Brazil announces its official return to Unasur after four years of absence

First modification: 04/08/2023 – 03:52

Once in power and with the aim of reinforcing the regional bloc, Luiz Inacio ‘Lula’ da Silva reversed the decision of the Jair Bolsonaro government. The president announced the return of Brazil to the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), the Latin American alliance created in 2008 promoted by the leftist leaders ‘Lula’ da Silva and Hugo Chávez.

“At a time of redoing its main international alliances, Brazil will once again form part of Unasur,” the Brazilian president declared by means of a decree that he signed on the night of Thursday, April 6, and that was released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Since March 23, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Viera had publicly expressed his country’s desire to “relaunch Unasur with new bases.”

“Unasur played an important role and it is worth the effort to relaunch it with new bases. And these bases include the result of the dialogue with the member countries, so that everyone considers the appropriate format. We are going to work in that direction,” he said See in interview for EFE.

The Unasur Consultative Treaty, which the president decreed, It comes into effect from May 6.

Unasur, whose objective is “to promote the integration of countries in a model to integrate the two existing customs nations: Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) and CAN (Andean Community of Nations)”, will give coming months welcome two of the largest economies in the region: Argentina and Brazil

“This integration, in addition to the economic sphere, must take place to reach other areas of interest, such as social, cultural, scientific-technological and political,” added the statement from the Brazilian Foreign Ministry.

After having the 12 South American countries as members in 2010, currently the organization only has Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela and Peru, but the latter nation is suspended.

Seven years later, the union fell into crisis when all of its members could not agree on who would take over as the new general secretary. A scenario that ended up worsening due to the debates and divided opinions on the economic crisis in Venezuela.

Later, between 2018 and 2019, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru suspended their participation and financing, after leaders of right-wing and center-right ideologies came to power.

Argentina also took the step

The Argentine Foreign Ministry, through its chief of staff, Santiago Cafiero, previously sent a letter to the member countries of Unasur to formalize their reinstatement. On Thursday, April 6, the Argentine government said that its country would deliver “as soon as possible a new instrument of ratification” to return to the alliance.

“Argentina’s return to Unasur adds to the country an integration option that is not exclusive of any other. For the Argentine government, any instance that adds national decision-making power and consolidation of an increasingly integrated region is crucial,” Cafiero tweeted. in the letter, which he posted on Twitter.

With very similar arguments given by Brasilia this Friday, Buenos Aires argued for its return under the ideas of integrating Latin America and the Caribbean and strengthening the South American economies in the midst of international financial fragility.

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“The Unasur that we met had a virtue, that it could coexist beyond ideological differences. That is already insufficient, we must take that for granted. What we have to guarantee is a Unasur that serves the economic development of our peoples,” Alberto Fernández declared on Wednesday at a press conference in Santiago de Chile, after meetings with his Chilean counterpart Gabriel Boric.

With EFE and Reuters