Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
UNASUR to mull expulsion, other sanctions for ‘undemocratic regimes’
Argentina’s Foreign Minister Hector Marcos Timerman
Less than two months after rebel forces threatened to topple his government, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa comes to Guyana today to enjoy widespread support from his South American counterparts as they look to enshrine democratic rule in the UNASUR bloc.
The “democracy clause” could stipulate economic sanctions against countries with forced regimes and could also dictate total isolation from UNASUR in countries with regimes that have occupied office illegally, Argentina’s top diplomat said yesterday.
Correa hands over the presidency of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) today to President Bharrat Jagdeo. Correa and Jagdeo will join other South American leaders to sign a “democracy clause” as one of the pillars to the treaty establishing the grouping.
Among the leaders due to arrive here to sign the agreement is Suriname’s Desi Bouterse, himself a former coup leader who holds a drug trafficking conviction in the Netherlands.
The “democracy clause” being formalized by leaders in Guyana is a direct attempt to result of the recent unrest in Ecuador when President Correa was virtually kidnapped for hours by protesting members of the police force until he was freed by Army troops.
Argentina’s President Christina Fernandez de Kircher, who was due to arrive in Guyana last evening, had convened an emergency UNASUR meeting in early October to express full support for Correa.
Members of the Guyana delegation observe a minute’s silence in memory of Nestor Kirchner, the former Argentine President, who served as the first Secretary General of UNASUR.
The “democracy clause” could include penalties, such as political and economic isolation from UNASUR, against countries with forced regimes. This is according to the Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Marcos Timerman who spoke with reporters outside the International Conference Centre, yesterday, where Foreign Ministers were meeting to finalise the clause for leaders to sign today.
“We’re dealing with situations where people try to get into government by unconstitutional means,” Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett added.
The leaders attending the meeting apart from Correa, Bouterse and Christian Fernandez de Kircher are outgoing Brazilian President Lula Da Silva, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Juan Manuel Calderon of Colombia and Fernando Lugo Mendez of Paraguay.
The leaders are also expected to decide on plans for the establishment of a permanent UNASUR Secretariat in Ecuador and to consider names for Secretary General of UNASUR, following the recent death of former Argentine President, Nestor Kirchner who was the first person to hold the post.
UNASUR, an intergovernmental union integrating two existing customs unions: MERCOSUR (Common Market of the South) and the Andean Community of Nations was established on May 23, 2008 when Constitutive Treaty was signed by the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela, during the third Summit of Heads of State in Brasilia, Brazil.
UNASUR is intended to promote integration among South American countries. The rotating presidency of UNASUR is held for one year.
Suriname became the eighth country to ratify the treaty setting out rules of establishment for UNASUR.
Ecuador was hoping to have nine countries ratify the founding charter so that the regional organisation could have legal force by today when Correa hands over the presidency of the bloc to President Jagdeo.
According to the Constitutive Treaty, the Union’s headquarters will be located in Quito, Ecuador. The South American Parliament will be located in Cochabamba, Bolivia, while the headquarters of its bank, the Bank of the South is located in Caracas, Venezuela.
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