MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Unasur ‘won’t collapse’ as happened with TIAR during the Malvinas war

President Cristina Fernandez deposits all her confidence in Unasur

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner praised the success of Unasur and forecasted that the South America Defence Council will be far more effective and robust than the previous experience with the TIAR, which “collapsed in 1982 during the Malvinas war”.

Cristina Fernandez recalled that TIAR, the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, which established that if any American nation was attacked by foreign country, all other nations in the continent would come to its aid, was a major disappointment.

“That treaty as we all know collapsed in 1982 during the Malvinas War” she said.

“We are now building something new, something different” she said, hoping that it would “be inspired by the men and women who took part in their fights for their independence” in this bicentennial anniversary for so many South American countries.

The Argentine president made the announcement hosting the Unasur ceremony at the Government House with the representatives of the South American Defence Council and Defence Ministers from every member from the Union of South American Nations. Unasur includes all South American countries.

Mrs. Kirchner went on to say that the current concept of defence has to be different, since the military force is just a complement to the true defence concept of sovereignty and inclusion.

“Defence is found in a nation’s economic development and the social inclusion of all its inhabitants. Military force should be just a complement to that,” she said.

Further on Cristina Fernandez made a strong defence of Unasur assuring that the organization had successfully dealt with every issue it was faced with.

“We were capable of solving several crises on our own terms” she said, recalling the attempted coups in Ecuador and Bolivia and the crisis between Colombia and Venezuela.

The Argentine President considered that those success stories prove that the region has matured and questioned those who pretended to “lecture” the region on how to solve the problems it was facing, although “every time that the great powers intervened, things just go worse”.

CFK also took time to accuse the media of spreading rumours about her health. “They will print anything every time my blood pressure drops,” she said.

The president said she had spoken with her Venezuelan peer Hugo Chavez who told her he had been bedridden for the last two weeks due to knee problems.

“Chávez has a knee problem, Evo Morales has a knee problem and Rafael Correa has a knee problem. Men are always having knee problems while we women must always stay healthy,” she complained.