Lima, Apr 16, 2002. Andean Community Secretary General, Sebastián Alegrett, underscored "the return to constitutional order in Venezuela and the desirability of strengthening dialogue and harmonization among all sectors in that country."

He made these declarations today on answering questions asked by journalists about the situation in Venezuela and the impact it can be expected to have on the Andean integration process.

After deeply regretting "the painful loss of human lives," Alegrett stated that he trusted that "the Venezuelans themselves, with the solidarity of the international community, will be able to peacefully settle the differences that exist within that society in order to achieve reconciliation and national unity."

On being asked whether these developments will affect the course of Andean integration, he responded that there was "no reason for them to have a negative effect" on the integration process.

He went on to add that "over the 33 year existence of the Community project, the countries have always attached great value to this common space for dialogue and reflection, which has allowed us on several occasions to overcome complicated and difficult situations."

By way of example, he cited the institutional crises that Ecuador and Peru have had to face and even the already surmounted territorial dispute between the two countries, from which "the integration process emerged strengthened by the political will of its members."

He recalled, as well, that the Andean Group since the nineteen seventies "has been acting as an efficient driving force to boost the full democracy of its member countries."

In that connection, he drew attention to the important role played by the Andean Foreign Ministers in returning Bolivia to constitutional government following Colonel Alberto Natush Bush’s coup d’état in 1979.

On being queried about the CAN’s current mechanisms for confronting a disruption of the constitutional order in the subregion, the Secretary General explained that the Foreign Ministers had signed the "Andean Community Commitment to Democracy" in June 2000.

Although this instrument has yet to be ratified by the national legislative bodies and accordingly is not yet operational, "the commitment undeniably has great political weight."

That Protocol establishes that "democratic institutions and a constitutional state that are fully effective are essential to political cooperation and integration" and stipulates the procedures to be followed if the democratic order is disrupted in any of the Member Countries.

Those measures range from that country’s suspension from participating in any one of the bodies of the Andean Integration System or its "disqualification by Andean financial institutions from obtaining access to facilities or loans" to the "suspension of the rights to which it is entitled under the Cartagena Agreement and of the right to coordinate external action in other spheres."