UNASUR selects its first secretary general
On Tuesday, heads of state from South America met in Buenos Aires, Argentina for a summit meeting of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). Many topics were discussed at the summit, including the election of its first secretary general, Arizona's controversial immigration law, Argentina's right to the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), and Paraguay's fight against the leftist guerrilla group, the Paraguayan People's Army (EPP). Colombian President Álvaro Uribe did not attend the summit, and was represented by Foreign Minister Jamie Bermúdez, who urged UNASUR to focus on export restrictions, the movement of people, and nations meddling in internal affairs of other countries. "One can see that we are very worried about the way in which we should tackle the world from UNASUR, when one suspects, intuits, and sees that we have internal difficulties that need to be resolved among brother nations," he said. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez also urged UNASUR countries to "put aside their 'ideological positions' in order for the budding regional bloc to move forward." UNASUR's first secretary general One of the first items on the agenda at the UNASUR summit was its unanimous consent to name ex-President of Argentina, Nestor Kirchner, to be UNASUR's first secretary general "in hopes that the 12-nation UNASUR group can consolidate into a regional force for unity, development and democracy-building," according to the Washington Post. UNASUR's founding treaty states that the secretary general must focus solely on regional matters during the two-year term, and not on national politics. However, Kirchner, who was president of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, is currently a Congressman in Argentina's lower house and has "all but declared" his intention to run in Argentina's presidential elections next year to succeed his wife, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. In order to carry out his obligations as secretary general of UNASUR, Kirchner will have to resign from or ask for a leave of absence from his position in Congress. Honduras One point of contention at the summit was Honduras. Many of the South American leaders said they would boycott the upcoming Latin American-European Union summit in Spain if Honduran President Porfirio Lobo attends. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa noted that many of UNASUR's member states, not including Colombia and Peru, are still uneasy about Lobo, who was elected to replace ousted President Manuel Zelaya. According to Brazilian President Lula da Silva, "If Spain officially invites Lobo, Brazil is not going. Lobo has not given any indication that he wants to change anything in relation to Zelaya's amnesty." Arizona, Falkland Islands, and Paraguay In various declarations, the South American leaders expressed their condemnation of Arizona's new immigration law, confirmed the rights of Argentina to the Falkland Islands, and manifested their solidarity with the government of Paraguay, stating their "total and absolute support for the constitutional government of Fernando Lugo" in its "fight against the criminal violence that affects five departments in the country," referring to the Paraguayan People's Army's (EPP) activities in northern Paraguay. According to the declaration, Arizona's immigration law opens the door to the "discretional detention of people based on racial, ethnic, phenotypic, language and migratory status reasons under the questionable concept of ‘reasonable doubt.'" An Argentine government press release also states that the law "constitutes a flagrant violation of human rights." The UNASUR bloc also reaffirmed its "firm support to the legitimate rights" of Argentina to the Falkland Islands and rejected the natural resource exploration that the United Kingdom is currently conducting "illegally" in the waters surrounding the islands.