MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Mujica strongly lobbies for Venezuela’s full incorporation to Mercosur
The Uruguayan president wrote a supportive column in Folha de Sao Paulo Uruguayan president Jose Mujica strongly supported the incorporation of Venezuela as full member of Mercosur from a Sunday column published in one of Brazil’s most influential newspapers, Folha de Sao Paulo.
Mujica pointed out that the full presence of Venezuela would help reduce asymmetries between members and achieve a better balance inside the group.
“Venezuela is a compensatory element is economic and natural resources terms for all the River Plate, since they need what we produce. For that reason the inclusion of Venezuela in Mercosur would help to reduce existing differences”, wrote the Uruguayan president in Folha de Sao Paulo.
The incorporation of Venezuela as a full member of Mercosur still depends on a vote from the Paraguayan Congress that so far has not addressed the issue. Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo’s winning coalition has atomized and he does not count with the sufficient votes to have the initiative approved.
Mujica mentions that in the Paraguayan Senate there is certain resistance to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez but points out that “we must not confuse a country with a regime, governments have their time, but countries remain”.
Finally President Mujica goes further and promotes the incorporation to Mercosur of all South American countries since the possibilities of the integrated group currently made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay are immense.
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Read all commentsI guess the idea is better to make the pact with 'the devil' rather than have the mad dog running loose.
Apr 11th, 2011 - 11:04 pm 0Or - looking at the photograph - better to hang together than to hang separately.
Mujica says : “we must not confuse a country with a regime, governments have their time, but countries remain”.
Good thinking, Mercosur can address the issue at the appropriate time - when the regime changes.
I see Geoff... you have a personal thing against Chavez
Apr 12th, 2011 - 12:23 am 0Are you from the US?
No, Martin, he may be a very nice man to his children and wife.
Apr 12th, 2011 - 10:36 am 0He is, however, a very toxic influence on trade matters; and the evidence is truely abundant.
I want him nowhere near my country's economy or those of the other Mercosur countries.
Equally, because he is ideologically at the far end of the political spectrum on most matters of international affairs, I want him nowhere near the seats of power in Unasur.
The President of Paraguay is of this opinion, and now - I am pleased to see - the President of Uruguay is defining potential links with the country and not the regime.
Once the regime is gone we in Mercosur can consider expansion, but we would be stupid to do this before regime-change.
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