By Jesus Sanchis Moscardo

Quito, Mar 27 (EFE).– The secretary general of the Union of South American Nations, or Unasur, considers it opportune to “make use of the (April 10-11) Summit of the Americas to reassess relations between the United States and South America.”

In an interview with Efe, former Colombian President Ernesto Samper said it would be a worthwhile item on the agenda of the summit, whose expectations now largely center on an eventual meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuba’s Raul Castro.

Aside from media interest in the presence of Obama and Castro, Samper said, analyzing the state of Cuban-U.S. interests cannot dodge subjects like the need for Washington to raise its economic embargo on Cuba and the continued presence of a U.S. Navy base on Cuban soil at Guantanamo.

“A good point on the new agenda of relations (on the continent) would be the elimination of U.S. military bases from South America, “a leftover from the days of the Cold War and other clashes,” he said.

About the role of the Organization of American States in the context of the current tension between Venezuela and the United States, Samper said the OAS can make a considerable contribution to getting Caracas and Washington closer together, something that Unasur also wants to achieve.

The South American bloc’s role in this quarrel, he said, is to create opportunities for dialogue and do everything to avoid polarization, particularly in media coverage.

For that reason, Unasur plans to stand by Venezuela in its legislative elections scheduled for this year, in which Venezuelans “will be able to settle their differences,” as well as to “assure all due respect for the trials” of jailed members of the opposition and “of everyone,” Samper said.

In addition, he said, it is important to aid Venezuela in the supply of basic products for its people, something on which the 12 Unasur nations are working.

The evolution of relations between the United States and South America, according to the Colombian politician, should lead to discarding expressions of unilateralism in matters like, for example, “human rights” and “the war on drugs.”

Those positions “go against what should be, in my opinion, a basic framework of understanding, which is an acceptance of multilaterialism as the basis of relations,” he said.

“In a globalized world like the present one, you can’t ask for global rules for the economy and maintain unilateral rules for politics. No country has the right to judge the conduct of another and even less to impose sanctions and penalties on their own,” he said. EFE