MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spain has not invited Paraguay to the Ibero-American summit confirms Asunción

Minister Fernandez Estigarribia: the tide of countries understanding our situation is turning on our favour

Spain has not invited Paraguay to the Ibero-American summit in Cadiz scheduled for next November confirmed Paraguayan Foreign minister Jose Felix Fernandez Estigarribia, who also admitted that the number of countries ‘disgusted’ with the new administration of President Federico Franco has diminished considerably.

“We have received no invitation from Spain for the 16/17 November summit in Cadiz. The issue was discussed extensively with the Secretary of State for Cooperation and Ibero-America (Jesus) Gracia Aldaz last week in Asuncion”, said the Paraguayan official.

“The Secretary told me about the situation that Spain is undergoing and that this coming summit is very important for them. But unfortunately summits many times are measured not by the result of deliberations but rather by the number of presidents attending, and then he recalled what happened in the previous summit (October 2011) which was interpreted as a snub for president (Fernando) Lugo because half of the presidents did not turn up”, pointed out Fernandez Estigarribia.

The Paraguayan official added that “this was the message from Madrid but we also agreed that the Ibero-American summit is important for both countries. But he insisted on the position of several countries, which we know who we are talking about, whether we should attend or not the summit. I replied that this is an issue to discuss at heads of state level”.

“Courtesy indicates that the host country sends out the invitations, and this has not happened with Paraguay, but since I took office we have been through this kind of situations from the very first moment because many countries were disgusted with what happened in Paraguay, but the tide is turning. Slowly but sustainedly the numbers now are on our favour”, said Fernandez Estigarribia, adding that “a great conspiracy against our country has been made up”.

“There are a lot of people upset, disappointed, Paraguayan citizens feel hurt, attacked by this great conspiracy. Unfortunately this kind of injuries leave scars, and basically we are all neighbours”, pointed out the Paraguayan Foreign minister.

Finally Fernandez Estigarribia said that despite statements from his peers in Argentina, Timerman and Brazil’s Antonio Patriota saying no economic measures have been implemented against Paraguay, “we have daily complaints from local businesses that claim trade is down and so is the influx of tourists from those two countries”.