The statue of former Argentinian President Nestor Kirchner in front of the UNASUR headquarters in Ecuador. Photo: AP/File photo.
President Alberto Fernández announced Argentina’s reentry into the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in a meeting with the Puebla Group and the Latin American Council of Justice and Democracy (CLAJUD) in Buenos Aires.
In the meeting held on Tuesday, March 21, in the Indigenous Peoples’ Hall of the Casa Rosada, Fernández announced the reactivation of Argentina’s rights and obligations before the regional body. This announcement was reported in a press release from the Argentinian Presidency.
UNASUR was founded in 2008, and by 2010 included 10 South American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela and Uruguay. However, the organization faced disintegration after right-wing governments came into power in the region and, following the directives of US regime-change efforts and the Monroe Doctrine, began withdrawing from the organization.
“In Latin America, we are all in the same boat, and the construction of unity must set aside political divisions because that condemns us to further postponement. That is why we must revitalize UNASUR as soon as possible,” said President Fernández at the closing of the meeting.
Alberto Fernández urged the South American nations “to agree on the need to build a regional bloc as a self-defense mechanism because no one can save themself alone.” He stated that “if Brazil and Argentina are inside, UNASUR will have another power, and we will have to move forward so that all the brotherly countries return to this path” towards this regional bloc that was key to solving a regional crisis a few years ago.
In this way, Argentina normalizes its presence in the regional block, which was interrupted during Mauricio Macri’s previous far-right government. UNASUR is currently made up of Guyana, Suriname, Bolivia, Venezuela and Peru.
At the beginning of the meeting, former Chilean Deputy Marco Enríquez-Ominami highlighted President Fernández’s role as “founder and driving force of this progressive action and reflection group made up of 18 countries,” referring to the Puebla Group. Enríquez-Ominami explained the approach of this working session under the title of “strategies for the reunion of governments.”
🇦🇷 Argentina vuelve a la UNASUR
Así lo anunció el presidente Alberto Fernández (@alferdez) al compartir una reunión de trabajo con las y los integrantes del @ProgresaLatam y del Consejo Latinoamericano de Justicia y Democracia (CLAJUD).https://t.co/VcFf5aa40H pic.twitter.com/1zkQGSyomr
— Casa Rosada (@CasaRosada) March 21, 2023
Voices in favor of UNASUR
At the meeting, former Colombian President Ernesto Samper highlighted the importance of Argentina returning to UNASUR so that the organization “strengthens, expands and resumes the social flags of progressivism in Latin America.” He also stated that “this political integration is based on preserving the region’s status as a zone of peace in the world, as well as on the continuity of democracy and respect for human rights in the continent.”
Former President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia Evo Morales said, “cultural diversity is our wealth. It is our identity to face adversity.” Morales stressed the need to guarantee “political, ideological and also legal sovereignty” because the “current struggle is for natural resources, whether it belongs to the peoples under the authorization of the states or to private individuals under the looting of transnational [corporations].”
“Integration goes far beyond ideology,” said Rafael Correa, also present at the event. The former president of Ecuador emphasized that “today more than ever, UNASUR will be necessary in the face of a severe economic crisis that will reach us sooner rather than later because of our continued dependence on an extra-regional currency.”
In his speech, former President of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero proclaimed himself in favor of “a before and after in pursuit of Latin American unity so that poverty is definitively abolished, equality is the only horizon and that human rights become what the region exports.”
Lawfare in Latin America
On the other hand, the coordinator of the Latin American Council for Justice and Democracy, Gisele Ricobom, warned about the “phenomenon of legal warfare in Latin America, whereby we verify that in many countries there is a common strategy that involves the press and the justice system, with judges and prosecutors criminalizing politics with prosecutions that do not observe the minimum legal guarantees of the rule of law.”
In the meeting held in Argentina on Tuesday, Mónica Xavier (Uruguay), Clara López (Colombia), Gabriela Rivadeneira (Ecuador), Hugo Martínez (El Salvador) and Camilo Lagos (Chile) also participated on behalf of the Puebla Group.
Meanwhile, Enrique Santiago (Spain), Adoración Guamán (Ecuador), Gerardo Pisarello (Spain), Larissa Ramina (Brazil), Silvina Romano (Argentina) and Dolores Delgado (Spain) were also present on behalf of CLAJUD.
(Últimas Noticias) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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