The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) has announced that it will create a united defence body to promote democratic stability among its member countries.

Military delegates of Argentina, Brazil, and Ecuador concluded a two day meeting yesterday in Quito, and agreed on creating the first South American Defence College (ESUDE) – a safety training centre with the aim of turning “the regions into a zone of peace”.

Military personnel from Argentina. (U.S. Army Photo by Maj. Scott Bell, Task Force Kout Men)

UNASUR has said that the idea behind ​​the project is to “eliminate outdated visions that have formed our military, with manuals and taxes from foreign powers.

“The goal is to start from scratch and consider a defence doctrine, without starting from the premise of opposing countries. It is important to define our role in the military, to assume responsibility for prevention, border control or emergency responses.

“We want to create a body of higher and postgraduate education to create a regional identity for civilians and our military, and to avoid interference of other countries or geopolitical zones,” a UNASUR spokesperson said.

The ESUDE proposal paper will be presented at the next meeting of the executive body for the South American Defence Council in Lima, Peru on the 16th and 17th May. Members who attended yesterday’s meeting in Quito will meet again during the second week of July in Buenos Aires, to define the Esude proposal.

One of the issues that is expected to be up for debate in the following meetings is the level of participation in the armed forces from each country.

The initiative already has the support of other member countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and Uruguay.

Horacio Cartes (photo courtesy of Horacio Cartes’ official Facebook page)

Last night, 23rd April, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) announced its official recognition of Horacio Cartes as the legitimate president of the Republic of Paraguay.

In a press release from the union’s headquarters in Quito, Peru, the international body congratulated Cartes and the Partido Colorado on their win of Sunday’s presidential race. It also confirmed that its observation mission that had been monitoring the country’s electoral situation was pleased with Paraguay’s apparent full-compliance with the democratic process.

According to the organisation, the observation team found “fulfilment of the electoral timetable, normal development of the elections, and a high participation rate amongst citizens”.

UNASUR commended the large sector of Paraguayan citizens that voted in the recent elections and congratulated state officials on their efficient management of the process on the day of the event.

According to UNASUR, the instalment of Cartes, who was elected with approximately 46% of total votes, represents advancement in Paraguay’s democratic-institutional development after last year’s dismissal of President Fernando Lugo, which left the country suspended from UNASUR and political-economic bloc Mercosur.

In the light of the UNASUR approval of the democratic process and that of 74 observers from the European Union who also monitored Sunday’s election, Paraguayan Foreign Minister Jose Felix Fernández Estigarribia said: “We have shown to the world that we are capable of sustaining democracy and have opened the doors for foreign missions to come here and observe how Paraguayans vote and chose our authorities in clean, exemplary elections.”

Despite UNASUR’s acknowledgement of fair elections, according to news agency Agencia Púlsar, the Organisation of American States (OAS) has called attention to an apparent lack of regulation regarding campaigning in the media leading up to the general election. The OAS is also criticising lax oversight of campaign spending.

President Fernández visits Hugo Chávez’s tomb (photo courtesy of Casa Rosada)

Following her participation in the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) meeting in Lima, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner paid a visit to the tomb of the late Hugo Chávez in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.

President Fernández visited the Cuartel de la Montaña, also known as the Revolution Museum, yesterday at around 12pm accompanied by the First Lady of Venezuela, Cilia Flores. She left a flower and remained alone with the tomb for around 15 minutes.

The president was accompanied on her visit to the 23 de Enero neighbourhood by fellow Argentine politicians and officials, including federal planning minister Julio de Vido, general secretary Oscar Parrilli, legal secretary Carlos Zannini, and public communications secretary Alfredo Scoccimarro.

The visit to the tomb of Chávez came after the Unasur meeting in Lima, where multiple heads of state analysed the tense situation in Venezuela after the opposition announced that they do not recognise the result of last Sunday’s election, in which Nicolás Maduro was elected president. At the meeting, Unasur called on all Venezuelans to “accept the result”, condemned the “violence” on Monday that left eight dead and at least 60 wounded, and recommended “dialogue and tolerance”.

President Fernández also attended the swearing in of Maduro in the National Assembly yesterday afternoon.

Salomón Lerner (Photo courtesy of Congreso de la República de Perú)

The Union of South American States (UNASUR) will conduct 44 observations of the upcoming Paraguayan general elections to be held 21st April.

