Union of South American Nations

"USAN" redirects here. For other uses, see USAN (disambiguation).
Union of South American
Flag Emblem
UNASUR members (dark green)
UNASUR members (dark green)
Administrative centers
Largest city São Paulo, Brazil
Official languages
Demonym South American
Type Continental union
Membership
Leaders
 •  President Uruguay Tabaré Vázquez
 •  Secretary General Colombia Ernesto Samper
Legislature  - South American Parliament
Establishment Formation
 •  Cusco Declaration 8 December 2004 
 •  Constitutive Treaty 23 May 2008 
 •  Treaty in force 11 March 2011 
Area
 •  Total 29,884,548.[3] km2
11,538,423 sq mi
 •  Water (%) 8.91[4]
Population
 •  2015 estimate 418,175,687[5]
 •  Density 23.6/km2 (194th)
61.2/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2014 estimate
 •  Total $6.564 trillion[6] (4th)
 •  Per capita $15,855[6] (76th)
GDP (nominal) 2014 estimate
 •  Total $4.173 trillion[6] (4th)
 •  Per capita $10,080[6] (69th)
Currency
Time zone (UTC-2 to -5)
Calling code see list
Internet TLD
Website
www.unasursg.org (Spanish)

The Union of South American Nations (USAN; Spanish: Unión de Naciones Suramericanas, UNASUR; Portuguese: União de Nações Sul-Americanas, UNASUL; Dutch: Unie van Zuid-Amerikaanse Naties, UZAN) is an intergovernmental regional organization comprising 12 South American countries.

The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty was signed on 23 May 2008, at the Third Summit of Heads of State, held in Brasília, Brazil.[7] According to the Constitutive Treaty, the Union's headquarters will be located in Quito, Ecuador.[2] On 1 December 2010, Uruguay became the ninth state to ratify the UNASUR treaty, thus giving the union full legality.[8][9] 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.[10] The South American Parliament will be located in Cochabamba, Bolivia, while the headquarters of its bank, the Bank of the South are located in Caracas, Venezuela.[2]

On 4 May 2010, at a heads of state summit held in Campana, 75 km (47 mi) north of Buenos Aires, former Argentine President Néstor Kirchner was unanimously elected the first Secretary General of UNASUR for a two-year term.

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.

The group announced their intention to model the new community after the European Union including a common currency, parliament, and passport. According to Allan Wagner Tizón, former Secretary General of the Andean Community, a complete union like that of the EU should be possible by 2019.

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

See also: Pan-Americanism

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 contemporaneous, notably 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.

Formation

Main article: Cusco Declaration

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.[11]

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.

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 stated to him 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.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18]

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,[19] held at Isla Margarita, Venezuela.

Structure

Headquarters of UNASUR

At the moment, the provisional structure of the UNASUR is as follows:

Néstor Kirchner, UNASUR's first Secretary General.
Extraordinary meeting of heads of state and the UNASUR government held in Brasília.

Organisations

The organisations of UNASUR are:[22][23][24]

Ministerial Councils

They are twelve Ministerial Councils of the USAN.[25]

Other institutions

Current work in progress

Selection of GDP PPP data (top 10 countries and blocks) in no particular order

Electoral monitors

UNASUR has also initiated the creation of electoral monitor teams that could replace the monitors from the OAS.[26]

Economic development

Presidents of the seven founding countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Venezuela and Uruguay) officially launched the South American Bank in Buenos Aires in December 2007. The heads of all the founding countries were at the ceremony, with the exception of President Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay. The capital will be US$7b, with Venezuela responsible for US$3b and Brazil US$2b. The headquarters will be located in Caracas with offices in Buenos Aires and La Paz.[27][28]

The Bank of the South will finance economic development projects to improve local competitiveness and to promote the scientific and technological development of the member states. Its founding charter affirms that the bank will promote projects in a "stable and equal" manner and priorities will be oriented towards reinforcing South American integration, reducing asymmetries, and promoting an egalitarian distribution of investments.

The Brazilian Minister, Guido Mantega, stated that the bank is not similar to the International Monetary Fund; it will be a credit institution similar to the World Bank.

