South America Creates Regional Union, Parliament

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 South America Creates Regional Union, Parliament

By MARCO SIBAJA
Associated Press Writer
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19980.htm

23/05/08 "-- BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - A new South American union was born Friday as leaders of the region's 12 nations set out to create a continental parliament.

Some see the new organization, Unasur, as a regional version of the European Union. Summit host Brazil wants it to help coordinate defense affairs across South America and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez calls it a counterweight to the United States.

''The number one enemy of the union of the south is the empire of the United States,'' Chavez said after arriving in Brazil's capital. ''It's very elementary: divide and conquer.''

The socialist crusader said the United States was ''trying to generate wars in South America and tries to halt advances in the this project.''

Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, invited other Latin American and Caribbean nations to join the venture. ''Unasur is born, open to all the region, born under the signs of diversity and pluralism,'' he said.

But South American leaders still found their own reasons for division.

Unasur's first secretary-general, Rodrigo Borja, resigned Thursday, before the organization was formally born. He complained that some leaders had balked at his vision of putting other regional trade blocs, including Mercosur and the Andean Community, under Unasur's authority.

The union's inaugural meeting was moved from Colombia after that nation raided a guerrilla camp in Ecuador, sparking a crisis in regional relations. The gathering, now in Brasilia, is meant to formally establish an organization first proposed at a 2004 summit in Peru.

Experts say Unasur could ease future political tensions, promoting development on a continent where intra-regional trade topped US$72 billion (euro54.6 billion) in 2006.

South America's economy is expected grow by 4.7 percent this year, according to the U.N.'s Economic Commission on Latin America. It grew 5.7 percent in 2007, when foreign direct investment reached a record US$106 billion (euro72 billion) as global demand for the region's natural resources soared.

AP-WS-05-23-08 1151EDT

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Lula: United South America to shake global balance of power 


Posted on : 2008-05-23 | Author : DPA
News Category : America 

 http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/207594,lula-united-south-america-to-shake-global-balance-of-power.html#

Brasilia - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Friday in Brasilia that a United South America can shift the global balance of power. "South America, united, will move the board game of power in the world, not for its own benefit, but for everyone's," Lula said.

As he opened the summit to launch the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), the region's latest integration initiative, Lula stressed that the region can contribute to overcoming the current world food crisis, as long as it is autonomous.

"When food scarcity threatens social peace in many parts of the world, it is to our region that many turn looking for answers. We are conscious of our global responsibilities, but we will not decline to exercise them in a sovereign way," the summit host told his peers.

In an attack on the protectionism of developed countries, Lula called upon the leaders of the remaining 11 members of Unasur not to let themselves be fooled "by the arguments of those who, based on protectionist interests or geopolitical motivations, are annoyed by the growth of (South American) industry and our agriculture."

According to Lula, the launch of Unasur realizes "the dream of integration" of South American independence heroes.

"South American integration is essential to strengthen Latin America and the Caribbean," he said.

Lula stood up for his proposal to establish a South American Defence Council to integrate the region's defence industries and help overcome tensions. The proposal was presented in recent weeks by Brazilian Defence Minister Nelson Jobim but has encountered resistance particularly from Colombia.

"It is time to strengthen our continent in the field of defence. We have to articulate a vision of defence in the region that is based on common values and principles, like respect for sovereignty. I think we have to discuss that initiative here," Lula told his peers.

Uribe, however, again expressed his opposition to the proposal and argued that the region already has the Organization of American States (OAS) to overcome conflicts.

Uribe also said an obstacle for such a Defence Council is the resistance of some South American countries, including Brazil, to define the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) as "terrorists." 
 
 
 

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Chávez: US endangers South American union

http://english.eluniversal.com/2008/05/23/en_int_art_chavez:-us-endangers_23A1600919.shtml


Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez joined the Unasur summit of 12 South American heads of state

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez backed on Friday in Brazil the union of South American nations and warned that the "US imperialism" is the major foe of integration.

Chávez landed in Brasilia early in the morning to attend a meeting of 12 South American presidents. The summit is intended to sign a treaty that will lay the foundations of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur). The institution is to include a presidential forum, a general secretariat and a parliament.

"The enemy number one of the South union is the US empire. It is something basic: divide and rule," said Chávez.

"We will always denounce the imperialist attempts of the US government, trying to provoke wars in South America, trying to curb the strides of this (Unasur) project," he added.

Asked whether he would tell his South American counterparts about the recent incursion of a US aircraft into Venezuelan airspace, Chávez answered that he had aired it to the world already.

The Venezuelan leader jumped in defense of the establishment of Unasur and claimed that it could drive big changes worldwide.

"In South America there is a nest where a new project has nested and is brooding; a project of the change unleashed in this last decade; which could be the driving force of changes around the world," he commented, as quoted by AP.

"Some kick and yell, but will not be able to stop the South American revolution (…) Future of our peoples is based on the great victory of the union."

Chávez planned to have breakfast with the host of the event, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and also with Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia, who accompanied him from Caracas, and Rafael Correa of Ecuador.

Translated by Conchita Delgado