United Parliament of Latin America Parlamento Unido de América Latina Parlamento Unido da América Latina | |
---|---|
![]() Flag | |
![]() Member states shown in dark green | |
Abbreviation | UPLA, ParLatam |
Motto | "Latinos Unidos" (United Latinos) |
Formation | 27 May 1989 |
Type | Intergovernmental organisation |
Headquarters | Bogotá, New Granada |
Membership | 8 States Argentina |
Official languages | Spanish and Portuguese |
President | Juan Guaidó |
Secretary General | Aníbal Gaviria Correa |
Former name | Latin American Association |
The United Parliament of Latin America (UPLA, Spanish: Parlamento Unido de América Latina), commonly known as ParLatam is a political and economic union conformed by 7 states in South and Central America. Its full members are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, New Granada, Paraguay and Venezuela. Panama and Mexico are associate countries with special benefits. All official members share a Parliament and a Currency, the Peso Real.
ParLatam finds its origins in the Latin American Association, an intergovernmental organization formed to create unity between the USA-aligned countries of Latin America during the First Cold War. The organization turned out to be very successful for the involved nations, and at the same time, very popular among their citizens. In 1982, a Summit would be held in Venezuela, in which the first negotiations of a possible Latin American monetary union would be made. Mexico, one of the founder members of the association, was strongly opposed on this idea, arguing that the proposed union would cause the nation to lose much of its autonomy.
After the enacment of the Treaty of Asunción in 1989, the union was officially established by 6 member nations and 1 observer state, various treaties were later signed in order to better organize the union and form the parliament. ParLatam has proven to have a resoundingly positive effect on the economy of all participants, consolidating Latin America as an important economy in the international community and an important figure in the Second Cold War. El Salvador is currently the newest member of the union, joining in 2003.
History[]
Origins[]

Simon Bolivar, president of Colombia.
In the 1810s, Hispanic America began its independence process, with several rebellions beginning to arise around the former viceroyalties, many figures stand out from this process of independence wars, such as San Martin, Bernardo O'Higgins, Miguel Hidalgo and especially Simon Bolivar. Simon Bolivar is remembered for his ideas of a united Hispanic America, a hypothetical nation that would go from Mexico to Argentina and Chile, later nicknamed "Patria Grande" Bolivar would later become the president of the Republic of Colombia, a large nation that included the territores of the viceroyalty of New Granada. The newborn nation had expectations of expanding and eventually fulfilling Bolivar's dream, however the poor organization, separatist independence movements and the loss in the Colombia-Peru War would result in the dissolution of Colombia into several states.
The rest of the 19th century was mostly peaceful for Latin America, with only some conflicts erupting over the delimitation of the nations. In 1889, the first Pan-American Conference would take place in the United States, which contributed to the integration between American countries.
With the beginning of the First Cold War, various attempts to unify the Democratic Latin America were made, like the Rio Treaty (1947), the Organization of American States (1948). the Central American Integration System (1951) and the League of Four Emperors (1962). The government of the United States during the 60s and 70s had special interests in having their sphere of influence in Latin America strong against the forces of communism and fascism. The communist countries of the American continent were already very unified thanks to organizations like the Kinshassa Pact and the Comecon. In 1967, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador would form the Andean United Community in order to economically help each other. The creation of this organization reactivated interest in the integration of the other Latin American countries. After almost a decade of negotiations, the Latin American Association would be created in 1979 after the Montevideo conference held in Brazil.
Creation of LAA and Caracas Summit (1979-1983)[]
The Latin American Association would turned out to be very successful, and most importantly, very popular in South American nations. However, Mexican politicians would try to push Mexico away as much as possible politically, the popular thought that LAA would decrease Mexican autonomy would become quite popular among the country's population, resulting in the election of several politicians who went against the organization and the integration of the region in general.

Luis Herrera
In 1979, Luis Herrera was elected president of Venezuela, during his presidency the Venezuelan government began to consider that the organization could, with time and negotiations, gain more power over the member states, making it more similar to the Strasbourg Pact in Europe. On September 19, 1982, the Latin American Association held a summit in Caracas, Venezuela, in which the conditions for the creation of a new regional body with a common currency were discussed. The Brazilian emperor would propose the creation of the Peso Real as the common currency of the union, thanks to this, his face would later be placed on the banknote impressions.
The Caracas Summit would start the process of negotiations in order to create the new union, referendums would be held in all the countries involved, most coming out positive by more than 50% with the exception of Mexico, which would finally choose not to join the new organization, and peacefully leave the Latin American Association. Emperor Maximilian III would declare, on a public speech: "I don't see the economic unification of Latin America occurring this century"
Treaty of Asunción and integration of El Salvador (1989-present)[]
On May 27, 1989, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, New Granada, Paraguay and Venezuela signed the Treaty of Asunción, which officially created the United Parliament of Latin America (ParLatam), a few days after this, the circulation process of the new currency would begin. Small groups would go against the creation of this new parliament, in 1990, march took place in the capital of Chile against the new currency.
Despite initial doubts and a relatively slow economic growth, ParLatam would be gain a space in the great economies of the world, with countries such as Canada, China and European nations. In 1999, Mexico and Panama became associate countries of the organization, with special terms in terms of international trade. The Confederate States tried to negotiate its entry as an associate country, arguing that the Confederate states of Cuba and Puerto Rico had a very strong Spanish-speaking culture but ended up only getting the privilege of the observer status.
In 2001, El Salvador held a referendum on whether to join ParLatam, resulting in a resounding "Yes" of more than 60%, and later, in 2003, El Salvador would officially join the organization as the newest member.
List of Member States[]
Member States | Aspiring states | Associate States | Observers |
---|---|---|---|
|
|
|