Six nations suspend membership of anti-US bloc

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Half of the nations belonging to a South American bloc set up a decade ago to counter US influence in the region have decided to suspend their membership amid differences over who should lead the group.

Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Huanacuni said Friday that Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru had decided to temporarily leave the Union of South American Nations, or UNASUR, because of differences over choosing a secretary-general.

Huanacuni said the six were only pressuring to ensure a quick turnover in the presidency and stressed that they were not abandoning UNASUR. Bolivia will call an emergency meeting to solve disputes in the bloc, he added in an interview with state media.

"We have received a note from the six countries saying they will not participate in UNASUR meetings for a period of one year" until the leadership issue is resolved, Huanacuni said.

'Rudderless' group

Paraguay's foreign ministry said in a statement that the six countries will remain outside it until they see "concrete results that guarantee its operation."

Their governments are reported to view the bloc as rudderless under the current rotating presidency of Bolivia.

UNASUR was created in 2008 when leftist populism advocated by the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez was at its strongest in South America. But in recent years, the bloc has been paralyzed by divisions as center-right governments have risen to power in several countries.

“Unasur works by consensus but the differences between its members’ political and economic views are so great it can no longer operate,” Reuters quoted a Peruvian diplomat, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly, as saying.

Chavez and other leaders set up UNASUR to create a regional economic and political union that ultimately struggled to gain momentum.

The bloc sought to bypass the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS), which leftists considered a tool for promoting US policy in Latin America.

The remaining active UNASUR members are Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Guyana and Suriname.

Source(s): AP ,Reuters