UNASUR, in full Union of South American Nations, Spanish Unión de Naciones Suramericanas, Portuguese União das Nações Sul-Americanas, and Dutch Unie van Zuid-Amerikaanse Naties, formerly South American Community of Nations, South American organization created in 2008 to propel regional integration on issues including democracy, education, energy, environment, infrastructure, and security and to eliminate social inequality and exclusion. It was inspired by and modeled after the European Union. UNASUR’s members are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Panama and Mexico hold observer status.
UNASUR is the successor of the South American Community of Nations (Comunidad Sudamericana de Naciones; CSN), which was established when 12 South American leaders signed the Cuzco Declaration in the city of Cuzco, Peru, in 2004. The CSN united two trade groups—the Andean Community and Mercosur, which continued to exist in their own right—with the additions of Chile, Guyana, and Suriname. At the organization’s first two annual summits (in September 2005 in Brasília, Braz., and in December 2006 at Cochabamba, Bol.), CSN leaders formulated their objectives and developed a strategic plan. At the South American Energy Summit in April 2007, they renamed the organization the Union of South American Nations.
On May 23, 2008, representatives of each country signed the Constitutive Treaty of the South American Union of Nations in Brasília. The treaty established a general secretariat in Quito, Ecua., and a parliament in Cochabamba. It also called for an annual meeting of heads of state, a biannual meeting of foreign ministers, and a one-year rotating presidency. Chilean Pres. Michelle Bachelet served as UNASUR’s first president. Within UNASUR are a South American Defense Council composed of the 12 countries’ defense ministers as well as a South American Council of Health. Some of the alliance’s long-term goals are to create a continental free trade zone, a single currency, and an interoceanic highway.