Brazilian President Lula da Silva visits Colombia (updated)

Updates: On 20 July 2008, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe announced his country would join the Security Council of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). This council was proposed by Venezuela and Brazil to draft a defence policy and coordinate regional security. The Colombian acceptance to join the UNASUR Security Council is the result of a crafty diplomatic move made by Brazilian President Lula da Silva and Chilean Bachelet amid regional pressure over Ecuador and Colombia for them to restore bilateral relations fully. Few weeks back, Colombia had expressed it would not be joining due to the diplomatic regional crisis with Venezuela and Ecuador.   

Caracas, Venezuela, 19 July 2008. After visiting Bolivia to meet with his counterparts Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez, Brazilian President Lula da Silva arrived in Colombia late on 18 July 2008. During this three day visit from President Lula da Silva, it is expected that Brazil and Colombia will sign cooperation agreements of security at common frontier and defence. President Lula would ask his counterpart Alvaro Uribe to reconsider joining his proposed UNASUR defence council for South America.

Lula and Uribe will meet Peruvian President Alan Garcia in Leticia, a common frontiner zone in the Amazon, on Sunday. This trilateral meeting has created much expectation in Colombia and Peru.  

More news to come...

Sources: El Tiempo, RCN, Telesur, Unionradio,