Don’t rely on U.S., Ecuadorean says

GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Members of a fledgling South American defense union should stop seeking solutions from the United States and instead turn to their own leaders for answers, Ecuador’s leader said Friday.

President Rafael Correa spoke at the opening of a one-day summit of the Union of South American Nations which drew presidents including Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Correa said the region for decades has turned to Washington for help. “We need to rescue our own thoughts at this time,” he said. “We have to think for ourselves.”

Silva called the organization a global player whose members have cooperated with one another and survived an economic crisis that is still affecting some Western nations.

He said Brazil, which is soon expected to be the world’s fifth-largest economy, no longer has to listen to “some third-rate” official telling the country what to do.