Bloggings by boz

Remember a long time ago (last August) when UNASUR held an emergency meeting over the new Colombia-US security agreement? They gathered all the presidents together and focused hard on that issue. A few weeks later, they did it again. Going further back to September 2008, UNASUR managed to pull together an emergency meeting on Bolivia that condemned violence and strengthened President Morales. Agree with their actions or not, South America's newest organization showed initiative.

So where is UNASUR now?

Venezuela claims to be preparing for war and moving 15,000 troops to the Colombian border. Peru and Chile tensions are high over the espionage scandal.

UNASUR, as an institution, has done nothing. 18 months after its official creation, it appears the organization remains a brand name or figurehead under which presidents and ministers can meet and nothing else. There are practically no personnel or institutional capacity to handle situations as they arise.

The next scheduled UNASUR meetings are planned for late November. The presidents will be meeting in Manaus, Brazil to discuss climate change issues. Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense are scheduled to meet in Quito, Ecuador a few days later under the UNASUR label. There is no official agenda at either meeting for dealing with the most tense issues on the continent.

Yesterday, Colombia's Foreign Minister asked why UNASUR hadn't moved to discuss Chavez's statements of war. Peru says they're going to take their complaints about Chile's spying to UNASUR. Peru has also said they want an initiative to reduce regional arms spending at UNASUR. In spite of the precedent set last year in Bolivia, I haven't heard anyone recommend UNASUR meet to discuss Paraguay's coup rumors and strengthen President Lugo the way they helped Morales.

South America is facing a number of emerging crises and the organization that was designed to lead regional integration appears completely absent. UNASUR will have an opportunity at the end of this month to fix that situation. But if it doesn't take on the hard issues, I think many countries will be questioning whether the organization has any real future.