Union of South American Nations faces fracture

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva

The Union of South American Nations – a group of 12 countries that agreed to form a European Union-like parliament – already is facing fracture after forming last Friday.

Colombia refused to go along with a plan advanced by Brazil to create the Conselho Sul-Americano de Defesa, or CSD, a NATO-like military pact among the 12 nations.

Brazil's President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, pressed for the creation of the CSD after a South American regional conflict was threatened when Colombia invaded Ecuador in March. Colombian forces were pursuing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, terrorists.

In direct talks with Chavez, the Brazilian president has pursued the idea of creating a "pragmatic left" continental military force, aimed at countering U.S. influence. The Bush administration has been nurturing an increasingly pro-Washington stance by Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe.

In March, Chavez sent tanks and thousands of troops to the Venezuelan border with Colombia after Colombia military killed top FARC leader Paul Reyes and 16 other guerrillas at a camp across the border in Ecuador.

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Chavez closed the Venezuelan embassy in Bogota and ordered all Venezuelan embassy personnel to return home. Chavez called the Uribe government a "terrorist state," claiming the Colombian military "invaded Ecuador" and "flagrantly violated Ecuador's sovereignty."

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a Washington-based think tank, reported Colombia's conflict with Ecuador and Venezuela intensified when information found on FARC laptops captured in the raid on Ecuador contained names and other information that would implicate the Chavez government in supplying both finances and arms to FARC.

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs also speculated that it is more than likely Colombia will agree to facilitate a U.S. military base in order to continue receiving U.S. military and economic assistance, "rather than join its neighbors in an act of regional solidarity that is not being particularly welcomed by the White House."

All three nations – Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela – had all been scheduled to join CSD.

Undeterred by Colombia's refusal to join CSD, Brazil's da Silva has pressed this week for the formation of a Banco Central de America del Sur, a South American central bank on the model of the European Union's Central Bank of Europe. Da Silva wants to see the creation of a South American regional currency on the model of the EU's euro, with the goal of replacing the national currencies of the Union of South American Nations members.

"In the future, we shall have a single currency," Lula declared Monday on Brazil's television program "Café con el Presidente," though he admitted it would not be a quick process.

After Colombia refused to join the CSD defense council, the other 11 member nations – Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela – agreed to establish a task force to present a revised proposal to Colombia within three months.

A free trade agreement the Bush administration negotiated with Colombia has been held up in Congress since Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi tabled the measure in April.

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