Feverish meetings over the past two months have reinforced UNASUR’s importance to the security of the South American continent. In the aftermath of the military and diplomatic crisis that fractured diplomatic relations between Colombia, on one hand, and Venezuela and Ecuador on the other, Brazil masterminded the establishment of the Unión de Naciones Suramericanas – Union of South-American Nations – UNASUR, in March last year.
That crisis erupted after the National Army of Colombia entered the territory of Ecuador to raid elements of the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, without the permission of the national government. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil – the only state on the continent with the prestige and power to act – launched UNASUR to create space for diplomatic dialogue and a forum to discuss a common, continental security strategy.
President Bharrat Jagdeo met Brazil’s Minister of Defence Nelson Azevedo Jobim in Georgetown in April 2008 and agreed to Guyana’s support for the formation of the UNASUR of which the South American Defence Council is a part. Along with 11 other South American presidents, Jagdeo signed the enabling treaty at the Summit of Heads of State of South America in Brasilia in May 2008. The differences, mainly among the Andean states, remained unresolved.
Jagdeo also attended President Rafael Correa’s inauguration on August 10 in Quito, Ecuador that coincided with UNASUR’s third regular presidential summit. On that occasion, Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Cristina Fernandez of Argentina, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Fernando Lugo of Paraguay, Rafael Correa of Ecuador and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela expressed their concerns about the USA-Colombia agreement which they felt would pose a grave threat to the continent’s security. The agreement will allow the USA to utilise five air and two naval bases in Colombia.
President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, noticeably, was absent from Quito. The summit therefore agreed to convene an extraordinary session in Bariloche, Argentina on August 28 to examine the issue further with the Colombian president. That meeting was rancorous and argumentative but inconclusive.
UNASUR’s Defence and Foreign Policy Ministers then met last week on September 15 in Quito to discuss security issues including the USA-Colombia agreement, among other things. Strangely, Minister of Labour, Human Services and Social Security Manzoor Nadir represented Guyana at that critical security meeting.
The USA-Colombia agreement has polarised the continent which has now divided into three camps – the left wing comprising Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela which, at different times, criticised the agreement; the right wing comprising Colombia and Peru which support the agreement; and the centre bloc, led by Brazil and including Chile and Argentina, which expressed their misgivings but took a moderate position and promised to promote constructive dialogue with the United States to resolve the crisis.
Most South American states are wary of the deployment of US troops on the continent. They are uncomfortable with large US military units on the continent and want guarantees that the bases will not be used for military actions. Brazil’s Foreign Minister Celso Amorim stated that “Colombia may not yet totally have understood the degree of discomfort it has caused in other countries… Maybe that’s why it hasn’t yet agreed to the necessary guarantees as strongly as we would like.”
It is in light of this complex and unsettled security situation that the reasons for the selection of the Minister of Labour to attend last week’s conference in Quito must be analysed. Guyana is due to assume the UNASUR’s rotating chairmanship next year. Which minister is monitoring this unfolding crisis? Is the administration really ready for this monumental continental commitment?
