MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay’s support for Unasur’s chairman will be known at next summit

Ecuadorean minister Ricardo Patiño said his words “were taken out of context”

Ecuadorean Foreign Affairs minister Ricardo Patiño apologized to Uruguay for having stated that the administration of President Jose Mujica would support the nomination of former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner as chairman or the Union of South American nations, Unasur.

According to Uruguayan diplomatic sources, Patiño who visited Uruguay as part of a regional tour in anticipation of the Unasur summit in Argentina, argued his remarks “were taken out of context”.

There was no explicit Uruguayan denial of the support and sources said the decision will be known May 4, when the Unasur summit.

Patiño this week met with his Uruguayan counterpart Luis Almagro to address among other issues the ratification of Unasur charter, the South Development Bank (a regional initiative), Unasur-US dialogue and aid for quake stricken Haiti.

The Uruguayan parliament still has to ratify the Unasur charter. Only four countries have done so: Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia and Guyana, and nine are needed for Unasur to become juridical effective.

While in Chile, Patiño said that Chile supported the candidacy of Mr. Kirchner to Unasur and that he had information indicating Uruguay would also vote for the former Argentine president, who had been vetoed by the previous Uruguayan administration of former President Tabare Vazquez.

According to Uruguayan diplomatic sources Uruguay has “no official position” on the matter, at least until the next Unasur summit.

However President Mujica has more than once insinuated such a support with the purpose of normalizing relations with Argentina, that have been under tension because of the dispute over the construction of a pulp mill in an area of a bilateral jurisdiction with a shared waters management agreement.

The dispute was taken in 2006 to the International Court of Justice in The Hague and a ruling is expected next week. Both Uruguay and Argentina have agreed to abide the non binding ruling which would then pave the way for a “no objections” from Uruguay regarding Mr. Kirchner’s aspirations of becoming Unasur chairman.

In related news the Uruguayan Senate approved this week a bill making May 25th a one time national holiday thus adhering to Argentina’s 200th anniversary celebrations next May 25th. On that date Argentina recalls the first events of autonomy from the Spanish crown in 1810 which would eventually lead to the full independence of Argentina.

“We commemorate these events because they are shared links with the Argentine republic and the Argentine people. These are long standing links, fraternal links that have survived so many difficulties, so it’s good to recall them particularly now when relations with Argentina are not going through one of their best moments”, said opposition Senator Ope Pasquet, spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs committee that proposed and approved the initiative.

“This is the right moment precisely because of the notorious difficulties in relations and because President Mujica has repeatedly stated that one of his priorities is to normalize relations with Argentina”, added Pasquet.

“The national holiday is an appropriate signal for both peoples of the River Plate because at the time (1810), when the events to commemorate, we were an only people on both sides of the estuary as part of the River Plate Viceroy”.