MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguay president elect demands Mercosur complies with International law

Cartes no return to Mercosur in the current circumstances

Paraguay president-elect Horacio Cartes made public a strongly supported legal statement rejecting the decision to give the pro-tempore presidency of Mercosur to Venezuela which was approved and confirmed on Friday at the group’s presidential summit in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The Cartes document was in reply to the “Decision on the lifting of Paraguay’s suspension from Mercosur based on the implementation of the Ushuaia Protocol on democratic commitment”, released earlier on Friday when Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro took the pro tempore presidency of Mercosur in the presence of Cristina Fernandez from Argentina, Dilma Rousseff from Brazil and Uruguay’s Jose Mujica.

The five-point document states that ‘a fundamental fact of international politics is the implementation of International Law. Politics is not force or discretion. Neither does it legitimize any events or procedures which shun the Law’.

The Cartes document states that ‘the juridical characteristics of Venezuela’s incorporation as full member of Mercosur in July 2012, have not kept to the legal norms to which must comply the incorporation of a new member, and to the Treaty of Asuncion (Art.20), the Ouro Preto Protocol (Arts 3 and 37) and the Protocol of Adhesion of Venezuela (Art 12). The mere passing of time or later political decisions does not re-establish on their own, the rule of Law. The rule of law both domestic and international must be recognized, respected and complied, as agreed. That is ‘pacta sunt servanda”.

They are essential values of Paraguay’s foreign policy and the fundamental principles that rule international relations. Our constitution so establishes it and to these principles we must adjust our conduct. Valuable principles such as juridical equality among States, international solidarity and cooperation, and the non interference in internal affairs, among others are also consecrated in the respective charters of the United Nations and the Organization of American States which member states must comply in good faith.

The conduct we have carried out in this process with the founding members of Mercosur, (an organism of subregional economic integration) was always based without exception respecting the full validity of International Law principles and norms, and in the practice of dialogue as the most fitting instrument for the solution of differences.

Plus reaffirming these principles, values and practices of international coexistence among States, which the citizens and public opinion of Paraguay share, I wish to be clear and precise in expressing with no equivocalness or ambiguity that in the constitutional course of the Presidency of the Republic of Paraguay and my constitutional responsibility in the management of the foreign relations of the Republic, I will always perform according to the following:

Develop a bilateral and multilateral policy based on the strict compliance of the norms and principles of International Law and of diplomacy according to what dictates our Constitution, maintaining the coherence of the rule of law at national and international levels, and always preserving the dignity and interests of Paraguay.

To observe with particular attention, at multilateral level, the compliance of the corresponding International Law. The return of Paraguay to Mercosur in full exercise of its rights is based on respect for the rule of the law and the dignity of the Republic, because international relations demand the compliance of a Rule of the Law as it is clearly expressed in the UN General Assembly Resolution 2112, from 24 September 2012, adopted by all member states in the “Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Rule of Law at the National and International Levels”, on reaffirming our commitment with the rule of the law and its fundamental importance for political dialogue and cooperation among all States in the solution of their difference and finally display at all moments the best possible bilateral relations with the States with which Paraguay has diplomatic relations.

Develop at all moments the best possible bilateral relations with the States with which Paraguay, has diplomatic relations.