Morales calls for EU-style unity in South America
Pastor Dale Morgan
Sunday December 10, 11:38 AM Reuters
*
Morales calls for EU-style unity in South America*
By Eduardo Garcia
COCHABAMBA, Bolivia (Reuters) - Bolivia's president closed a two-day
regional summit on Saturday by saying a South American community of
nations modelled on the European Union could become a reality in five years.
"We don't want it to take as long as with the European Union -- 50 years
to create. I hope it can take us less. Three, four, five years,"
President Evo Morales told seven of the region's 12 presidents in the
Bolivian city of Cochabamba.
The leaders, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, signed a
statement agreeing to "lay the cornerstone of the South American
integration process."
Chavez, Washington's leading U.S. foe in Latin America, expressed
concern that the summit group, known as the South American Community of
Nations, lacked clout and said there had not been enough dialogue
between the presidents.
"Let's admit it, we take decisions but we do not have the power to
implement them," he said.
Morales, a leftist ally of Chavez, told reporters the future of the
grouping of nations would be a social, economic and cultural union based
on "solidarity and cooperation."
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the leaders had "a
lot setting them apart and a lot bringing them together."
"I'm certain South American countries cannot move forward individually.
... Either we sit down and we carry out the integration (process) ... or
we won't have a chance," he said.
Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous leader, advocates a merging of the
two trade blocs vying to be the leading voice and consolidate economic
growth in South America -- the Andean Community of Nations and Mercosur.
Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru belong to the Andean bloc, which
lost ground this year when oil-rich Venezuela withdrew, claiming the
group was dead after Peru and Colombia signed free trade deals with the
United States.
Venezuela then joined Mercosur, which also includes Argentina, Brazil,
Paraguay and Uruguay. But it has been riddled by spats between its
members and has not progressed as far as expected when it was launched
12 years ago.
Chile, one of the largest and most stable South American economies, does
not belong to either group.
Chavez said both blocs were dead and that scrapping them both was the
only way to achieve the goal of unity. "Those instruments were born to
benefit trade, the elites," he said.
The presidents agreed to meet in Venezuela next year to discuss energy
integration and to create an office in the Brazilian city of Rio de
Janeiro to promote regional unity.