Paraguay to Formally Withdraw From UNASUR

Paraguay’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Luis Alberto Castiglioni informed Thursday that it formalizes denouncement of the Constitutional Treaty of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) thereby leaving the bloc.

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The official request was presented before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, in its capacity as the depositary nation of the international body. With this decision, Paraguay begins the process of dissociating, which, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty, will end in October 2019.

The government of Mario Abdo is now the third to formalize its abandonment, joining Colombian President Ivan Duque, who on Aug. 27, 2018, and Ecuador’s Lenin Moreno, who on March 14, 2019, made a similar decision. Since April 2018, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru suspended their participation, leaving Venezuela, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and Uruguay as active members.

The Paraguayan official said that the decision comes “with the aim of promoting a new process of regional integration,” referring to the right-wing diplomatic group called ProSur created on March 22, 2019, to counteract Unasur in accordance with U.S.’s interventionist agenda against Venezuela.

Guyanese President David Arthur Granger as well as right-wing presidents Mauricio Macri (Argentina), Jair Bolsonaro (Brasil), Sebastian Piñera (Chile), Ivan Duque (Colombia), Lenin Moreno (Ecuador), Martin Vizcarra (Peru), and Mario Abdo Benitez (Paraguay) signed their allegiance to the new accord, in Santiago. Delegates from Uruguay, Bolivia, and Suriname strengthened their resolve and support for Venezuelan  President Nicolas Maduro’s legitimate claim to the presidency, refusing to condone the initiative.

Back on March 17, Bolivian Foreign Minister Diego Pary said that Unasur remains active with its members fully engaged, adding that the Cochamba parliament is prepared and has the necessary infrastructure to make it work (the General Secretariat) here in Bolivia due to Ecuador’s decision to leave. 

This month Bolivia will end its Pro Tempore Presidency and it will be Brasil's turn to head the regional body, which worries many as Bolsonaro's government is one of the most outspoken voices against the organization. Unasur has promoted regional integration since its creation in Brasilia on May 23, 2008, under the leadership of the Bolivarian revolutionary, Hugo Chavez.