Juan Guaidó: "Prosur is the future of South American integration"

From Venezuela, the president in charge of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, applauded the initiative to create the new organization called Forum for Progress and Development of Latin America (Prosur) and "It is the future of South American integration."

Through his Twitter account, Guaidó thanked the invitation to participate in what he called "this historic day for the union of our peoples".

Guaidó justified his absence by saying that he "organized all Venezuela to end the usurpation, which would be the triumph of democracy, freedom and the return of stability in South America".

The summit of leaders of South American countries began Friday in Chile to give an impetus to Prosur with which they hope to replace the mechanism known as the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).

Leaders from 11 countries in total, including Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Guyana and Suriname, attended the meeting.

Representatives of the interim government of Venezuela, led by Juan Guaidó, should also be present.

The creation of Prosur was proposed by the Chilean President, Sebastián Piñera, and has benefited from the support of other leaders such as the President of Colombia, Iván Duque.

"What we organize, is a forum of all South American countries without ideologies, because all countries have the right to choose their own governments, and without bureaucracy, because it is which has killed many integration initiatives in South America, "said Piñera about the fledgling organization.

Unasur was created to counter the influence of the United States in the region. In 2008, the constituent treaty was approved. It entered into force in 2011 and designated the permanent headquarters of the General Secretariat in Quito, the capital of Ecuador.

In recent months, Unasur had been reduced with the departure of seven of the twelve countries that had initially integrated it.

Prosur does not have the support of Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez, who rejected the invitation to attend the summit Friday in Chile.

"Generating another process of integration, also for an ideo-political purpose, will make the same mistake," said the Uruguayan president about Prosur.

Latin America has long sought to integrate mechanisms including, among others, the Andean Community, Mercosur, Alba, Celac and the Pacific Alliance.

The President of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, posted a video on Twitter in which he confirmed that his country was joining Prosur. "Unasur took part in a final without a return for a year, with half of the member countries not participating or contributing."

He also explained that the General Secretariat had been out of office for more than two years and had blamed "irresponsible leaders", he said, "reproducing the worst vices of 21st century socialism".

In mid-February, Duque criticized what he called "the ideologization of foreign policy," referring to mechanisms such as Unasur.

In January, Duque announced that he was working with other countries to create a bloc dedicated to coordinating democracy in South America to replace Unasur.

Before the OAS in February, Duque reiterated the complaints and announced that he would withdraw from Unasur, which he described as an "accomplice" of the situation in Venezuela.

"We realized that this organization (Unasur) was built to legitimize the dictatorship, to legitimize the obstruction of powers, the annihilation of the independent press and what is even more regrettable, the impoverishment of a prosperous country, "said Duque. last month before the OAS.