Many South American countries have been linked to the Haiti situation even before the devastating earthquake. Currently, military and other personnel from Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia make up the backbone of the major United Nations peace-keeping effort there.
Immediately after the earthquake struck on January 12, UNASUR countries rushed doctors, search-and-rescue teams and food and emergency supplies to Haiti. Brazil, which leads a United Nations peacekeeping contingent in Haiti, had already pledged about US$17 million to the country, the most among UNASUR and other Latin American nations. Then in further action on January 26, President da Silva signed a decree January 26 providing the equivalent of US$200 million in aid to Haiti.
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Venezuela also plunged in with immediate assistance by cancelling Haiti's oil-related debt and donating 225,000 barrels of fuel. Colombia also sent more than 200 search-and-rescue personnel and committed hundreds of tonnes of humanitarian supplies.
The weaker economies in the bloc have also played their part. For instance, Ecuador has sent rescue teams and donated several tonnes of food. And Guyana has donated more than US$1.4 million to immediate relief efforts, and in addition, through donations of cash, food and clothing from the general populace, has also shipped many tons of relief items to Haiti.
Significantly, during the discussions, Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo opined that UNASUR must become "a great space of solidarity" and urged the creation of a permanent "South American Solidarity Brigade" to help extreme situations such as in Haiti.
This is an interesting and workable proposal and action should be taken on it ... ten years ago, in January 1999, as Guyana's ambassador to the OAS, I proposed, during a meeting on the effects of natural disasters, that the hemispheric organisation should set up a permanent disaster assistance unit to deal with such crises. Unfortunately, there was no follow-up on this suggestion.
Without a doubt, such a highly desired unit would have provided crucial assistance to Haiti immediately after the earthquake struck.
President Lugo's proposal, therefore, if followed through, can fill this need and provide vital regional leadership in times of natural disasters.
Dr. Odeen Ishmael
embguy@cantv.net