MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Paraguay president-elect will not be attending Mercosur summit in Montevideo
Paraguay president-elect Horacio Cartes ratified he will not be attending the coming Mercosur summit scheduled to take place July 12 in Montevideo, confirmed one of his foreign policy advisors since the Paraguayan position remains that “Venezuela is not a full member of Mercosur because the Paraguayan congress by overwhelming majority rejected such option in August 2012”. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesGood on you Mr Cartes.
Jun 17th, 2013 - 04:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Stick to you guns and show them exactly what having principles and living by the rule of law actually means.
Respect to Paraguay.
Ditto.
Jun 17th, 2013 - 04:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Well done, Mr. Cartes...Show 'em that they can't play with the Paraguayan people´s dignity......Now you have the gun in your hand, so ask for what you consider is the proper way to return to Mercosur. Of course, the first thing is to remove Venezuela from the organization because it wasn´t accepted by all full members so it was an illegal insert of that country, more considering it was the maddest when Mr. Lugo was removed from the office asking for the hell pains for Paraguay inside Unasur and OAS......
Jun 17th, 2013 - 05:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Anyway, fartunatelly for Paraguayans, you can be accepted soon as full member od the Pacific Alliance which is working well an out of political considerantions, just economic and trade reasons with the most succesful countries of L. A.
Be strong and pride, you have the truth.
and “we can’t keep the Mercosur/EU talks stalled for years”. lol, years? try forever! Mercosur is history, EU is less interested in it by the day....now the Pacific Alliance, THAT is a group worth doing business with
Jun 18th, 2013 - 07:04 am - Link - Report abuse 0I am puzzled by the “Rule of Law” comments above since former President Lugo was ousted in a one day constitutionally tortured legalistic coup. But, maybe adhering to Rule of Law only applies when a country is of the progressive persuasion.
Jun 18th, 2013 - 12:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0#5 Yes rule of law. In no way was the Paraguayan Constitution violated with the impeachment of Lugo. The reason that the constitution permitted such a quick impeachment is to prevent a dictatorship; a reality that Paraguay experienced for several decades and made all efforts to prevent from occurring again.
Jun 18th, 2013 - 04:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0In the case of Mercosur allowing Venezuela into the “trading” bloc without the approval of one of its founding members is in clear violation of the Mercosur Constitution. It doesn't say that a founding member may be suspended to then allow another country's acceptance. If you can someone find a way to justify this please do tell me.
Looking at history, when Fernando Colar was impeached from Brazil's presidency, Mercosur did not suspend Brazil. During Argentina's economic collapse of 2001, where there was a change of 4 Presidents in 3 years, Mercosur did not suspend Argentina. During the political crisis of Paraguay during 1998, while the vice president was assasinated and nearly caused the government to collapse, there was no suspension from Mercosur.
So as you see, the motives for the suspension of Paraguay do not follow a historical path. Clearly this was politically motivated, similiar to how you mention that only “progressive” countries apply the rule of law.
Sorry BAMF, all of Argentina's Presidents resigned under pressure from it's citizens. There was no Legislative Coup as in Paraguay. And Colar was driven from office by citizens in the streets demanding his removal. I can find no evidence of Paraguayan citizens in the streets demanding Lugo's removal. This is how it is described: “The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on 23 June issued a statement declaring unacceptable the speed with which the impeachment of the constitutional and democratically elected President was conducted. Considering that it was a process for the removal of a Head of State, it is highly questionable that this could be done within 24 hours while still respecting the due process guarantees necessary for an impartial trial. The Commission considers that the procedure that was followed affects the rule of law.” You are presenting Straw Men that are too easy to knock down. Try again.
Jun 18th, 2013 - 08:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I imagine that the whole process of preparing for the impeachment was managed over a substantial period of time and involved many people in high office across the country.
Jun 18th, 2013 - 09:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0That the actual impeachment took a day is not remarkable if the due process under the Constitution and the law was structured to manage the process in this way.
I have no doubt that the formal process of President Nixon's impeachment took substantially less than a day.
I remain amazed that Paraguay is able to keep the tail of the tiger not just twisted but knotted.
The country might be small, poor, dissolute, etc, etc, but their leaders are showing many larger, more developed nations how to manage affairs professionally and with great tactical elan.
