Brazil Seeks to Relaunch UNASUR at the Ibero-American Summit

On Friday, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira affirmed that his country will invite the countries to "relaunch" the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) during the Ibero-American Summit that begins in Santo Domingo.

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"UNASUR played an important role. It is worth the effort to relaunch it with new bases and through a dialogue with an appropriate format... We are going to work in that direction," he said.

Brazil left UNASUR during the administration of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in 2018. With the rise to the presidency of Workers' Party leader Lula da Silva, however, Brazil longs to return to this regional bloc, just as Argentina did it on Tuesday.

UNASUR was created in 2008 by the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Lula da Silva, both of whom tried to take Latin American integration to levels not previously reached.

In 2017, however, UNASUR entered a crisis when 12 countries could not agree on the election of a new secretary. This happened when the conservative governments dominated the region.

The situation became more critical in 2018 when Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru suspended their participation and funding.

On Friday, the Brazilian foreign minister, who traveled to Santo Domingo in place of President Lula, will hold meetings with diplomats from Spain, Guatemala, Peru and Chile.

Previously, he met with the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil, with whom he discussed the resumption of trade ties between the two countries.