MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay, Colombia, Peru won't support Kirchner in Unasur

Peru and Colombia don't support former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner for the job of Unasur (Union of South American Nations) secretary general, according to reports from Lima and Bogotá.

However the only country to openly veto his nomination in the last Unasur meeting held in Santiago de Chile was Uruguay. The issue apparently is also in the agenda at the coming Mercosur presidential summit to be held in Brazil and where the rest of South American leaders are expected to participate or send their representatives. Nevertheless since the decision needs a consensus which seems absent the issue could be postponed. Uruguay formally vetoed Mr. Kirchner because of the ongoing conflict with the Kirchner couple administrations over the construction of pulp mills along the shared River Uruguay and the dredging of access channels in the River Plate which must be decided jointly. Although Peru did not formally vote on the issue when the Unasur Santiago meeting, "from the beginning we knew there was no consensus, Uruguay warned us before hand, so we abstained" revealed Peruvian Foreign Affairs minister Jose Garcia Belaúnde to the Argentine press. But all doubts were cleared when at the recent APEC (Asia-Pacifica Economic Cooperation) forum in Lima, President Alan García before heavy weight world leaders (US, China, Japan, Canada, Australia, etc) made some ironic remarks about manipulation of inflation statistics. "And we all know to which country I'm referring" said Garcia talking about the Kirchner couple's Argentina. "An attitude which erodes investors' confidence in the country" underlined President Garcia. Besides President Garcia was the only president not present at the Santiago Unasur presidential summit. He had two excuses for not going: national teachers' strike and lack of Congressional approval to leave Peru. However the following day Garcia was in Brazil for a conference with businessmen and investors. Colombian president Alvaro Uribe also has a strained relation with the Kirchner couple given their close relation with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and their interpretation of Colombian history and current affairs which some how pretends to support the cocaine financed FARC rebel groups as a "liberation organization". Since President Uribe is also the United States staunchest ally in South America and this apparently does not fit in the mind frame of Nestor Kirchner. Uruguay has reiterated its position remains unchanged even if the Kirchner nomination has a majority support in Unasur. Political analysts in Buenos Aires believe Argentine diplomacy could have accepted the situation since this last weekend it was announced that the former president will be running for a Senate bench from the province of Buenos Aires in next year's mid term elections. Unasur is currently chaired on a temporary basis by Chilean president Michelle Bachelet.