Brazil loosing influence in South America to Venezuela, claims former president
Former Brazilian president Fernando Enrique Cardoso said that his country is rapidly loosing influence in South America to Venezuela, following on remarks about the suspension of Paraguay from Mercosur.
“Brazil is loosing influence: before we had undisputed, automatic and non announced influence in the region”, said Cardoso from the opposition Social Democracy of Brazil party, PSDB, in an interview with the magazine Veja, which has the largest circulation in the country.
“Now with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela another pole of influence has been created and I am under the impression that Brazil does not want to counter him, it’s as if we belonged to the same family, he’s my cousin, he’s a ‘lefty’, I would prefer he wasn’t but he is my cousin. Brazil represses itself in taking decisions so as not to be seen as someone outside the family”, argued Cardoso.
The former president made his analysis following comments on the Paraguayan situation because of the impeachment and removal of Fernando Lugo which led to the country’s suspension from Mercosur and the incorporation of Venezuela.
“There was a lack of diplomacy to address the Paraguayan situation, and not only from Brazil. Anyway if I had a say, I would say the suspension of Paraguay must be avoided when there is only ten months of government left. The action in Paraguay was thundering, politically inconvenient, but it was not illegal” underlined the former president.
And he added “what was really serious was the incorporation of Venezuela to Mercosur in the absence of Paraguay. All Mercosur decisions are by consensus, which means the participation of all members”.
Cardoso said he favoured Venezuela in Mercosur but “they had at least to comply the basic requisite of adopting a common external tariff”.
Furthermore Cardoso warned about the dangers of protectionism emphasizing that “Argentina has an open determined protectionist tendency, which erodes drastically productivity”.
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Just think as a strategic balance matter...
OT:
MercoPress, estás más influenciado que mi mamá cuando aseguraba que mi cara es la más linda. Ponele onda loco, o estás nervioso?
OT:
Hay que tener en cuenta que Cardoso fue un presidente neoliberal, que siguió un modelo que condujo a Brasil a la privatización, pérdida del empleo y del desarrollo tecnológico por el cierre de industrias y de la educación. Cardoso siempre se mostró envidioso de Lula y Dilma, que apostaron por el desarrollo de Brasil junto con la unión sudamericana para fortalecer a la región. Cardoso, la tenés adentro. (Cardoso la tiene adentro)
There is no defence pact, no dictatorship,
So really Brazil then has nothing to worry about,
Sadly im not convinced,
Thank god we don’t have to live in the path of CFK .
,
.
Evo(Bolivia), Correa(Ecuador), Cristina(Argentina) and Hugito (Venezuela)
What a madhouse.... good luck, you sore losers!
Rather a strange comment, MercoPress are publishing an interview with a former President of Brasil, where does nervous come into it?
Brazil don’t need all the problems that Venezuela and Argentina will bring them.
They should look for bilateral agreements with the EU/NAFTA and so on.
You don't know anything about my country. Lula was very lucky, as Cardoso's legacy was a stable and promising economy. The privatisations were necessary, since many public companies had become parasitic dinosaurs. (Will leftists ever understand that the State is supposed to serve the citizen and not the other way around?) As to Brazilian public education, it remains one of the least efficient in the world. All of the more than fifty federal universities have been on strike since May 17. All of the private universities are functioning normally. Are you going to blame this on Cardoso?
Brazil is well capable of standing on its own two feet in South America, independent of all the other South American states. I am surprised it has not done, but has thrown its hat into the ring with less advanced nations such as Venezuala and Argentina.
Brazil has made a serious MISTAKE in permitting Venezuala into Mercosur ... and will rue the day it did so. Brazilian diplomacy appears to have been wrongly influenced as diplomatic information to the executive was tainted with 'internal diplomatic leftist leanings' resulting in the removal of some top officials. All this aside, the responsibility lies with the Brazilian President who appears somewhat removed from proceedings at times ... where is the democratic accountability in that?
why they don't surprise me?...
I am neither neocon nor afraid of Chavez.
The problems Chavez will bring mercosur (and the problems CFK is creating for Argentina) have a positive side for Chile. Obviously the best thing for Chile is a stable and growing region, but if mercosur prefers protectionism and low productivity we can still find the advantage in the situation.
Do you really approve of Chavez?
You are the problem is that you are not aware of.
“The problems Chavez will bring mercosur (and the problems CFK is creating for Argentina) have a positive side for Chile”
Good for Chile so.
“Obviously the best thing for Chile is a stable and growing region, but if mercosur prefers protectionism and low productivity we can still find the advantage in the situation”
Good for you then...
@Simon68
Venezuela is good for business especially for Brazil and Argentina they import a lot of stuff formally form US now will start to flow from Mercosur. Venezuela GDP is about 375 bn 34th in the world and bigger than Austria, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Norway, Peru, Chile, Singapore, etc.
Lest say more than 10 times the size of Paraguay.
A little bit smaller than Sweden $379bn.
So stop consuming rotten fish from US propaganda made by Otto Reich.
www.ottoreich.com/www.ottoreichassociates.com/Home.html
www.ottoreich.com/www.ottoreichassociates.com/Press.html
Venezuela holds the bigger probed reserves of oil in the West and 60% of it exports go to US what represent more than 25% of the imported oil in US.
So no having Venezuela as a puppet of US represent a problem to them but not for Mercosur because they fear that Hugo can anytime soon cut exports to US if he finds another market.
The Neocons & multi are trying to isolate Venezuela since Bush era now any attempt to do something in Venezuela would be a direct aggression over Mercosur.
So stop worrying for nothing at least you are a friend of Otto?
Are you? because you seem to be.
@ Fido Dido
“The only thing Mr Cardosso is right about is that Brazil should decriminalize using of soft drugs.”
I guess he has some friends in US just planned the delivery from Miami and in US dollars, ha ha
“So no having Venezuela as a puppet of US represent a problem to them but not for Mercosur because they fear that Hugo can anytime soon cut exports to US if he finds another market”.
Venezuela sells oil to the US because the US is their best customer.
Venezuela being in mercosur will not change that.
Kind of a love-hate story...
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