President Federico Franco announced in a press conference that if Paraguay is suspended from Mercosur the country will feel free to look for other trade agreements and international relations.
Mercosur Secretary General Samuel Pinheiro Guimaraes resigned to his post in the midst of the Mendoza summit following a strong exchange with the group of Foreign Ministers, indicated reports from Buenos Aires.
Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay made official on Friday the temporary suspension of Paraguay from Mercosur, because of the ‘summary’ removal of President Fernando Lugo and at the same time announced Venezuela will be incorporated to the group on July 31 at a meeting in Rio do Janeiro.
Mercosur will not impose economic sanctions on Paraguay despite concerns over the ousting of the country's president, officials said on Thursday evening at the summit taking place in Mendoza, Argentina.
The removal of Fernando Lugo from the Paraguayan Executive office was legal, said Brazilian former president and Senator Fernando Collor, quoted by O’Globo. He insisted there was “no coup”.
Paraguay’s head of the Industrial Union Eduardo Felippo said that he’s supportive of the possibility that the country is excluded from Mercosur, adding that “the rest of the members are going to lose more money than us”
The new Paraguayan government claimed before the Organization of American States, OAS, that Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay are again involved in a “Triple Alliance” to have the country ousted from the inter-American organization as is happening with Mercosur and Unasur.
Uruguayan president Jose Mujica rejected on Monday the possibility of applying economic sanctions on Paraguay following on the “parliamentary coup” as was announced by Venezuela which decided to cut the supply of subsidized oil.
Chilean president Sebastián Piñera revealed that next Friday during the regular Mercosur summit, the leaders of Unasur member states are scheduled to hold an extraordinary meeting to jointly address the political crisis in Paraguay triggered by the removal of President Fernando Lugo.
Mercosur countries decided on Sunday “to suspend with immediate effect” the participation of Paraguay in the coming Mercosur summit and preparatory meetings set to begin Monday until next Friday in Mendoza because of the removal of President Fernando Lugo.