Defense policy

Presidents and other members of UNASUR at the First Brasília Summit, 29 September 2005.
Presidents of UNASUR member states at the Second Brasília Summit, 23 May 2008.

The South American Defense Council (CDS) was proposed by Venezuela and Brazil to serve as a mechanism for regional security, promoting military co-operation and regional defense. From the beginning Brazil, Argentina and Chile, the countries that took the leadership of the project, made clear that they did not intend to form a NATO-like alliance, but a cooperative security arrangement, enhancing multilateral military cooperation, promoting confidence and security building measures and fostering defense industry exchange. Colombia initially refused to join the defense council due to the strong military ties it has with the United States through the Plan Colombia. However, after reviewing the proposal they decided to join on 20 July 2008.[29][30]

Shortly following the signing by Colombia's President, President of Chile Michelle Bachelet appointed a working group to investigate and draft a plan for the new council. Finally, on 10 March 2009, the 12 nation members held, in Chile, the first meeting of the newly formed council.[31]

In mid-2010, UNASUR played a key role in mediating the 2010 Colombia–Venezuela diplomatic crisis. On 1 September 2010, the agency "UnasurHaití" was created to provide US$100 million in help to Haiti.[32]

Infrastructure cooperation

Free movement of people

Visits by South American citizens to any South American independent country of up to 90 days only require an identification document issued by the traveler's country. On 24 November 2006, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Uruguay abolished visa requirements for tourists between any of those nations.[33]

Mercosur, along with its Associate members of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador established that their territories together form an "area of free residence with the right to work" to all its citizens, with no additional requirements other than nationality. The Free Movement and Residence Agreement was established in the Brasília summit based in a previous document signed on 6 December 2002.[34]

Citizens of any Mercosur countries will have a simplified process in temporary residence visa of up to 2 years in any other member countries, with the requirements of a valid passport, birth certificate, and no criminal record. Temporary residence can become permanent if a licit means of living can be verified.

At a summit in Guayaquil, Ecuador on 4 December 2014, UNASUR general secretary Ernesto Samper announced, "We have approved the concept of South American citizenship," including the creation of a single passport.[35]

Participating nation states

Signed
In force
Document		 1969
1969
Cartagena Agreement		 1991
1991
Treaty of Asunción		 2004
2004
Cusco Declaration		 2008
2011
Constitutive Treaty
      Union of South American Nations (UNASUR)
  Andean Pact (Andean Community of Nations)
    Mercosur
       
UNASUR member states. (Territories in white not part of UNASUR.)

1 These countries are also considered to be associate members of Mercosur.
2 These countries are also considered to be associate members of the Andean Community.
C Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member state
L Latin American Integration Association (ALADI) member state
M Accessing member to Mercosur

Participating non-South American territories

The following territories situated outside South America are part of member states and therefore participate:

Non-participating South American states and territories

The following parts of South America are territories of non-South American states and therefore do not participate:

Summits

No Date Country Host Host leader
1st 15 September 2008  Chile Santiago de Chile Michelle Bachelet
2nd 10 August 2009  Ecuador Quito Rafael Correa
3rd 28 August 2009  Argentina Bariloche Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
4th 26 November 2010  Guyana Georgetown Bharrat Jagdeo
5th 29 October 2011  Paraguay Asunción Fernando Lugo
6th 30 November 2012  Peru Lima Ollanta Humala
7th 30 August 2013  Suriname Paramaribo Dési Bouterse[41]
8th 4 December 2014  Ecuador Guayaquil Rafael Correa[42]

There have been other presidential extraordinary meetings, such as:

