The Union of South American Nations (USAN), sometimes also referred to as the South American Union, abbreviated in Spanish as UNASUR and in Portuguese as UNASUL, is an intergovernmental regional organization. It was set up by Hugo Chávez to counteract the influence of the United States in the region.
The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty was signed on 23 May 2008, at the Third Summit of Heads of State, held in Brasília, Brazil. According to the Constitutive Treaty, the Union's headquarters will be located in Quito, Ecuador. On 1 December 2010, Uruguay became the ninth state to ratify the UNASUR treaty, thus giving the union full legality. As the Constitutive Treaty entered into force on 11 March 2011, UNASUR became a legal entity during a meeting of Foreign Ministers in Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador, where they had laid the foundation stone for the Secretariat Headquarters.
In April 2018, six countries—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru —suspended their membership, and in August of the same year, Colombia announced its withdrawal from the organization. In March 2019, Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro announced his country's intention to withdraw from the organization. On 13 March 2019, Ecuador announced that it would withdraw from the organization. The president of the country, Lenin Moreno, also asked the bloc to return the headquarters building of the organization, based in Quito. On 10 March 2020, Uruguay officially announced its withdrawal from the organization. Argentina rejoined on 6 April 2023. Brazil rejoined on 5 May 2023. Colombia rejoined on 5 December 2023.
In January 2019, amid growing concern about Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro, a new group, PROSUL/PROSUR, was advanced to counteract the influence of what countries in the region call a dictatorship in Venezuela. A Chilean summit to organize PROSUL was held on 22 March 2019, and excluded Venezuela. Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Guyana and Suriname were invited to join the new regional bloc.
Overview At the Third South American Summit on 8 December 2004, presidents or representatives from 12 South American nations signed the Cusco Declaration, a two-page statement of intent announcing the foundation of the South American Community. Panama and Mexico attended the signing ceremony as observers in Brazil.
The mechanics of the new entity came out of the First South American Community of Nations Heads of State Summit, which was held in Brasília on 29–30 September 2005. An important operating condition of UNASUR is that no new institutions will be created in the first phase, so as not to increase bureaucracy, and the community will use the existing institutions belonging to the previous trade blocs.
History
Background
Between the 15th and 19th centuries, the Spanish and Portuguese colonization brought about the establishment and development of colonial empires in the Americas that integrated politically, economically and culturally vast extensions of the continent each with their respective metropolis.
Since the Spanish American wars of independence a trend towards the political integration of the newly born republics of Hispanic America became strong in the thinking of several independence leaders, influenced in turn by the Spanish Enlightenment and the French and American revolutions. A notable early exponent of this trend was Francisco de Miranda, who envisioned a federated republic encompassing all of Hispanic America, which he called "Colombia".
The independence war efforts saw the concurrence of integrated armies composed by Spanish Americans of diverse regions on both sides of the conflict (v.g. Patriots and Royalists), and fighting all over the territories of many future nations. For example, the Army of the Andes which was gathered in the United Provinces of the River Plate fought in Chile, Peru and Ecuador, and later integrated with Simón Bolívar's Army (which itself included troops of future Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador) to further fight in Peru and the Upper Peru.
By the 1820s, the main proponent of a federation of the newly born republics was Simón Bolívar, although this idea was shared by many notable contemporaries, including José de San Martín and Bernardo de Monteagudo, under either republican or constitutional monarchical governments. In 1826, Bolívar summoned a conference to be held in Panama, which was to be known as the "Amphictyonic" Congress of Panama because of the parallelism with the Hellenic Amphictyonic League. The Congress was attended by Gran Colombia (including present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador), the Federal Republic of Central America (including present-day Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala), the United Mexican States, and Peru. The ostensible intention was to form a defensive league that could prevent foreign expansionism and foster the interests of the Spanish American republics. The Congress' conclusions, however, were not ratified by the participants, except for Gran Colombia. Soon after, both Gran Colombia and the United Provinces of Central America fell apart and the whole of Hispanic America was balkanized by competing national governments.
By the 1990s, however, Brazil had consolidated as the most powerful country in South America (accounting for half of the regional GDP) and began to promote the notion of a united South America (a new regional framing) where Brasília would be pivotal. The project did not take hold until the United States' foreign policy priorities turned to other regions in the 2000s.
Formation
The complete integration between the Andean Community and the Mercosur nations was formalized during the meeting of South American heads of state that took place on 23 May 2008 in Brasília.Ministros da América do Sul vão a Caracas preparar encontro da Unasul
In the 2004 South American Summit, representatives of twelve South American nations signed the Cuzco Declaration, a two-page letter of intent announcing the establishment of the then-named "South American Community of Nations". Panama and Mexico were present as observers. The leaders announced the intention of modeling the new community in the mold of the European Union, including a unified passport, a parliament and, eventually, a single currency. The then Secretary General of the Andean Community Allan Wagner speculated that an advanced union such as the EU should be possible within the next fifteen years.
After Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, Uruguay became the ninth nation to ratify the constitutive treaty of the organization on 1 December 2010, thus completing the minimum number of ratifications Necessary for the entry into force of the Treaty, on 11 March 2011Ministério das Relações Exteriores. UNASUL With the entry into force of the Treaty, UNASUR became a legal entity during the Summit Ministers of Foreign Affairs, in Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador, where the cornerstone was laid for the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Union.Segun el chanceler uruguayo, Luis Almagro: Unasur, un factor de "estabilidad, democracia y paz" en la región . Abc, 2 de dezembro de 2010.
Naming
On 28 December 2005, Chilean former foreign minister Ignacio Walker proposed that the Union's former designation, the South American Community of Nations, abbreviated as CSN, be changed to South American Union; nevertheless, many members responded that that proposal had already been rejected to prevent confusion since its acronym of U.S.A. (Spanish: Unión Sudamericana) would be easily confused for the United States of America. In the press, the phrase "United States of South America" was bandied about as an analogy to the United States to reflect the economic and political power that the union would have on the world stage.The phrase has been used in the past for this same purpose. It has never been officially proposed or used. Collazo, Ariel B. La Federación de Estados: Única solución para el drama de América Latina. n/d, circa 1950–1960. Duhalde, Eduardo (13 July 2004). "Hacia los Estados Unidos de Sudamérica." La Nación.Grorjovsky, Nestor (14 July 2004). "Duhalde señaló que el Mercosur es un paso para la Unión Sudamericana" Reconquista-Popular.Collazo, Ariel (15 July 2004). "Los Estados Unidos de Sudamérica" La República.29 July 2004, interview with Mexican President Vicente Fox by Andrés Oppenheimer. Mexico:Presidencia de la República."Estados Unidos de Sudamérica" Herejías y silencios. (22 November 2005).Duhalde, Eduardo (6 December 2004). "Sudamérica y un viejo sueño." Clarín.
The name was finally changed on 16 April 2007 to Union of South American Nations. The new name was jointly agreed by all member states during the first day of meeting at the First South American Energy Summit, held at Isla Margarita, Venezuela.
Leadership crisis After Colombian Ernesto Samper completed his term as Secretary General in January 2017, the UNASUR governments have been unable to reach consensus on the organization's future leadership. Venezuela, with the support of Bolivia and Suriname, has blocked the nomination of Argentine diplomat José Octavio Bordón.
In August 2017, six members of UNASUR—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru—joined in forming the Lima Group, a coalition of Western Hemisphere nations that repudiates the Venezuela government of Nicolás Maduro as antidemocratic. In February 2018, Maduro was disinvited from the Summit of the Americas hosted by Peru (held in Lima in April 2018). In response, Bolivia's president Evo Morales urged UNASUR to defend Venezuela, stating "UNASUR should call an emergency meeting and enforce the sovereignty of a brotherly people." Morales acceded to the rotating role of president pro tempore of UNASUR on 17 April 2018.
On 20 April 2018, six countries—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru—announced that they would suspend their own membership for a year until the regional group became more organized. Chilean Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero stated that the organization "isn't getting anywhere, there is no integration" and that "We can't be throwing this money to an institution that doesn't work." A briefing sent to the Brazilian cabinet stated that the countries share the view that Bolivia's leadership of the block has been ineffective. Paraguayan Foreign Minister stated that his country's objection concerned the failure to put a new Secretary General in place, and the need to make the organization less ideological, but did not reflect negatively on Bolivia's leadership. Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Huanacuni called an emergency meeting for May 2018 to attempt to resolve the crisis.
Countries renouncing the treaty Colombia On 28 August 2018, Colombian president Iván Duque announced that foreign minister Carlos Holmes had officially notified UNASUR of their intention to leave the bloc within the next 6 months, denouncing it as an institution created by Hugo Chávez to sideline existing international treaties and referring to it as an accomplice to what they referred to as the dictatorship in Venezuela. However, in 2023 the country announced that it would rejoin UNASUR.
Brazil On 7 March 2019 Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro announced that Brazil would withdraw from UNASUR and join the newly created PROSUR. Following the 2022 Brazilian general election, newly elected president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signalled his intention to rejoin UNASUR. It rejoined effective 5 May 2023.
Ecuador On 13 March 2019 Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno announced that Ecuador would withdraw from UNASUR and join the newly created PROSUR. Moreno also asked the bloc to return the headquarters building of the organization, based in Quito, so it can be handed over to PROSUR.
Argentina