Speaking about legalistic coups or illegal, depending on a viewpoint.
Jun 19th, 2013 - 12:47 am - Link - Report abuse 0Mercosur, UNASUR and the dozens of other ineffective transnational groups in Latin America failed to castigate Maduro's illegal seizure of power after Chavez's death.
Maduro was not empowered by the constitution to take power pending elections.
It is amazing how much ideology blinds some people to truth that stares them in the face.
Mercosur thought it could teach Paraguay a lesson. A small country that dared to stand up to larger and more powerful countries on a principle - namely that Venezuela wasn't democratic enough to be admitted to Mercosur.
So Mercosur decided to change the rules by doing exactly what they accussed Paraguay of doing.
And now Paraguay is teaching Mercosur a lesson. And with the social unrest in Brazil and the oligarchs in Argentina and Venezuela panicking about their failing economic model; Paraguay is actually sitting quite pretty at the moment.
Bring on Pacific Alliance membership.
@ Geoff @ Anglo...... Here are some interesting facts that you seem to agree with, based upon your support of the Colorado Party who had 61 unbroken years of power to bring down poverty and help to raise up the poor...... but did no such thing. “The wealth distribution of Paraguay is extremely lopsided. There are very few very wealthy citizens, and very many very poor citizens. To illustrate, in the 1990s, only 10% of Paraguayans controlled 75% of the nation’s land and 46.6% of the nation’s income. The poorest 60% of the population earns only 20% of the total income earned by the country as a whole.” - thefreeresource.com Good job Geoff and Anglo. Your true colors are showing today. You love the oligarchs!
Jun 19th, 2013 - 04:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0#10 - Awesome reference!! During the 1990s !!?? Really, that is simple pathetic. So you are making reference to a country that hadn't even been out of the dictatorship for more than 1 decade. Regardless, Paraguay saw extensive growth during the last 2 decades, reaching a point of having the 2nd highest GDP growth in the world during 2010, one of the highest in Latin America for 2011, and expected growth of around 13% for 2013, again one of the highest in the world.
Jun 19th, 2013 - 06:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0As for the Colorado Party, yep, they suck. Any group that holds that much power is a danger. This goes for your beloved Bolivarian countries as well. Even the USA with its concentration of power in the federal level has proven that it is dangerous. The only good government is a small one that only worries about the judicial system and international treaties. Social programs will only serve to rot the country from within.
Thanks rylang23
Jun 19th, 2013 - 09:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Can't seem to bring the same level of criticism to your beloved oligarchic regimes in Venezuela and Argentina I see.
Please now look into the accumulated wealth by the Chavez and Kirchner families.
Anglo.... I cannot accept numbers of accumulated wealth from sources that I know nothing about. Besides the CIA has whole buildings of people who do nothing but spread propaganda; some of the best (or worst, depending on your persuasion) was leveled against Chavez, and completely debunk-able. However, I can agree that CFK appears to be minimally a loose cannon, and probably a narcissistic
Jun 19th, 2013 - 11:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@23 rylang23
Jun 20th, 2013 - 06:06 am - Link - Report abuse 0Ah you are a real troll I see. Your posts are all hot air, with no substance, and certainly no evidence to back up your 'claims' of the CIA having 'whole' buildings full of people who have nothing better to do than undermine Bolivarian government.
Except that they don't actually need to do that as the Bolivarian governments are too good at undermining themselves, they don't require any help.
Now if you'd ever bothered to read the rules that Mercosur are supposed to follow, you will see that Paraguay's suspension was completely illegal. Added to this, Venezuela's INCLUSION without Paraguay's consent was also completely illegal.
It's all there in black and white to read. All members of Mercosur signed the treaty, and then last year all but one member broke that treaty, to all their 'good' buddy Venezuela into power.
The problem with people like you rylang23 is that you truly believe that you are right, so ipso facto, everyone who disagrees with your world view point is wrong. You are so insecure that you cannot accept criticism of your political viewpoint, and therefore often bury your head in the sand of the obvious failings of it.
A system of total socialism doesn't work. The USSR tried it, and it eventually collapsed upon itself.
In theory socialism sounds great, but the real problem is human nature. EVERY socialist leader eventually turns completely corrupt, ends up stealing money from the very people whose lives they swore to make better, and eventually ruins the economy of the country. Populist socialist governments are the worst for doing this.
