Colombia’s Mejía formally takes office as Unasur Secretary General
Colombia’s former Foreign Minister, María Emma Mejía, was appointed Monday as the new Secretary General to the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in a ceremony in Georgetown hosted by Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo.
“This is our moment, and I’m not the only one saying that. We have the historic responsibility of maximizing the great period that this region is going through,” Mejía said in the Georgetown Government Palace.
The office of the UNASUR Secretary General had remained vacant since the death of former President Néstor Kirchner last October. He had been chosen last May to lead the organization for the next two years.
“South America is one of the regions in the world with the largest gap between rich and poor. We need to reverse this terrible situation,” she explained.
According to Mejía, her priorities in office will be infrastructure, energy integration, healthcare, education, security and defence.
She is expected to remain in office for a year, and she will later be replaced by Venezuela’s Energy Minister Alí Rodríguez.
The UNASUR was formed in 2008 and is composed of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay and Venezuela.
All countries with the exception of Paraguay have approved the Unasur accord and charter. Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo does not have the sufficient votes in Congress to have the initiative approved nor the incorporation of Venezuela as full member of Mercosur.
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I guess you do this by making the rich poorer.
As most of the rich are politicians, perhaps we should tell her that turkeys don't actually vote for Christmas.
[This is only partially a joke.]
UNASUR is official.
en.mercopress.com/2011/05/11/unasur-to-achieve-a-south-american-continent-united-and-in-peace-by-2020
Before these nine members ratified the treaty, the argument was that the treaty wasn't ratified. Unasur has had a Secretary General since the beginning, Nestor Kirchner.
I don't really see the argument now, to be honest.
Only need Paraguay on side and we can get near a Unasur Full House.
Only need Paraguay on side and we can welcome the chief lunatic Chavez to the Mercosur asylum.
It's bad enough having Venezuela in line for controlling South American continental affairs,
but having Chavez twisting the tail of Brasil's Mercosur-worldwide trading arangements is just too much to contemplate.
Still, perhaps Dilma talked some sense into him at yesterday's meeting. Some hope!
Come on man, I'll buy you a cup of coffee... by the time you finish it you'll feel even more hopeful.
Though I was born elsewhere, I live in Brasil - this land is my home.
I wish it well; I wish it better; and I wish it better in the context of a better continent.
It is not wrong to wish for and to work for that improvement - even (and especially) if it means supporting Mercosur and Unasur as well as Brasil.
Come on, Fido, start beating your own drum.
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