Brazil wants Paraguay back in Mercosur following “democracy compliance” test
Brazilian Foreign minister Antonio Patriota said on Friday that Paraguay could resume membership of Mercosur and Unasur without the need to wait for presidential elections next April 2013 as long as “full compliance with democracy” can be verified.
“Paraguay can rejoin regional organizations once full compliance of democracy is verified by members of Mercosur and Unasur which means Paraguay will not need to wait until April 2013 presidential elections” said Patriota during a press conference in Rio do Janeiro next to his Uruguayan peer Luis Almagro who insisted that was the unanimous expectation from the group.
Patriota described as very positive the fact that Paraguay under President Federico Franco decided to confirm the electoral calendar which was established by his predecessor in the job Fernando Lugo, who was removed from office following political impeachment by the Senate last June which triggered the suspension of the country from Mercosur and Unasur.
Uruguayan minister Almagro said that “time helps with the healing process” of the Paraguayan situation in so far that the coming election represents a “solution” for the country and its reintegration to the Latinamerican community.
“We expect the electoral process to be clean, transparent, and clear and with guarantees for all involved particularly for those who have been removed from office, and more specifically President Lugo and left wing sectors. Hopefully through such an electoral process, clear and transparent Paraguay can reach the right solution”, added Almagro.
He added that it was encouraging that mechanisms of international monitoring have been established for the coming elections precisely to promote and ensure the maximum guarantees to the electoral process.
Almagro underlined that Mercosur was going through its “best political moment” because of the shared position of country members in deciding the suspension of Paraguay and the incorporation of Venezuela as full member.
Patriota finally said that Mercosur had done its utmost to ensure that the suspension did not have “impacts” on the Paraguayan people or economy, which has been confirmed by an increase in the volume of trade between Paraguay and other full members during the last few months.
Suggested Stories
-
May 17th 2013
Argentina’s ‘autarkic project’ worsens bilateral relations and multiplies problems
-
May 15th 2013
Paraguay on Independence Day blasts Argentina and Brazil over “power resource exploitation”
-
May 17th 2013
Argentine whitewash bill turning into ugly electoral debate
-
May 17th 2013
Uruguay’s José Mujica lauds booming Brazil ties
26 comments Feed
Note: Comments do not reflect MercoPress’ opinions. They are the personal view of our users. We wish to keep this as open and unregulated as possible. However, rude or foul language, discriminative comments (based on ethnicity, religion, gender, nationality, sexual orientation or the sort), spamming or any other offensive or inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated. Please report any inadequate posts to the editor. Comments must be in English. Thank you.
Figuring that Mercosur was not designed as a political bloc, I think Almagro got it right that this is the best political moment of Mercosur. It only further shows that the trading initiatives of the bloc are gone.
Mercopress didn't mention it but Paraguay has decided to not increase any of its tariffs; this goes against the regional tide where Brazil has increased tariffs in some 300 items and well we don't need to mention Argentina. Actually Paraguay is looking at further cutting back import restrictions.
Paraguay is landlocked
@5 & 2 - Paraguay should remain in the bloc because the socialistic models don't work and eventually these countries will return back to sensible policies. In the meantime Paraguay will remain the hold out with open free borders. But yes we should be joining every trade bloc in the world right now, and we can because we are suspended from Mercosur. Pacific Alliance would be a good start.
If Pepe and Almagro are not careful it might just happen.
It seems already under way in AG.
If we are really lucky it may happen tomorrow in Venezuela.
The problem was that Lugo didnt dennounced the political judge was wrong. That was a big mistake, he wad hours to get defended.
But in the continent, problems and conflicts are resolved by ourselves. And that is great, great. After seeing so much situations in Africa and Middle east, where foreigner countries come with criminal no solutions.
They could be right on where Venezuela has some 23,5 $ billions money in US banks.
#11 - Most people from Mercosur have no problem with Venezuela being part of Mercosur, but we do have an issue with Hugo Chavez. The current system has made Venezuela Hugo's little playground and ATM machine. So most people are aware of what is going on and refuse to be a part of his grand plan. Look, clearly Paraguay didn't allow Hugo into Mercosur, but that is the way the constitution of Mercosur was written. Change it if you must but don't just blantanly break your own rules, it is pathetic.
And what do European know about it? You were dictatorships for the better part of the last 2000 years... The last people to talk about it is you. Remember, no one respects a European (includes a Brit).
So Paraguay will be forgiven for being right all along... As long as they don't protest the morally rotten admission of Venezuela into Mercosur that is.
“El ladrón piensa que son todos de su condición”.
Funny that you, of all people, should talk about lies. I suggest you come to Uruguay and speak to people in the street, but then of course you're not a Uruguayan and may never have been here. Or perhaps you can have a look at readers' comments in the newspapers. Do you really think that the majority of Uruguayans are Argentine toadies, or celebrating the killings committed by the Tupamaros (or anyone else)? I stand by what I said in my post No. 10.
So? A person voting for Lista 609 is not necessarily an Argentine toadie or proud of all of the Tupamaro's deeds before the dictatorship. In fact I know many who voted for this list in the last elections, and I can't think of a single one who is. People who celebrate murders committed by the Tupamaros are so far left that they have been excluded from the Frente Amplio coalition, and have no parliamentary representation due to their small numbers. But even they are not Argentine lickspittles.
Even Pepe has expressed his shame and regret at the killings, perhaps he has matured in his old age.
Guzz
You DO NOT speak for all Uruguayans, NONE of my friends (I have 17) are at all happy with the disgraceful treatment of Paraguay and all of them want Pepe out because of his brown-nosing TMBOA arse.
There, no doubt you will have a go at me now. It seems of late, your only response. Perhaps when you mature you will see things like a rational person.
True. In fact several of what we call “Traditional Tupamaros” (i.e. people who actually risked their lives and were exiled and/or imprisoned and tortured, as opposed to those who jumped on the bandwagon when the danger had passed) have expressed regret about some of the MLN-Tupamaro's worst excesses. However they have never apologised for rising up against a democratic government and having brought about the dictatorship. And, back to the article, even some members of the government have expressed their shame about Mercosur's treatment of Paraguay, party discipline notwithstanding. I insist: the great majority of Uruguayans are against what CFK, Dilma and Mujica did to Paraguay after that mysterious closed-door meeting.
Steady on Sir I will remind you that we in Europe have experienced democracy for the bulk of our history while LatAM has only just got it (sought of) any Europe is the birth place of modern democracy so I think we know a thing all too.
Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!