Weekly Report - 13 August 2009 (WR-09-32)

The Union of South American Nations (Unasur) met in Quito on 10 August. Its official agenda went all but unreported as it was hijacked by the debate over Colombian-US military bases. Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe had spent the previous week on a peripatetic tour of South America in an endeavour to, if not drum up support, win understanding for the accord with the US. Unasur heads of state failed to reach a consensus over the thorny issue, which they agreed to discuss at a special summit in Argentina at a later date. Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez , meanwhile, once again ratcheted up the tension with Colombia, indulging his taste for sabre-rattling: “the winds of war have started to blow", he said.