The number and terms of the observations were established by a covenant signed this Wednesday, 20th February, between the regional organisation and Paraguay’s supreme court of electoral justice. The decision for Paraguay to host UNASUR and other observatory groups in the upcoming elections was confirmed at the end of December.

Wednesday’s agreement on the specificities of the observation process was signed in spite of the Paraguayan executive’s refusal to enter diplomatic immunity for the UNASUR mission.

The president of the supreme court of electoral justice, Alberto Ramírez, expressed that he hopes that the government will finally concede immunity to the team of observers.

UNASUR correspondent, Peruvian Salomón Lerner, guaranteed that the mission would respect the sovereignty of Paraguay and that he was confident that the elections would be a success.

Lerner expressed that the UNASUR mandate is to “respect the political consequences of an electoral process carried out in strict compliance” with the law.

The Organisation of American States, the European Union, and the Carter Foundation, who will all act under diplomatic immunity, will also observe the Paraguayan elections.

Paraguay is currently suspended from the UNASUR regional block for the lack of a just defense in the political “express” trial that ousted head of state Fernando Lugo last year.

Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar, the AMARC-ALC news agency.

The Paraguayan Supreme Electoral Justice Court (TSJE) will invite the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) to observe and evaluate the 21^st April 2013 general elections, announced TSJE spokesmen Luis Alberto Mauro and Carlos María Ljubetic yesterday. The elections will be the first since the controversial power shift that ousted former president Fernando Lugo, instated current president Federico Franco, and prompted the country’s suspension from the UNASUR regional bloc.

Franco had stated previously that because his administration had not been given an opportunity to argue its legitimacy before other UNASUR members, observers could come but “they were not going to invited.” President Franco has invited the Organization of American States (OEA), the European Union (EU) and the Jimmy Cater Centre, all of which already plan to follow the elections.

In response, Mauro declared,  “from the Electoral Justice we have accepted the arrival of all independent international missions with or without the consent of the government.”

Ousted head of state and senatorial hopeful Fernando Lugo added from Quito yesterday during that the upcoming April elections “will not be a coat for white paint over what happened in June.”

Paraguay has been suspended since last 29^th June immediately following the leadership shift deemed by UNASUR and Mercosur as a “democratic breakdown” and heavily criticised by many neighbouring world leaders. “It will not be so easy to take up Paraguay’s relations at the international level after the elections,” warned Lugo.

The South American leaders meet today in Peru to discuss the Protocol of Peace, Security and Regional Cooperation, which seeks to strengthen conditions for confidence in bilateral and multilateral relations. Another point of agenda is to discuss the report of the High Level Group that was formed to analyse the situation of Paraguay.

The meeting is chaired by Peruvian president Ollanta Humala. Among participants are Evo Morales (Bolivia), Sebastián Piñera (Chile), Juan Manuel Santos (Colombia), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), Donald Ramotar (Guyana), Desiré Delano (Surinam), and Jose Mujica (Uruguay). The presidents of Argentina, Venezuela, and Brazil aren’t present this time; Cristina Fernández and Hugo Chávez have health issues and Dilma Rousseff is attending meetings in her country.

Paraguay was suspended from the regional block after the dismissal of Fernando Lugo, the constitutional president of Paraguay, in June this year.  The UNASUR and Mercosur members claimed there was a “democratic rupture” with the dismissal of Lugo in a controversial impeachment.

The presidential summit was preceded by the Fourth Ordinary Session of the South American Defense Council (CDS) on Wednesday. The council approved Action Plan 2013, which will be included in the Lima Declaration and signed by the presidents today.

On Thursday the foreign ministers of UNASUR met to discuss natural resource issues, where Peruvian representative Rafael Roncagliolo said, the bloc “looks to greatly enhance our natural resources and to give them value.”

During his opening speech today Peruvian leader Humala reminded attendees that “the reason that brings us together is to seek common approach to welfare of our people” and stressed that “even though we all can do it alone, together we arrive faster, farther and better.”

At a meeting of various social sectors of Ecuadorian society, Foreign Affairs Minister Ricardo Patiño called for the dissolution of the Organisation of American States (OAS, or OEA in Spanish), saying that the hemispheric body had “outlived its usefulness.”

Patiño called the OAS, which has existed in some form since the late 19th century but was not officially established until 1948, “an entity that continues being manipulated by determined imperialistic powers, working for their interests”.

