "Anti-U.S. International" with other countries. They have not been able to separate countries like Brazil and Peru and Mexico from having a cordial relationship with the United States.
The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) summit, a two day inter-government meeting on regional economic and political integration, concluded on 06 December 2014, with the concept of “South American citizenship” possibly its most exciting proposal.
Ernesto Samper, UNASUR’s Secretary General, noted that the organization has agreed upon the idea of a “South American Passport”, which would facilitate the free movement of people in the region for work or study across the continent, similar to the European Schengen zone. The concept supports the mutual recognition of degrees from the respective countries’ universities and other institutions of higher learning.
Guarantees on “the freedom of movement of 400 million South Americans in the region, the right to work, the validation of university degrees and legal protections is my dream”, Samper said, according to the Buenos Aires Herald. He added, “I want to arrive at an airport and hear ‘South American citizens only at this window’.” Samper noted that the concept of the South American passport may be the “most important achievement of this summit.”
The summit, which was held Thursday and Friday in the Ecuadorian cities of Guayaquil and Quito, concluded with the inauguration of the intergovernmental organization’s new 20,000 square meter headquarters in Quito. The headquarters was dedicated to the late former Argentinian President Nestor Kirchner, the first Secretary General of the organization.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
