MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian Senate suspends vote on Venezuela’s Mercosur incorporation

President Chavez is not so popular after all

The Brazilian Senate Foreign Relations committee suspended on Thursday for thirty days the consideration of Venezuela’s Mercosur incorporation protocol, following on rapporteur Senator Tasso Jereissati veto recommendation because of the “authoritarian” character of President Hugo Chavez regime.

Jereissati is a leading senator from the main opposition party and his report basically questions the “permanent scenario of democratic freedoms violations” existent in Venezuela, which is contrary to the democratic requirements demanded by Mercosur.

The vote suspension was agreed by the committee immediately after the government’s Senate leader Romero Juca announced he would make an alternative recommendation to that of the rapporteur.

Jereissati supported his position with several evidences: closing of opposition media; the use of military force to supress street protests and also questioned the legitimacy of the Venezuelan electoral process.

He added that President Chavez rules Venezuela almost “dictatorially” since he has a Congress submitted to his interests and is promoting the curtailment of the democratic system to ensure his permanence in office.

However he admitted that the incorporation of Venezuela could be positive from an economic point of view, particularly for Brazil, and could stimulate other countries to follow in joining Mercosur.

But economic advantages can’t be above the defence of democratic and civil rights in Mercosur, because Chavez has turned Venezuela into an “instrument of disintegration for South America”.

Jereissati also mentioned that if it proves correct that Chavez was behind the logistics for the return of ousted President Manuel Zelaya to Honduras, holed in the Brazilian embassy, and thus an embarrassment for Brazilian diplomacy, the Senate can’t support such an attitude and actions, rather the contrary.

“All my suspicions are based on official data from OAS”, he added.

Finally he said there were technical errors in the congressional procedure, since the protocol of incorporation was presented to consideration before trade negotiations with Venezuela had concluded.

So far Venezuela’s Mercosur membership request dating back to 2006 has only been approved by the legislative branches of Argentina and Uruguay. Paraguay is also pending a vote but President Fernando Lugo last month withdrew the bill when he realized it would not be approved.