Uruguay Withdraws from UNASUR, Requests Reintegration in TIAR

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Uruguayan Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday the government’s decision to withdraw from the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), as well as its intention to rejoin the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR), from which it had begun its exit procedure in September 2019 during former President Tabaré Vázquez’s administration.

The Uruguayan government argued for its withdrawal from UNASUR by considering it “a regional body, based on political and ideological alignments”. In addition, the Foreign Ministry’s announcement states that the South American body has already been abandoned by the “majority” of the region’s countries, with the exception of Bolivia, Guyana, Surinam and Venezuela.

Half of the UNASUR countries withdrew from the organization in April 2018, after disputes over its position on the institutional crisis in Venezuela. Among those countries were Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru. Uruguay decided to remain, together with Bolivia, although the latter’s interim government announced in November 2019 that it was considering the prospect of leaving the bloc.

Foreign Minister Ernesto Talvi announced Uruguay’s decision to withdraw from UNASUR to Ecuadorian Foreign Minister José Valencia, as the country is the “depositary” of the organization’s treaty.

The Foreign Ministry added in the letter that the bloc “has ceased to operate”, since “it has no headquarters and no operational general secretariat”. In fact, in 2017 the member countries were unable to agree on the appointment of a secretary general, so the bloc has been without a leader ever since. The last president was the Colombian Ernesto Samper.

On the other hand, Luis Lacalle Pou’s government announced that it was requested to interrupt the exit procedure from TIAR that Uruguay had started in September 2019. The country’s exit would take two years to materialize, so Uruguay was expected to be out by 2021.

However, Talvi wrote a note to the secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), Uruguayan Luis Almagro, to interrupt the exit procedure and request reinstatement.

The TIAR, which operates under the auspices of the OAS, is a multilateral pact aimed at providing assistance in dealing with armed attacks or threats against American states. The OAS members’ attempt to activate the defense pact due to the crisis in Venezuela was the reason for Uruguay’s prior rejection and withdrawal from the treaty.

On September 23rd in New York, the Uruguayan government was the only one to vote against the pact, while Trinidad and Tobago abstained from taking a position.

The resolution approved by the majority of the members proposed “pursuing” and “capturing” “bodies associated with the Nicolás Maduro regime”, who were “involved in illegal activities” as well as “senior officials” of the government who were involved in “acts of corruption”. To this end, it was decided to establish a network in which the “financial intelligence” and “public safety” authorities of the state parties would join forces in the investigation and prosecution.

Following this OAS meeting, the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry, then headed by Rodolfo Nin Novoa, announced that it would withdraw from TIAR on the understanding that the situation in Venezuela did not contain “any of the elements that could justify” the convening of a defense pact.

Uruguay argued that the spirit of the treaty is to defend the American countries from external threats and not to “allow internal conflicts between the continent’s countries”. “We left the treaty because it was obsolete, because it was inconclusive, (and) because of its inappropriate use,” then Minister Nin Novoa said at the time.

Meanwhile, this Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry announced that by remaining in TIAR the country “also reaffirms its historic commitment to the inter-American system,” while it will continue to voice “its positions” within the treaty’s framework.

“The new administration understands that the withdrawal from TIAR would undermine the inter-American system and deprive our country of making its voice heard in this area of mutual assistance in matters of collective defense and regional security,” the Foreign Ministry document adds.

The announcement further states that Foreign Minister Talvi’s first official mission will be to attend the OAS General Assembly in Washington on March 20th, on the occasion of the election of the new secretary general. Lacalle Pou’s government announced in recent weeks that it will support Almagro’s re-election.