On April 6-7, Argentine President Alberto Fernández and Brazilian President Lula da Silva each announced their decision to reconstitute the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), the regional organization established in 2008 which served for several years as a vehicle for promoting economic integration and cooperation among the heads of states of its 12 member nations. It dissolved in 2019 after the fascist presidents of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, and of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, withdrew from the pact.
Fernández and Lula’s action complements that of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who recently convened a meeting of the informal Ibero-American “presidents’ club” to address key regional economic issues. Spain’s El Mundo reported that Venezuela is expected to play a role in the new Unasur, which the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez helped found, and that Argentina and Brazil have invited Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to attend a future presidents’ summit.
After the two Southern Cone Presidents issued formal decrees reconstituting Unasur, personnel from each of their foreign ministries met at Argentina’s Foreign Ministry in Buenos Aires to discuss plans for future coordination, once Unasur officially goes into effect on May 6. The Argentine daily Jornada reported that the purpose of the Buenos Aires meeting was to discuss the “challenges of reactivating the multilateral organization as a determining strategic space of South America’s international presence.”
