BRASILIA (Reuters) - Half of the nations belonging to Unasur, a South American bloc set up a decade ago to counter U.S. sway in the region, have decided to suspend their membership, a Brazilian official told Reuters on Friday.

The governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Paraguay believe the bloc has been rudderless under the current rotating presidency of Bolivia, according to a statement sent to Brazilian ministers, seen by Reuters.

Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Fernando Huanacuni said the six were only pressuring for a quick turnover in presidency and stressed they were not abandoning Unasur. Bolivia will call an emergency meeting to solve disputes in the bloc, Huanacuni added in an interview with state media.

Unasur was created in 2008 when leftist populism advocated by the late Venezuelan leaderFor indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.





In an in-depth investigation in 2013, Mother Jones found that guns kill hundreds of children per year in the United States. Many die in homicides, and many others die in accidents—mostly when children themselves pull the trigger. The kids shooting themselves or others have often been as young as two or three years old. Invariably these “tragedies” result from adults leaving unsecured firearms lying around in their homes or, in some cases, in their cars.

Since our investigation, the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety has collected additional data confirming the scope of the problem. As the New York Times reported on Thursday, during one week in April four toddlers around the