Remember this parable. Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime.
Socialists only want people eat for a day. It keeps them depended and in 'their' place. It keeps the poor, poor and the rich, rich.
A better system of government is capitalist WITH socialist elements for the people. Too much of one or the other will always end in disaster.
LEPRecon
Jun 20th, 2013 - 10:14 am - Link - Report abuse 0Ryan is the real deal. Hard to believe. He's 65 and emigrated to Uruguay from Oregon US last year. Funny that he didn't choose Venezuela or Argentina.
So it seems all the bad things said about Chavez are CIA propaganda and yet Rylang23 can't bring himself to do a little research into the vast wealth accumulation by the Kirchner and Chavez Families.
I'm guessing the CIA invented 17 country estates, totalling more than 100,000 acres in Venezuela owned by the Chavez family.
Gentleman, I haven't heard anyone yet refute my comment at #10, or do you apply the same tactics as Obama: kill the messenger, and ignore the message.
Jun 20th, 2013 - 11:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0@rylang
Jun 20th, 2013 - 12:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I did just read #11. Paraguay is growing because it is freer. It has less regulations, more open borders for the flow of goods and people, less taxation but most importantly it has less people like you demanding free things from the work of others. The concept of socialism on any form is theft. One group decides it is okay to tax a smaller group only because they worked harder and have more money. Envy is one of the cardinal sins if you so happen to be religious. Forced taxation is nothing but government theft; either you pay up or we will punish you.
If you live in uruguay then come out and see paraguay foe yourself. You will be greatly amazed at the progress...all without the nanny state.
I am no socialist. I would say that I lean strongly toward Anarchist (please study what that implies before making comments). But, by your explanation, you prefer the tilting of the economic playing field to favor those who have the ability to make the laws that favor themselves. That is NOT Free Enterprise. It is Crony (oligarchic) Capitalism.
Jun 20th, 2013 - 12:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0In Paraguay, the playing field was tilted from the beginning of European domination, so I will allow that you may think that what you have is “normal” and should continue. I may surmise, that you, too, benefit from that system. But, your form of economics is repressive and unethical. The vast majority of Paraguayans will never have an opportunity to live beyond where they currently are because the oligarchs make sure that the lower economic classes stay put: they control most of the land and have cheap labor that benefits only them.
As an anarchist you would have thought moving to Somalia was a better choice than Uruguay. There's large parts of Africa where there is no government control, where you are free to live and do exactly what you please.
Jun 20th, 2013 - 09:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Live your beliefs man. You're at the end of your life and you chose a safe country like Uruguay! You used the legal protections and economic model of the US to make your money and now you are using the legal protections and economic model of Uruguay to retire.
That's not an anarchist, you're just another rich white westerner.
#18 - Anarchy means no rule of law. In such cases there are no rights. The most powerful will prevail by any means they deem fit.
Jun 20th, 2013 - 10:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I prefer libertarianism; government only exists to protect your God given rights...life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Laws are only created for the sole purpose of defining/organizing society in cases where one person's God given rights conflict with anothers. For example pollution; on your property you can have a factory, but because pollution from it will blow into other people's property, there must be a law to determine what is an acceptable level of pollution.
Police protection, fire fighters, education, healthcare, roads, natural disaster help, etc., should all be handled by the private sector. Churches, charity organizations, businesses, and people, should handle these issues.
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Paraguay in many aspects is a Libertarian country - not 100% but one of the closest in the world. There are government services but many people don't rely on it simply because it is horrible. So we have private police, private fire fighters, private schools, private natural disaster help and so forth. Some are charities some you pay for. Since the dictatorship, things are on a more even playing field. Granted there are major issues such as rampant corruption in the judicial system, which gives richer people more power, but overall people can easily prosper here. Crony capitalism is horrible and it exists in the USA and most socialist countries because any large government inevitably creates favors for large companies.
Again, why don't you take a short trip over to Paraguay and see the place for yourself. What you read online is far different from reality.
Rylang23 went and settled in the Switzerland of Latin America.
Jun 21st, 2013 - 12:12 am - Link - Report abuse 0He doesn't want to challenge his beliefs by travelling somewhere and actually learning.
Good luck with that Libertarian thing, guys.
Jun 22nd, 2013 - 03:34 am - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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