Chile: Activists, Social Movements Protest Against US-Backed Integration Body Prosur

Chilean social and political organizations were holding demonstrations Friday against the Forum for the Latin American Progress and Development (Prosur), a meeting convened by the right-wing Latin American governments which are coordinating actions to dissolve the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) and consolidate the U.S. interventionist agenda against Venezuela.

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The citizen rejection of Prosur will be carried out throughout the day and will also be accompanied by demonstrations against Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro. However, the biggest meetings are called for Friday afternoon at 18:30 in Santiago and other cities such as Valparaiso and Antofagasta.

Among those expected to participate is the Coordinating Assembly of High School Students (ACES), Student Federations of the University of Chile and the University of Santiago, Women in Front , Rebel Violet, the Marielle Franco Committee, the Revolutionary Workers Party (PTR), the Bread & Roses Women's movement, the Urban Settlers Struggle Movement (MPL), and the Equality Partido.

"The Prosur summit takes place amidst an imperialist offensive in Latin America, which is headed by Trump and supported by presidents such as Piñera, Macri, Duque and Bolsonaro, who is linked to the killing of Marielle Franco, a black activist, lesbian and leftist councilor murdered a year ago," the Women's Organization March 8th said and added that "we denounce that the governments promoting Prosur have spared no resources or alliances for militarizing their territories."

So far Presidents Sebastian Piñera and Ivan Duque have appeared to be the main promoters of this new block of regional integration whose structure has not been defined yet.

However, Prosur is expected to be a forum without permanent headquarters or secretariat, that is, it resembles the Pacific Alliance, a trade agreement which encompasses Chile, Mexico, Peru and Colombia.

Neither have Prosur's long-term goals been established, although its spokesmen said that the new body will promote a "pragmatic" and "non-ideological" integration among countries, a vision which has been called into question by experts in the region. given the fact that it is being by right-wing governments who are in a public coaliation against Venezuela and in favor of most U.S. interventionist policies against Venezuela, Cuba and other left-wing governments in the region. 

The first Prosur meeting will be attended by the presidents of Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru. The Uruguayan and Bolivian Heads of State will not attend, although they will send diplomatic representatives.

Prosur comes a year after Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru suspended their activities in Unasur, due to the lack of consensus to appoint a new Secretary General. Last week, Ecuador also announced its withdrawal from Unasur, a regional integration organization that now encompasses Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.