MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lubetkin warns Flávio Bolsonaro that “it is not easy to leave Mercosur”

“It is not easy to leave Mercosur. There are too many interrelated agreements in the business sphere, and that would cause major losses for the Brazilian economy,” Lubetkin said

Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin has warned Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro that “it is not easy to leave Mercosur”, in response to his criticism of the bloc during the campaign for the October 25 runoff. In the same interview, with the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, he said Uruguay would not restore diplomatic relations with Venezuela while Delcy Rodríguez governs.

“It is not easy to leave Mercosur. There are too many interrelated agreements in the business sphere, and that would cause major losses for the Brazilian economy. And there are too many mechanisms that prevent such a quick exit,” Lubetkin said. “I hope that, if that gentleman ends up presiding over Brazil, when he starts governing he will realise that many statements made during the election campaign are impracticable once in government.”

The government programme Bolsonaro registered with the Superior Electoral Court does not mention Mercosur. On the campaign trail, the senator has spoken of “freeing Brazil from the shackles of Mercosur”, referring to the constraints the common external tariff places on negotiating its own trade agreements, a phrase some media have interpreted as raising the possibility of leaving the bloc. Uruguay has held the Mercosur pro tempore presidency since July 1.

Lubetkin said Uruguay would work with whoever is elected: “First, let the elections be clean, transparent, democratic and calm. Then, naturally, the Brazilian people will choose whoever they consider best, and we will work with whoever wins, as state policy.”

On Venezuela, the minister ruled out resuming relations: “In no way, and we are not going to resume them.” He argued that from elections Uruguay had questioned “came a president who is now, on top of everything, imprisoned in the United States, and from that president comes a president as illegitimate as he was”. Uruguay will restore ties, he said, when “an independent court confirms” the winner of a democratic election. Caracas withdrew its diplomatic staff from Uruguay and six other Latin American countries in July 2024 after they questioned Nicolás Maduro’s re-election; Maduro has been detained in the United States since January. Rodríguez announced at the UN in September that elections would be held, without setting a date.