UNASUR Asks FMs to Go to Quito, Support Correa

Buenos Aires, Oct 2. -An emergency meeting of the Union of South American Nations on Friday decided for the foreign ministers of its member countries to travel to Quito to express their "full support" for President Rafael Correa.

The UNASUR meeting passed a resolution expressing its firm condemnation of the attempted coup and kidnapping of Correa carried out in that nation on Thursday by a group of police.

The South American bloc also decided that during its November 26 summit in Guyana, an additional protocol on democracty would be added to its constitution, via which only countries that maintain their constitutional order will remain in this organization.

It underlined "the need for those responsible for the attempted coup to be tried and sentenced" and affirmed that the bloc would not tolerate, under any circumstances, any new defiance of institutional authority or attempt to wage a coup against a lawfully-elected civilian power.

The UNASUR member countries warned that in case of constitutional order being violated, they would adopt concrete steps such as the closure of borders, suspension of trade, air traffic, energy, services, and other supplies.

The UNASUR leaders met behind closed doors to analyze the situation in Ecuador.

The summit was attended by Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, Boliviaâ�Ös Evo Morales, Chileâ�Ös Sebastian Piñera and Peruâ�Ös Alan Garcia.

The presidents of Venezuela and Colombia, Hugo Chavez and Juan Manuel Santos, respectively, later joined the meeting. (Prensa Latina)