Background Between the 15th and 19th centuries, the
Spanish and
Portuguese colonization brought about the establishment and development of
colonial empires in the Americas that integrated politically, economically and culturally vast extensions of the continent each with their respective metropolis. Since the
Spanish American wars of independence a trend towards the political integration of the newly born republics of
Hispanic America became strong in the thinking of several independence leaders, influenced in turn by the
Spanish Enlightenment and the
French and
American revolutions. A notable early exponent of this trend was
Francisco de Miranda, who envisioned a federated republic encompassing all of Hispanic America, which he called "
Colombia". The independence war efforts saw the concurrence of integrated armies composed by Spanish Americans of diverse regions on both sides of the conflict (v.g. Patriots and
Royalists), and fighting all over the territories of many future nations. For example, the
Army of the Andes which was gathered in the
United Provinces of the River Plate fought in
Chile,
Peru and
Ecuador, and later integrated with
Simón Bolívar's Army (which itself included troops of future
Venezuela,
Colombia and
Ecuador) to further fight in
Peru and the
Upper Peru. By the 1820s, the main proponent of a federation of the newly born republics was
Simón Bolívar, although this idea was shared by many notable contemporaries, including
José de San Martín and
Bernardo de Monteagudo, under either republican or constitutional monarchical governments. In 1826,
Bolívar summoned a conference to be held in
Panama, which was to be known as the
"Amphictyonic" Congress of Panama because of the parallelism with the Hellenic
Amphictyonic League. The Congress was attended by
Gran Colombia (including present-day
Colombia,
Venezuela,
Panama and
Ecuador), the
Federal Republic of Central America (including present-day Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala), the
United Mexican States, and Peru. The ostensible intention was to form a defensive league that could prevent foreign expansionism and foster the interests of the Spanish American republics. The Congress' conclusions, however, were not ratified by the participants, except for Gran Colombia. Soon after, both Gran Colombia and the United Provinces of Central America fell apart and the whole of Hispanic America was
balkanized by competing national governments. By the 1990s, however, Brazil had consolidated as the most powerful country in South America (accounting for half of the regional GDP) and began to promote the notion of a united South America (a new regional framing) where Brasília would be pivotal. The project did not take hold until the United States' foreign policy priorities turned to other regions in the 2000s.
Formation in May 2008 in Brasília The complete integration between the Andean Community and the
Mercosur nations was formalized during the meeting of South American heads of state that took place on 23 May 2008 in
Brasília. In the
2004 South American Summit, representatives of twelve South American nations signed the
Cuzco Declaration, a two-page letter of intent announcing the establishment of the then-named "South American Community of Nations". Panama and Mexico were present as observers. The leaders announced the intention of modeling the new community in the mold of the
European Union, including a unified passport, a parliament and, eventually, a single currency. The then Secretary General of the Andean Community
Allan Wagner speculated that an advanced union such as the EU should be possible within the next fifteen years. After Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, Uruguay became the ninth nation to ratify the constitutive treaty of the organization on 1 December 2010, thus completing the minimum number of ratifications Necessary for the entry into force of the Treaty, on 11 March 2011 UNASUR became a legal entity during the Summit Ministers of Foreign Affairs, in
Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador, where the cornerstone was laid for the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Union.
Naming , first Secretary General of UNASUR On 28 December 2005, Chilean former foreign minister Ignacio Walker proposed that the Union's former designation, the
South American Community of Nations, abbreviated as
CSN, be changed to
South American Union; nevertheless, many members responded that that proposal had already been rejected to prevent confusion since its acronym of U.S.A. (Spanish:
Unión Sudamericana) would be easily confused for the United States of America. In the press, the phrase "United States of South America" was bandied about as an
analogy to the United States to reflect the economic and political power that the union would have on the world stage. The name was finally changed on 16 April 2007 to
Union of South American Nations. The new name was jointly agreed by all member states during the first day of meeting at the First
South American Energy Summit, In August 2017, six members of UNASUR—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru—joined in forming the
Lima Group, a coalition of Western Hemisphere nations that repudiates the Venezuela government of Nicolás Maduro as antidemocratic. In February 2018, Maduro was disinvited from the
Summit of the Americas hosted by Peru (held in Lima in April 2018). In response, Bolivia's president
Evo Morales urged UNASUR to defend Venezuela, stating "UNASUR should call an emergency meeting and enforce the sovereignty of a brotherly people." Morales acceded to the rotating role of president
pro tempore of UNASUR on 17 April 2018. Chilean Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero stated that the organization "isn't getting anywhere, there is no integration" and that "We can't be throwing this money to an institution that doesn't work." A briefing sent to the Brazilian cabinet stated that the countries share the view that Bolivia's leadership of the block has been ineffective. Paraguayan Foreign Minister stated that his country's objection concerned the failure to put a new Secretary General in place, and the need to make the organization less ideological, but did not reflect negatively on Bolivia's leadership. Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Huanacuni called an emergency meeting for May 2018 to attempt to resolve the crisis. However, in 2023 the country announced that it would rejoin UNASUR.
Brazil On 7 March 2019 Brazilian president
Jair Bolsonaro announced that Brazil would withdraw from UNASUR and join the newly created
PROSUR. Following the
2022 Brazilian general election, newly elected president
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signalled his intention to rejoin UNASUR. It rejoined effective 5 May 2023.
Argentina On 12 April 2019 Argentine president
Mauricio Macri announced that Argentina would withdraw from UNASUR and join the newly created
PROSUR. However, the country rejoined UNASUR in April 2023. Following the
2023 Argentine general election, new president
Javier Milei raised the possibility of Argentina withdrawing again.
Uruguay On 11 March 2020 Uruguayan president
Luis Lacalle Pou announced that Uruguay would withdraw from UNASUR. ==Structure==