Macri and Piñera, in front of the brand new Prosur block

As part of the decline of the Unasur alliance created during the rise of progressive governments in Latin America, leaders of the region met in Santiago de Chile and launched a new politico-commercial bloc called Prosur. Which are part are Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Guyana. A difference compared to Unasur: the absence of Venezuela.

The Chilean Sebastián Piñera, the main promoter of the new body, declared at the opening of the meeting that the organization wanted to be a "forum of dialogue, meeting, collaboration, cooperation in favor of the 39 integration of the region "and especially a" pole of democracy for freedom and respect for human rights ".

However, many see Prosur as a version to the right of Unasur, which would bring similar limitations to regional integration. "It's not an ideology, it's values, principles," Piñera reacted to critics who accused him of ideology of foreign relations, particularly because of the exclusion of new Venezuelan forum, whose political situation – and the rejection of the Nicolás Maduro government – brings together all the members of this nascent group.

For his part, President Mauricio Macri emphasized to other presidents the need "to be effective in designing durable solutions that transcend our mandates and contribute to development and poverty reduction in a framework of democracy and democracy. respect for human rights ".

For the head of state, "our region has a lot of value and potential," and stressed that it was time to be realistic and pragmatic to understand the global and regional circumstances without ideological prejudices and to find the ways that lead us to live in South America. more prosperous, more democratic and safer. "Macri emphasized" the vision of the value of living in democracy, which is the way we choose to manage dissent, diversity and plurality ".

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