PROSUR: South America's answer to integration?

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It is a busy month for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro as he takes his first foreign trips since taking office. Bolsonaro is in Chilean capital Santiago on Friday for the launch of the PROSUR forum.

Colombia and Chile proposed PROSUR, a new diplomatic group, to replace UNASUR amid Venezuela's economic and political chaos.

What is UNASUR?

This attempt at a South American integration process was initiated by then-Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during a joint news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., March 19, 2019. /VCG Photo

The idea was to promote economic cooperation in the region and establish a security community "following the EU model."

The Union of South American Nations, or UNASUR, was created 10 years ago by late Venezuelan socialist leader Hugo Chavez to counteract the influence of the United States and promote development projects in the region.

Venezuela cuts ties with Colombia

Colombia's President Ivan Duque (C) and Chile's President Sebastian Pinera (L) arrive to the area of a warehouse where humanitarian aid for Venezuela has been collected in Cucuta, Colombia, February 23, 2019. /VCG Photo

Head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, Juan Guaido, declared himself interim president on January 23, pushing the country into a political crisis.

As Venezuela's situation continues to deteriorate, Colombia and Ecuador withdrew from the organization, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru also announced to suspend their participation in the group, which left UNASUR on the edge of collapse.

What is PROSUR?

For Duque, PROSUR is a South American platform for "the coordination of public policies, the defense of democracy, independent institutions, and market economies."

Echoing his Colombian counterpart, Chile's President Sebastian Pinera said PROSUR will serve as a pragmatic replacement to the nearly extinct UNASUR and his country will host the first summit.

"Every country on the continent will be free to join, with the exception of Venezuela."

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro hands a replica of the sword of the Liberator Simon Bolivar to workers, during an inspection to the hydroelectric generation system in the Venezuelan state of Bolivar, March 16, 2019./VCG Photo

The troubled nation's economic crisis has caused an exodus of three million people since 2015, according to the United Nations, the vast majority of which have gone to neighboring Colombia.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the country is the victim of an "economic war" led by political adversaries with the help of the United States, which has levied several rounds of sanctions against Maduro's government and top officials.

Will PROSUR make sense?

In a recent interview, Duque stated PROSUR could potentially emulate EU through cross-border fiscal policies.

The countries in the bloc have a shared history of conquest, colonization, and independence, which has helped to form a common identity today, DW reported, adding that just two languages, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, dominate the region – convenient compared to the EU's whopping 24 official languages.

View of the headquarters of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) parliament in San Benito, Bolivia, September 12, 2018. /VCG Photo

While Gunther Maihold of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs said mindsets in the region believed that organizations along the lines of UNASUR will simply serve "a fire brigade function," which means they can only effectively be used in humanitarian or other politically exceptional situations.

Bruno Binetti, a visiting professor at Torcuato Di Tella University in Buenos Aires, also doubted the leadership of PROSUR.

The original idea behind UNASUR, in fact, was developed by Brazil's Lula, however, Duque and Pinera are moving ahead with the project without the explicit support of Bolsonaro.

Brazil contains half the geography, population and gross domestic product of South America, Binetti said, adding that creating a South American initiative without Brasilia's backing is wishful thinking.

(Cover photo by CGTN's Qu Bo)