The OAS includes 35 member states and in 2013 will grow to include the Caribbean island nations of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten. Although the idea of a common Pan-American union dates back to Simón Bolívar, serious talk of regional solidarity did not begin until 1890, and the organisation in its current form was only established after the Second World War, in response to perceived external hemispheric threats.

Its’ 1948 charter outlines the organisation’s objectives of “working to strengthen peace and security, consolidating democracy, promoting human rights, support social and economic development, and promoting sustainable growth in America.”

Patiño stated that Ecuador and the government of Rafael Correa had opted instead to utilise such regional outlets as the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), and the Bolivarian Alliance for People of Our America (ALBA).

“Either the OAS recreates itself as a meeting place between CELAC and the north,” he said in reference, it is assumed, to the United States, “or it will disappear, since all of its functions should be absorbed by CELAC”.

The foreign affairs minister also announced that Ecuador has proposed moving the headquarters of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), an autonomous organ of the OAS, from its current location in Washington, D.C., stating that “its administration should fall on those states that have committed to all the obligations” the Commission outlines.

In August of this year, OAS member states voted overwhelmingly in support of the inviolability of embassies at a time when it was unclear if British authorities would enter the Ecuadorian embassy in London to apprehend Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The United States and Canada were the only two member states to express their reservations with the resolution.

Unasur state members will get together today and tomorrow in the capital of Peru to discuss social development issues and prepare for the next South American Council of Social Development. Delegates from Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Surinam, Uruguay, Venezuela and Peru will take part in the meeting, while Guiana and Paraguay will not be present.

The South American Council will take place on 30th November. The main objectives for the meeting today and tomorrow are to present and consolidate a list of actions for the existing regional working plan on social issues, that will be approved on 30th November. The group aims to prioritise social programmes that reduce poverty, vulnerability and exclusion as well as promote the common interests of the countries that belong to Unasur. Additionally, delegates will talk about technical assistance for the programmes.

Unasur was founded in 2004 by seven South American countries in Cuzco, Peru. It was modelled on the European Union and integrates two intergovernmental bodies: Mercosur and Andean Community of Nations (CAN). Currently Unasur contains 12 state members, who rotate the presidency annually.

Paraguayan president Federico Franco announced on a press conference last Saturday that he will prevent the deposed former president Fernando Lugo from running as presidential candidate in next year’s election.

Franco also announced that he will not allow the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) to send in observers for the election, and accused Lugo of being involved in a conspiracy with UNASUR.

According to Franco, Lugo and UNASUR have a plan to delegitimise the 2013 election. This is the reason he cited to contest a hypothetical candidacy of the ousted president. He also accused UNASUR of having lost objectivity after suspending Paraguay and for considering that Lugo’s dismissal constituted a “break in the constitutional order.”

Franco also attacked the regional bloc Bolivarian Alliance for the People of Our America (ALBA) and said it is controlled by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. He also stated that ALBA does not have an impartial position regarding the upcoming Paraguayan election.

Fernando Lugo was ousted as president on 22nd June, after a speedy impeachment process that has been criticised by members of the international community.

Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar, the AMARC-ALC news agency.

Carlos ‘Chaco’ Alvarez, the head of a UNASUR mission to Caracas that will oversee the coming election, yesterday declared his support for the Venezuelan electoral system.

Upon arrival in Venezuela’s capital city, ahead of the October 7^th election, Alvarez announced “Venezuela has one of the most advanced and reliable electoral systems from the region and the continent”.

The ex–vice president of Argentina also noted that the voting method has “great transparency” and can be monitored in a variety of different ways. The South American country employs a touch-screen finger print voting system that stores votes both electronically and physically, ensuring maximum protection against corruption.

Alvarez’s team are due to meet with the campaign managers of the two presidential candidates, the current president Hugo Chavez and the leader of the opposition Henrique Capriles Radonski. Chavez is seeking re-election for his third consecutive mandate.

The UNASUR delegation includes electoral experts from Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana and Peru, and Alvarez describes their mission as not “controlling or monitoring the election” but rather accumulating “the best practices of the electoral systems of our countries”. Venezuela will officially recognise the UNASUR officials as “international observers”.

Alvarez’s vote of confidence for the Venezuelan system comes just four days after former United States President Jimmy Carter voiced similar praise. In a statement made at the annual Conversations at the Carter Centre series, Carter said “I would say the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world”.

Over 19 million Venezuelans are entitled to participate in the October election. Latest opinion polls indicate that 57.2% of the population will vote in favour of Chavez.