See also

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ "UNASUR Means Union of South American Nations, Hugo Chávez". Mathaba News Agency. 18 April 2007. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 Goodman, Joshua (23 May 2008). "South American Presidents Agree to Form Unasur Bloc (Update3)". Bloomberg. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  3. ↑ "Surface area (sq. km)". World Development Indicators.
  4. ↑ The World Factbook. The World Factbook.
  5. ↑ "2015 Revision of World Population Prospects". United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
  6. 1 2 3 4 World Economic Outlook Database, April 2015 edition.
  7. ↑ "South America nations found union". BBC News. 23 May 2008. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
  8. ↑ "Uruguay Senate puts Unasur over the top". Buenos Aires Herald. 30 November 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  9. ↑ "Uruguay‘s ratification gives Unasur legal status (nine out of twelve)". MercoPress. 2 December 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  10. ↑ "Sede de Unasur llevará el nombre de Néstor Kirchner" (in Spanish). telesur. 9 March 2011. Archived from the original on 1 September 2011.
  11. ↑ Ministros da América do Sul vão a Caracas preparar encontro da Unasul Archived 5 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  12. ↑ 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. OCLC 25422930
  13. ↑ Duhalde, Eduardo (13 July 2004). "Hacia los Estados Unidos de Sudamérica." La Nación.
  14. ↑ Grorjovsky, Nestor (14 July 2004). "Duhalde señaló que el Mercosur es un paso para la Unión Sudamericana" Reconquista-Popular.
  15. ↑ Collazo, Ariel (15 July 2004). "Los Estados Unidos de Sudamérica" La República.
  16. ↑ 29 July 2004,interview with Mexican President Vicente Fox by Andrés Oppenheimer. Mexico:Presidencia de la República.
  17. ↑ "Estados Unidos de Sudamérica" Herejías y silencios. (22 November 2005).
  18. ↑ Duhalde, Eduardo (6 December 2004). "Sudamérica y un viejo sueño." Clarín.
  19. ↑ "Chávez: presidentes acordaron llamar Unasur a integración política regional" (in Spanish). Terra Networks. 17 April 2007. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  20. ↑ Garces, Raul O.; Calatrava, Almudena (4 May 2010). "Néstor Kirchner to Head South American Bloc". ABC News. Associated Press. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  21. 1 2 "Decisions reached in the Political Dialogue among the Heads of State and of Government". 16 April 2007. Archived from the original on 29 August 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  22. ↑ Cámara de Diputados de Brasil aprueba el tratado constitutivo de la Unasur | ANDES Archived 6 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  23. ↑ organos de UNASUR
  24. ↑ :: Unión de Naciones Suramericanas :: UNASUR ::. TRATADO CONSTITUTIVO DE LA UNIÓN DE NACIONES SURAMERICANAS
  25. ↑ Template:Date=August 2014
  26. ↑ Obama in Cartagena: No change, dwindling hope - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
  27. ↑ "South American leaders sign agreement creating South Bank". MercoPress. 27 September 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
  28. ↑ "Venezuela summit criticises West". BBC News. 27 September 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
  29. ↑ "Uribe anuncia que Colombia ingresará al Consejo de Seguridad de Suramérica (Unasur)". El Economista (in Spanish). 20 July 2008. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  30. ↑ "Colombia refuses to join regional defense council". People's Daily Online. 24 May 2008. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  31. ↑ "The Paradox of South American Integration: The Founding of a Defense Council". Council on Hemispheric Affairs. 12 March 2009. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  32. ↑ "La Unasur ya tiene oficina en Haití". Página/12 (in Spanish). 1 September 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  33. ↑ AP
  34. ↑ ¿Puedo residir o trabajar libremente en otros Estados Partes del MERCOSUR?
  35. ↑ Venezuelanalysis.com
  36. ↑ "Historia". Secretary General of UNASUR. Retrieved 2013-07-12.
  37. ↑ Johnlall, Raphael (18 July 2013). "Venezuela President Maduro talked energy, transport while in T&T". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian (Guardian Media). Retrieved 29 September 2013. Apart from Mercosur, Maduro also invited T&T to be "incorporated" into Union of South American Nations (Unasur) because of its geographical proximity to the South American mainland." Maduro said.
  38. ↑ "Falkland Islands government – organisation". Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
  39. ↑ Treaty of Lisbon: Annexes.
  40. ↑ See Sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and Sovereignty of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
  41. ↑ Surinam asume la presidencia pro témpore de la Unasur — teleSUR
  42. ↑ http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Lo-mas-destacado-de-la-VIII-cumbre-de-la-Unasur-20141204-0090.html
  43. ↑ "Cumbre de Unasur acordó anoche en Lima respaldar al electo Nicolás Maduro" (in Spanish). La República. 19 April 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.

External links

Coordinates: 0°0′16″S 78°27′14″W / 0.00444°S 78.45389°W / -0.00444; -78.45389

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