The leaders of the 12-country Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) named former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner as their secretary-general on Tuesday, setting aside their differences in the hope of becoming a regional force for unity, development and democracy building.
The group condemned Arizona’s immigration law as a violation of human rights, issuing a declaration that said the law legitimizes “racist attitudes” in US society and increases “the latent risk of violence due to racial hate, lamentable episodes that have involved South American victims.”
UNASUR was formed in 2008, in part as a counterpoint to the Organization of American States and other regional organizations dominated by Washington, but member nations failed to agree on a leader until now. Plans for a permanent UNASUR headquarters near Ecuador’s capital Quito and a parliament building planned in Cochabamba, Bolivia, remain on the drawing board.
According to UNASUR’s founding treaty, the secretary-general must focus solely on regional matters and not national politics during his two-year term. That may be problematic for Kirchner, the leader of a key Argentine political party who has all but declared himself a candidate to succeed his wife, Cristina Fernandez, in Argentina’s presidential elections next year.
Kirchner will also have to give up his job as a deputy in Argentina’s Congress, either by quitting outright or by asking for a leave of absence, which would allow him to retain his congressional immunity from prosecution.
Argentina’s newspapers, a federal judge and Congress are investigating allegations that ministers and aides to Kirchner and his wife forced Argentine companies to pay bribes to do business in Venezuela.
Kirchner was designated by unanimous consent after leaders praised his experience and stature. Uruguay previously blocked Kirchner’s appointment because Argentina has tacitly supported protesters blocking a key bridge over their shared river border in a campaign against a Uruguayan paper mill.
The three-year blockade continues, despite a World Court ruling Uruguay hoped would lead to a resolution.
Recently elected Uruguayan President Jose Mujica said he supports Kirchner’s appointment unconditionally, even though it will cost him politically.
“We support consensus, and we are going to continue doing so, counting on good faith without conditions,” Mujica said.
He dismissed reports that his support was conditioned on Fernandez forcing the protesters to open the bridge.
Other issues on the UNASUR agenda included discussions about democracy in Honduras and help for earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile.
The UNASUR nations also include Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam and Venezuela.
Most leaders showed up in person for the meeting, including Chile’s new right-wing billionaire president, Sebastian Pinera, and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. But Colombia’s outgoing President Alvaro Uribe, who clashed with Chavez and Ecuador’s Rafael Correa at an earlier UNASUR meeting, sent a minister instead.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
RSS