by Alex Main

Earlier this month, as the US loudly complained [1] about Venezuela's decision to purchase arms from Russia, South America's ministers of defense came together in Guayaquil, Ecuador and put the finishing touches on an agreement [2] to develop common mechanisms of transparency in defense policy and spending.   The agreement, which also calls for the creation of a multilateral Center for Strategic Defense Studies [3], is the most recent example of the growing effectiveness of the Union of South American Nations (Spanish acronym UNASUR) as a forum for addressing the most urgent and sensitive issues on the regional agenda.   Though the group remains unknown to most of the US public - and is rarely referred to by US policy makers - it has, in the space of a few years, emerged as one of the Western Hemisphere's leading multilateral bodies and, in the process, is rapidly undermining the regional clout of the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS).