Paraguay’s next government ‘must debate on whether to remain or abandon Mercosur’
Foreign minister Jose Felix Fernandez Estigarribia said that Paraguay needs an open discussion on whether the country should remain or not in Mercosur, particularly since the issue has become extremely divisive. However the discussion must be addressed by the elected government that takes office in August 2013.
“The new government must define our permanence or not as full member of Mercosur. This is a pending debate since in Paraguayan public opinion there’s a growing feeling, probably majority who oppose Mercosur. This is so in the business community and even some presidential hopefuls support the idea”, said Fernandez Estigarribia.
The minister said that the debate on the issue is a task for the government after the April 2013 elections: “we have to be very careful about what we finally do, taking into account all interests, of all sectors from Paraguay”.
Fernandez Estigarribia revealed that once a month his ministry brings together representatives from the different chambers which is when “we have a good idea what the business and manufacturing community thinks, and they are divided, there are some pushing to exit Mercosur as full member and others against it”.
Precisely last week on occasion of the end of the year gathering the head of the Paraguayan Industrial Union, UIP Eduardo Felippo said the future of Mercosur was ‘uncertain’. Among the authorities present was President Federico Franco.
“Paraguay must open to the world; we must accept that Mercosur has not meant positive results, rather the contrary, it has us in a slow persistent anaesthesia to the extent we didn’t realize that the others were growing vigorously (Chile, Peru) and we were stalled and dying happily”, said Felippo emphasizing that if in 20 years no real integration was achieved, much less under current circumstances with Paraguay suspended from the group.
He added that in twenty years Mercosur has not materialized a single integration process of relevance, not even with the European Union could we reach an agreement on trade. And how can this be achieved now when we have Venezuela among us, a country dedicated to blast its own production machinery?”
Suggested Stories
-
May 23rd 2013
Cristina Fernandez administration limits overseas dollar extractions to a minimum
-
May 22nd 2013
Uruguay joins the women’s presidential club: Mujica flies to China and Astori to Colombia
-
May 20th 2013
Brazil trapped by Argentina and Venezuela economic mismanagements
-
May 18th 2013
Maduro admits to knowing “the IDs and all” of the 900.000 Chavistas who did not vote for him
21 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.
The differences are quite startlingly when you compare the two groups. Paraguay has always been quite inward looking and perhaps it is time it starts looking outwards.
Back on topic.
Yes Fernandez is right. Paraguay needs to rethink its place in South America.
Stay with the nutters of Mercosur or get into the fast lane with Chile.
As I am sure you know...as a direct consequence of the Iberian conquest, Latin America was opened up for plunder, a process that allowed a few to control the wealth and the masses to become poor and uneducated. The Brits replaced the Spanish, then the Americans the Brits, but the process of bleeding the continent continued uninterrupted until the 20th century. As news of the French revolution inspired the independence movements of the early 19th century, the changes in Russia kindled the egalitarian fire in the 20th. Dirty wars and covert meddling wreaked havoc with Latam in the 20th century as people-power movements advanced in upsetting the established order. The result was bloody coups, dictatorships and the crushing of dreams of Latam utopia. As the cold war thawed, the dictatorships came to an end and most of the continent experimented with the free market. The problem was that most countries had (and still have) weak and corrupt institutions – as was true in Eastern Europe - when introduced to the free market you get jungle capitalism and you are almost back to where you started with the Spanish.
So, to answer your question IMHO, most people 40 and over have lived though dictatorships and the worst kind of capitalism and having seen nothing improve are seduced by that unfulfilled socialist dream.
The solution as I see it is all about the strength of institutions. These are the foundations of a country. Economics are secondary. Whether you go left or right makes no difference if you are building your house on straw foundations – you will fail.
In Chile we were lucky: we went from the frying pan to the fire and learned neither were good. We came out the other side with a strong grip on resources and solid institutions. Others were not so lucky and continue to jump from the pan to the fire and back to the pan.
because military governments are seen as of the Right - and the Right is seen as military, and anti-military is seen as of the left.
The left is not viewed as that of Eastern Europe, Russia, China, etc.;
it is the Left of Fidel and Cuba, of Bolivarism (strangely), of the charismatic early years of Che Guevara, of anti-USA.
It is supposedly 'of the People', of the poor, of 'hope' .......
.... and, most importantly, it is where the most tractable, proportionately large, populations are that can be used to keep a 'left' in power.
You don't know Latin America enough,so your comments are the same replicated points.
Not sure how practical it would be for them, as they are now surrounded by murcosur. Which could switch them on and off like a light if they wanted to.
Can’t see any easy answers for Paraguay.
Great review, is as simple as that. The only difference I find here is that ppl from 40 years or older are usually more optimistic than those of 20-30 years maybe because older ppl have seen the changes and younger ppl have had to deal with the worse crisis. Our older institutions from estatal mixed capitalism are still strong and those mix badly with the new ones more flexible but weaker, but progress has been made. It did help that Zedillo begun the transition both in political and economic ways, now we just need to actualice old institutions and make stronger the younger ones.
I think Paraguay is making the right questions, it needs broarder perspectives and more friends in South America. to stablish a good relationship with Bolivia, Peru and Chile while keeping what is there still of positive from Mercosur would be good steps IMO. Also, great decisión to begin with the need goverment of 2013.
Hmmm considering the US has FTAs with:
Canada
Mexico
Guatemala
Honduras
Nicaragua
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Dominican Republic
Panama
Colombia
Peru
Chile.
Might not be as difficult as some would have us believe.
If Chile has a FTA with USA for agricultural products, why couldn't Paraguay. In fact it would be much easier for Paraguay to negotiate alone without cumbersome, inept Mercosur getting in the way.
And as @15 points out, it is not about 1 FTA with the USA it is about dozens. Chile's fruit exports to US fell about 10% last year, but that was recovered by exporting to Asia (we have FTAs with all Asia's main economies). With half of the world’s population crammed into south east Asia, the question is, why would you NOT want FTAs in place.
15: Exactly.
12: Quite right.
But are you optimistic or pessimistic? ;)
What rights of navigation for shipping does Paraguay have down to, and out of the river plate estuary?
Or are we looking at just flying over or crossing borders with goods.
Given the considerable differences in the respective geographies of the two countries, specifically one has a very long coastline and the other has none, Chile has to be the most unlikely comparison for Paraguay.
optimistic but I am on my twenties :)
Agree 100%.
B_K has always been just short of a six-pack, but since he has returned I think the lobotomy he underwent was a little too radical! LOLs
Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!