By Eva Golinger - Correo del Orinoco International, Dec 13th 2011
While much of the world is in crisis and protests are erupting throughout Europe and the United States, Latin American and Caribbean nations are building consensus, advancing social justice and increasing positive cooperation in the region.
In a tireless round of regional diplomatic summits last week, Venezuela led a surge of political momentum in favor of the integration of Latin America into a “zone of peace” that solves its problems without foreign or domestic military action, as part of the construction of a multi-polar world that is independent of major superpowers.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez exhorted all South American countries to consolidate the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) to protect the region from situations like that of Libya, whose government was overthrown by NATO’s actions that killed its leader Muammar Gaddafi last week.
The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) transcended the continental sphere to become a global institution by gaining a seat at the United Nations as an observer, a status which allows it to join UN work.
The Union of South American Nations (Unasur) is further consolidating its organization and mandate through the creation of new entities focused on regional autonomy in defense and economics.
This past Friday, economic ministers from the Union of South American Nations’ (UNASUR) member states met in the Peruvian capital to discuss the current unstable economic climate in the U.S. and Europe.
Colombia’s former Deputy Foreign Secretary Emma Mejía will be occupying the post for the next twelve months beginning April, while Venezuela’s Ali Rodriguez will hold the post on the following twelve months.
By Francisco Dominguez- Morning Star, Dec 2nd 2010
Since the election of Hugo Chavez to the presidency of Venezuela in1998 Latin America has undergone an extraordinary transformation which was unthinkable back then. Ever since, powerful social movements have elected a wave of progressive governments which have turned a region traditionally under the US imperial thumb into an assertive subcontinent which is seeking to build a better world.
At a presidential summit in Georgetown, Guyana, on Friday, member nations of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) signed a pledge to apply sanctions to nations that alter the democratic and constitutional order.
