Morales in attempt to rescue the Andean Community of Nations
Morales in attempt to rescue the Andean Community of Nations
- CAN countries seek an extension of trade preferences from the United States;
- On assuming the role of president pro tempore of the CAN at the closing of yesterday’s extraordinary conference, Morales asserted that he would do anything in his power to “save the Andean Community of Nations for the benefit of the majority”
Jose Vales El Universal, Mexico, June 14, 2006
BUENOS AIRES – Yesterday in Quito, Bolivian president Evo Morales committed himself to redoubling efforts to save the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) from the crisis it faces and called on the member countries to “think in the peoples’ interests.”
On assuming the role of President pro tempore of the block, at the closing of yesterday’s extraordinary conference, Morales asserted that he would do everything in his power to “save the CAN for the benefit of the majority.”
Morales, whose government will head up the CAN over the next 12 months, affirmed that his country is accepting the president pro temp position in the midst of “difficult times” for the block, which consists of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Last April, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez decided to pull his country out of the CAN, because he believed the alliance had been dealt a fatal blow by the free trade agreements Colombia and Peru negotiated with the United States.
However, the CAN succeeded yesterday in ironing out its differences following Venezuela’s withdrawal from the block. They will now collectively seek an extension of a program of trade preferences the Andean nations receive from the United States in exchange for their efforts to stop drug trafficking.
Despite the fact that Peru initially refused to approve the CAN request, due to having already signed a trade agreement with the United States, the country finally signed in a show of “Andean solidarity,” which demonstrated the group’s relative strength and spirit.
The four Andean countries asked President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia to bring the request to the United States and raise it in a meeting scheduled with George W. Bush for today.
“Given the importance of assuring its access to U.S. markets, the Peruvian government clarified that this show of Andean solidarity does not represent any sort of impediment to the approval of the free trade agreement sent to congress in April,” was the text of an announcement read by Ecuadorian chancellor Francisco Carrion.
In February, Colombia concluded its negotiations with Washington over a free trade agreement. In Ecuador the talks over trade with the United States are frozen, and La Paz has not initiated the process.
“Our joint request to the United States for the extension of trade preferences does not constitute any type of concession on the part of the US government, but will reflect our shared struggle against drug trafficking,” said president Evo Morales.
Although yesterday’s absence of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez from Quito was a reiteration of his de facto secession from the block, Venezuela’s vice-chancellor Pavel Rondon left open the possibility of maintaining trade relations with the other four member countries while proclaiming that “our relationship to the CAN is not altered, it’s modified; it is not suspended, it is presented in a different way.” All presidents attending the Quito conference expressed regret over Venezuela’s secession and admitted that the “the doors remain open for their return.”
On the other hand, Peruvian President elect Alan Garcia, who was in Brasilia, but paying attention to what was happening in Quito, pointed out that- “Without Venezuela, the CAN will be more dynamic, because it cannot function with an enemy on the inside.”