Quito, March 21 (RHC) – Any country that breaks with democratic order will be automatically excluded from the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the bloc announced this week, after its “democratic clause” came into force.

In a ceremony that took place in Quito, Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño announced that Colombia became the tenth country to ratify the clause, which needed the ratification of nine member states to come into force.

That pre-requisite had already been met a month ago with th ratification of Uruguay, Patiño reminded.

“Uruguay’s ratification could not be more timely. It comes as Venezuela, a brother country, is suffering the attacks of an opposition that believes that the path to political power is the use of force and violence,” Patiño said.

“Anti-democratic attempts cannot be tolerated,” Patiño insisted and said that “democracy and elections” are the only legitimate way to reach power.

Unasur’s “democratic clause” had been verbally agreed on November 26, 2010 after a coup attempt against Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa in September that year. The goal is to allow member-states to jointly respond to, and even prevent, coup attempts in the region.

Patiño also reminded his audience that Unasur had agreed to send a special delegation to Caracas “to accompany the Venezuelan government in the dialogue that it’s seeking so that political differences can be resolved democratically and peacefully.”

He said that the mission will arrive in Venezuela “before the end of March.”

Caracas and other Venezuelan cities have been roiled by more than a month of violent anti-government demonstrations that seek to pave the way for a foreign intervention in Venezuela and the overthrow of the constitutional government of President Nicolas Maduro.