Chile abandons Forum for the Progress of South America

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, decided to officially suspend his country’s participation in the Forum for the Progress of South America (Prosur), an alliance of South American countries promoted by his predecessor, Sebastian Piñera and to which the main center-right countries belong.

The decision responds to the line marked by the president in his investiture speech from the Palacio de la Moneda balcony and in the press conference he gave to the foreign press two days later.

Boric stressed that his wish was that South America, in particular, and Latin America, in general, speak with a single voice to achieve greater influence and not through multiple and diverse organizations, many of which are based on political affinities and not on the needs and strengths of the region.

In this context, Boric, who is on an official visit to Argentina on the first trip of his term, again stated that his objective is to focus on Chile’s role in the framework of these multilateral organizations such as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), the Pacific Alliance or Mercosur.

According to sources close to the palace of La Moneda, the government communicated last Friday to Prosur the suspension of its participation in the organization created in 2019 by Piñera and the president of Colombia, Iván Duque, as an alternative to the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), which they considered excessively bureaucratic and ideologized”.