Bolivia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Colombia: Crisis in the Andes · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Explaining that Venezuela has already left and that Bolivia is thinking of following, Miguel Buitrago says that most of the achievements of The Andean Community (CAN) are only observable on paper. Movimiento 13 de Abril, quotes Chavez (ES) in his announcement at the Community's recent summit in Paraguay: “CAN serves the elites and multi-nationals, but does not serve the indigenous, blacks, whites, or poor people. It doesn't serve our population and not only does it not serve them, it negatively affects them.” Professor Steven Taylor says that “Chávez may actually have a point (not something I am prone to writing) when he says that the organization is ‘fatally wounded.'” Daniel Duquenal, however, calls the decision “utter nonsense, a gesture just for the glory of Chavez, a diplomatic and economic move that will only benefit Chavez and his trading partners, but not Venezuelans who will surely hurt as hundred of thousand of jobs could be lost.” EGG Blog remembers the Venezuelan “Andean Passport,” (ES) a legacy of Chavez's former support of the community and wonders what will become of them now. Loosely related is a rare English post by Movimiento Boliviano por la Soberanía y la Integración solidaria de los pueblos arguing against an “association agreement” between the EU and CAN.