Chile Forum

Chilean Senate approves Unasur charter with two caveats

The Chilean Senate finally approved the Union of South American Nations, (Unasaur) creation charter thus ending the legislative chapter. The bill now goes to the Executive for its promulgation.

The initiative was originally presented in September 2008 by then President Michelle Bachelet, and approved by the Lower House in January 2009. But since then the bill was stalled in the Senate because of certain apprehensions from conservatives. Basically they are mistrustful of Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez.

However to overcome mistrust, the Chilean Senate managed to incorporate an agreement for the government to include two additional protocols: one referred to the democratic clause (as with Mercosur) and a second which demands full commitment with human rights from member states.

The final vote was 25 ayes and one abstention.

Hernán Larrain president of the Senate Foreign Affairs committee said that the vote for the incorporation to Unasur of Chile confirms the “integration spirit that we Chileans as a country have and the need to act as a region in the world economic scenario”.

“The community of South American nations will boost development in Chile and we must also cooperate with the development of the remaining countries in the region”, added Larraín. “There are benefits in time, and they will be very significant since progress in Chile is not dissociated from what happens in the rest of Latin America”.

Unasur was born with the Declaration of Cuzco (Peru) in 2004 and currently has twelve member countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Paraguay, Surinam, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The Unasur creation charter has been ratified so far by the parliaments of Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Venezuela. For it to become effective a minimum of nine ratifications out of 12, are needed.

admin wrote:Not a chance in hell with the flaky political and economic policies of the neighborhood. On the otherhand, if the rest of them did it, it would turn Chile in to the South America Switzerland.

Argentina is imploding once again, while Brazil is on fire, and there is talk coming out of Venzuela of people disappearing via the government while Chavez tries to implement a Cuba style everything (Castro just said the Cuban economic modal was not working).

So, I sure as hell hope Chile never hitches the wagon to any of those basket cases.

...the Chilean Senate managed to incorporate an agreement for the government to include two additional protocols: one referred to the democratic clause (as with Mercosur) and a second which demands full commitment with human rights from member states.

seawolf180 wrote:g~j,
You're kidding right?
Tell me you're kidding.
You know they could never pull it off. Latin America is the most over politicized place... in the universe.
You could maybe see an ALBA currency. Which would be laughable; but Chavez might still be able to shove that one down their throats some day. Maybe their upcoming elections might turn that around.
Even the thought saddens me that the dollar has come to this. US leaders have just blown it so bad. Mice are fleeing the sinking ship, and their cheese is half molded. And soon they'll be taxing the mold too. Or just taking the cheese, and leaving the mold.

Independently become the first country in the 21st century to officially use a commodity and/or precious metal backed currency and indeed become the Switzerland of the southern hemisphere. Reject all international orgs and continue to do one-on-one deals with countries that truly benefit the populations of each country. Economic hitman reality though will insure that the above will never happen.

Mercosur and Unasur “more effective” for South America than OAS

Mercosur and Unasur (Union of South American Nations) can be “more effective” than OAS (Organization of American States) in addressing issues of South American countries, said Brazilian Foreign Secretary Celso Amorim currently in Switzerland for a conference on international security.

“The OAS has its role because many of its countries are not Unasur or Mercosur members such as those from Central America, United States, Canada, Mexico and because it also has a more complete juridical organization, which in some cases can be necessary”, said Amorim who is participating in the security conference in Geneva organized by the London based International Institute for Strategic Studies, IISS.

“I believe that for the exercise of good offices among South American countries Unasur or Mercosur, depending on which case, can be more effective”, he added.

“Unasur and Mercosur and entirely complementary”, affirmed Amorim.

Speaking of Unasur, the union of the twelve South American countries, Amorim said “it has proved to be very efficient, discreetly sometimes, as with tensions between Colombia and Venezuela, in which the former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner played a role”.“Even the Colombian chancellor thanked President Lula da Silva and Unasur” for having helped solve the dispute said Amorim.

Colombian Foreign Affairs minister Maria Angela Holguín in an interview a month ago underlined the role undertaken by “the leaders from Brazil and Argentina in the process of normalization of relations between Bogotá and its neighbours”.

Holguin at the time said that the Unasur secretary general (Kirchner) played a significant “role” in the reestablishment of relations between Bogotá and Caracas, a matter which became “a regional issue”, she underlined.

The Colombian official also praised Brazilian president Lula da Silva who had a long conversation “with Chavez and Kirchner, the day before Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos took office last August 7, underlining the importance of re-establishing the relation between neighbours”.