Mujica: we need Venezuela in Mercosur “to help balance the group”

Friday, April 1st 2011 - 01:54 UTC

Full article 4 comments

Uruguayan president Jose Mujica promised his peer Hugo Chavez he would press strongly for Venezuela’s incorporation as full member of Mercosur because this will help balance the group. Read full article

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GeoffWard
The notorious asymmetry is not as Mujica says, big v small member states, it would be Viable economies v Basket case economy.

And yes, Chavez does bring energy (heavy crude) and 'fresh air' (hot) to the Uruguay, but the Venezuela-Uruguay deal brings additional wealth (?) to Uruguay - use of a satellite (for what?).
For Venezuela the deal brings agriculture and livestock genetics; software research, agriculture and food supplies, and construction of houses and warehouses.

OK, the oil is welcome, but any quid quo pro allowing Chavez early access to Mercosur is a distinctly asymmetric deal.

Mercosur should keep supporting Paraguay to keep Chavez out, and, at the same time, evolve their internal mechanisms to overcome any asymmetry produced by disparity in sizes of countries.

Is it *really* true that Argentina and Brasil carve up Mercosur and simply retrospectively inform Paraguay and Uruguay? Sounds like Mercopress spin to me.
Apr 01st, 2011 - 12:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Rob the argentinean
By today Mercosur is only useful to Brazil, perhaps could bring benefits to Uruguay and Paraguay in the long time. Argentina is doing nothing to get benefits from it, and sometimes doing worse than that.
Apr 02nd, 2011 - 02:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Martin_Fierro
Rob the retard, 12 year old Brit...
Apr 02nd, 2011 - 03:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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GeoffWard
Mercosur is useful to absolutely nobody - not the four member countries and certainly not any outside country or bloc wanting to deal with a larger trading entity.

It has no developed rules or protocols that people can rely on.

It is therefore not just worthless, it is a negative force in the evolution of South America.

Until four nations start *pulling together* to MAKE IT EFFECTIVE, it is worst than a failure, it is a drag on progress.
Apr 02nd, 2011 - 06:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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