Andean Community nations push for Venezuela, Chile, Argentina to join bloc

By Marco Aquino

LIMA (Reuters) -The presidents of the nations making up the Andean Group – Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia – stated on Monday they want Venezuela, Chile and Argentina to hitch the group as a lot of South America shifts left.

“If we handle to combine Chile, Venezuela and Argentina…I feel this is able to considerably change issues and our voice could be heard way more clearly on the world stage,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro stated.

The presidents have been in Lima on Monday for a gathering as Ecuador passes on the bloc’s presidency to Peru.

Petro’s remarks are additionally his first on a international tour after taking on the presidency earlier this month.

The need to increase the Andean Group comes as a lot of South America has shifted left. Since 2020, left-wing governments have taken over in Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Chile. Ecuador, led by right-wing Guillermo Lasso, is now the outlier within the group.

Venezuela and Chile have been as soon as members, whereas Argentina has by no means joined.

Venezuela left within the early 2000s beneath the socialist presidency of Hugo Chavez, whereas Chile was a founding member however left in 1976 in the course of the right-wing dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

“I want to categorical the significance it will have for the Andean Group, and the advantages for its members, to have Chile and Venezuela rejoin,” Peruvian President Pedro Castillo stated on the occasion.

“And why not take into consideration a sub-regional integration across the thought of the Andean fatherland that features our sister Republic of Argentina, with which we share not simply the Andes but in addition a shared heritage,” Castillo added.

(Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; Enhancing by Andrea Ricci and Angus MacSwan)