Brazil and Argentina joined forces to revitalize the languishing Unasur, the South American Union of Nations promoted in 2008 by the Venezuelan Hugo Chávez and which had been deactivated in recent years. In this new version, the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, will play a relevant role.
"Proud to be a South American," wrote the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Slva, on his twitter account, in a diplomatic movement completed hours later by his Argentine counterpart, Alberto Fernández.
"We return together to Unasur to resolutely strengthen regional unity and adapt it to the new challenges of social and economic development," wrote the head of the third largest economy in Latin America. Days before, the president of Chile, Gabrel Boric, had signaled in the same direction.
While the suspension of Peru is maintained, the only countries that make up Unasur are Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela. In May, the re-entry of Brazil, Argentina and Chile must be made effective.
Itamaraty, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, told EL MUNDO weeks ago that Brazil's return to Unasur would take place under the condition of "depoliticizing and making efficient" the organization, which in its first incarnation was a highly ideological forum.
The original headquarters of Unasur is in Quito, a message of support in those years for the then president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa. At its heyday, the organization brought together the 12 countries of South America.
In his third Presidency, Lula wants to show himself as a regional leader to carve out a strong position at the international level, a scheme similar to that of his first two presidencies. To do this, the Brazilian president called a summit of Unasur presidents in Brasilia for May.
"At a time when its main international alliances are resuming, Brazil will rejoin Unasur," said the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, while Celso Amorim, international relations adviser to the presidency, told O Globo that "it is coming true again something that should never have been interrupted."
The Brasilia summit includes Maduro as a guest, with whom Brazil has been negotiating. Amorim recently traveled to Caracas to seek progress in the collection of a debt of 1,000 million dollars that Caracas has with Brasilia.
Brazil and Argentina left Unasur in 2019, under the presidencies of Jair Bolsonaro and Mauricio Macri. In 2020, Luis Lacalle Pou, the president of Uruguay, made the same decision. There is no news for now about the decision that Montevideo will take in view of the movement in Brasilia and Buenos Aires.
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