Andean Community Comunidad Andina | |
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 Flag | |
| Motto: "Ésta es mi tierra, ésta es mi casa" (Spanish) "This is my homeland, this is my home" | |
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| Seat of Secretariat | Lima,Peru |
| Largest city | Lima,Peru |
| Official languages | |
| Type | Trade bloc |
| Member states |
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| Leaders | |
• Secretary General | Jorge Hernando Pedraza |
| Establishment | |
• as the Andean Pact | 1969 |
• as the CAN | 1996 |
| Area | |
• Total | 3,781,914 km2 (1,460,205 sq mi) (7th) |
| Population | |
• 2010 estimate | 101,119,783b (12th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2017 estimate |
• Total | $902.86 billion[1][2][3][4] (9th) |
• Per capita | $8,928.62 |
| HDI (2017) | 0.781 high |
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TheAndean Community (Spanish:Comunidad Andina de Naciones, CAN) is an international organization in South America. It consists of the member statesBolivia,Colombia,Ecuador andPeru and aims at the economic, political and social integration of these states.
CAN is also a free trade area with the objective of creating acustoms union comprising theSouth American countries. The organization was called theAndean Pact (Pacto Andino) until 1996 and came into existence when theCartagena Agreement was signed in 1969. Since the reform by the Trujillo Protocol of 1997 it calledComunidad Andina de Naciones. Its headquarters are inLima,Peru.
The Andean Community has 113 million inhabitants over an area of approximately 3,800,000 km2. ItsGDP has gone up to US$745.300 billion in 2005, including Venezuela, which was a member at the time. Its estimatedPPP of GDP for 2011 amounts to US$902.86 billion, excluding Venezuela.
The supranational characteristics of CAN are the reason why the Andean Community is considered the most robust subregional organization inLatin America and theCaribbean.
The Cartagena Agreement of 26 May 1969 is the legal basis of the Andean legal order, a supranational legal order modeled onEuropean Community law.
Although characterized by greater intergovernmentalism, the Andean Community is clearly modeled on the European Union in its basic elements. The Community is empowered to adopt its own legal acts, which are directly applicable in the member states and can grant individual rights without the need for further ratification. Furthermore, Andean Community law takes precedence over national law. These supranational characteristics of the Community are the reason why the Andean Community is considered the most robust subregional organization in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Member States drafted a treaty establishing the Andean Court of Justice (AGHV), which in its legal effects is partly similar to an additional protocol to the AC.
The original Andean Pact was founded in 1969 byBolivia,Chile,Colombia,Ecuador, andPeru. In 1973 the pact gained its sixth member, Venezuela. In 1976 however, its membership was again reduced to five when Chile withdrew. Venezuela announced its withdrawal in 2006, reducing the Andean Community to four member states.
With the new cooperation agreement withMercosur, the Andean Community gained four new associate members:Argentina,Brazil,Paraguay, andUruguay. These four Mercosur members were granted associate membership by the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in an enlarged session with the Commission (of the Andean Community) on 7 July 2005. This moves reciprocates the actions of Mercosur which granted associate membership to all the Andean Community nations by virtue of the Economic Complementarity Agreements (Free Trade agreements) signed between the CAN and individual Mercosur members.[5]
Evgeny Morozov argues that the original Andean Pact was motivated in part by a pursuit oftechnological sovereignty and independence from partnerships with American technology companies.[6][7]
 | This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2022) |
The Andean Community andMercosur comprise the two main trading blocs of South America. In 1999, these organizations began negotiating a merger with a view to creating a "South American Free Trade Area" (SAFTA). On 8 December 2004, the Andean Community (CAN) signed a cooperation agreement with Mercosur and they published a joint letter of intention for future negotiations towards integrating all of South America in aUnion of South American Nations (USAN), patterned after theEuropean Union.[18]
During 2005, Venezuela decided to join Mercosur. Venezuela's official position first appeared to be that, by joining Mercosur, further steps could be taken towards integrating both trade blocs.[citation needed] CAN Secretary GeneralAllan Wagner stated that the Venezuelan Foreign MinisterAlí Rodríguez had declared that Venezuela did not intend to leave the CAN, and its simultaneous membership to both blocs marked the beginning of their integration.[19]
However some analysts interpreted that Venezuela might eventually leave the CAN in the process.[20] As Colombia and Peru signed free trade agreements with the United States, in protest the Venezuelan PresidentHugo Chávez indeed announced in April 2006 his country's withdrawal from the CAN, stating that the Community is "dead".[21] Officials in Colombia and Peru expressed their disagreement with this view, as did representatives from Venezuela's industrial sector (Conindustria).[22]
In spite of this announcement, Venezuela still had not formally completed all the necessary withdrawal procedures. According to Venezuela's Commerce MinisterMaría Cristina Iglesias, the entire process was going to take up five years. Until then, Venezuela and its partners would remain bound by the effects of the community's preexisting commercial agreements.[23]
During a visit to Colombia in August 2007, President Hugo Chávez was asked by the presidents of Ecuador and Bolivia to rejoin the Andean Community, and he responded that he would agree.[citation needed] Meanwhile, at that time the Mercosur's relations with Venezuela were weakening as Mercosur was not agreeing with some of the Hugo Chávez's proposals.[24]
Eventually Venezuela achieved the full membership of the Mercosur in 2012, making the Mercosur bigger in number of members than the CAN for the first time.
In addition to CAN, Bolivia is also a member of theWTO,UNASUR, andALBA. Its attitude is considered crucial to relations between UNASUR and ALBA specifically, says Marion Hörmann, since Bolivia is traditionally seen as a mediator between the Andean countries and the rest of South America.[25]
Furthermore, on 7 December 2012, the Bolivian nation was accepted by the Mercosur countries to start the incorporation protocols to achieve the Mercosur full membership in a matter of 4 years,[26] receiving the proclamation of anaccessing member, and further consolidating itself as a strategic geopolitical nation.
Since 1 January 2005, the citizens of the member countries can enter the other Andean Community member states without the requirement of a visa. Travellers should present the authorities their national ID cards.[32]
Visitors to Venezuela will have to present their passports; they will then receive the Andean Migration Card (Tarjeta Andina de Migración), in which the time of temporary residence in the country is stated.
TheAndean passport was created in June 2001 pursuant toDecisión 504. This stipulates the issuing of apassport based on a standard model which contains harmonised features of nomenclature and security. The passport is effective in Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and Bolivia (Bolivia since early 2006).
...past efforts at such cooperation that had technological sovereignty as their goal, the Andean Pact being the foremost example. Signed by five nations in Peru, this pact's main objective was to overcome external trade barriers and promote regional cooperation to foster industrialization and economic development.Orlando Letelier, Chile's foreign minister under Allende, led the negotiations, highlighting the need to address the exploitation derived from technological property and dependence on foreign companies. Letelier proposed the creation of something like a technological equivalent of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Andean Pact, to facilitate developing countries' access to technological advances and patents.
On 26 May 1969 an agreement was signed by Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru establishing the Cartagena Agreement (also referred to as the Andean Pact or the Andean Group). Chile withdrew from the Group in 1976. Venezuela, which was actively involved, did not sign the agreement until 1973. In 1997 Peru announced its withdrawal for five years. In 2006 Venezuela left as a result of Colombia and Peru signing bilateral trade agreements with the USA.
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